"You Are Now Free to Roam the Planet"

We woke up on Friday morning to this lovely sight -

Very thankful to see our entire mailbox and road again. 

God had provided for us while we were stranded on our island.  We had enough food, we never lost electricity and we all got along well with each other.  I think everyone was ready for the down time.

Isn't God good?  Sometimes it takes epic weather to slow us down and give us the rest that we need.  I spent a lot of time just chillin' out and catching up on the little things.  And no matter how late I slept in, you could always find me napping at some point during the day on my couch.

When we realized we were free to roam the planet again on Friday, we got dressed and took off.  We went to lunch, ran a few errands and went to the movies.

We have LOVED all of the Pixar movies and we definitely wanted to see this one.

Brave was very different than any of the other Pixar movies, and for the first time, a magical element was added - which was a bit disappointing.  But over all, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 It is a great story of a mother and daughter learning to not only accept but embrace the differences in each other.  The Scotland setting was beautifully done.

We also visited the pet store while we were out.  Seems we had just enough food for our fish.  We used the last of it on Thursday.  These are the same fish that our children won at the Clay County Fair back in April.  We purchased a small tank for them, not knowing how long or IF they would survive.  Having not only survived but thrived for the last 3 months, we decided to purchase them a larger home.

They were not real sure at first and spent a lot of time at the bottom.  We were concerned that we can killed them but they are much better now and enjoying the extra room.

Russ spent Saturday cleaning up the front yard - we had dead fish and lots of trash that had floated our way.  Things didn't smell real pleasant but I think we are finally getting back to normal - if there is such a thing around here.

This week, we will celebrate July 4th and Emily is coming in town!  Her whole clan is coming in for the week to visit and I'm a bit giddy!  Not sure how much time we will have as she has many people vying for her time - but I'll take anything I can get.

Thank you all for your prayers while we were surrounded by water.  God is good and His provision and protection for us was exactly what we needed - as always. 

Until next time.....

And it is Still Rising

Evacuations, road closures, bridges collapsing.  Our city has been turned upside down because of Tropical Storm Debby.  She has dumped record amounts of rain and everyone in Jacksonville is being affected somehow.

We are thankful for the down time - being stuck here in our house for days - but oh how I wish we could send some of our water to the people in Colorado who are loosing their homes to fires.  Such extremes across our country.

Whenever people come to visit us for the first time, they always ask us why we are up so high.  Not many houses in Florida are up on a hill.  As you can see, I park my van backwards so that when I open my door to get out - it stays open.  That's how steep we are.

 Well, THIS is why.......

Although, in our 6 years of living in this house, this is the highest the water has ever been.

Just about to our vehicles.

Here's a timeline with our mailbox:

Monday at 3:00

 

Monday at  6:00

Tuesday 10:00 am

Tuesday 7:00 pm

Tuesday 10:40 pm

This morning (Wednesday) 8:30 am

And here's one final view from around the corner from our house:

This is just one street over.  We are thankful for our hill.

The rain has stopped and Debby has moved off shore and is headed away.  Black Creek (what eventually feeds our cul-de-sac) has not yet crested, so we anticipate the water rising a little more.  Russ obviously cannot get out for church tonight and we will have to see what happens for Sunday.  Hopefully we will begin to dry out soon.

Until then we will continue to watch movies, play games and enjoy the fish jumping in our pond out front...... and out back....... and.......

 

The Water is Rising

We woke up this morning surrounded.  You didn't know we lived in a castle on a hill and are surrounded by a mote, did you?  I'm sure there are snakes and other evil critters in our mote.  We are highly fortified!  No one can get in or out.  I'm sure we cannot order pizza.

This was our front yard about 24 hours ago

My beautiful lily even had blooms

No so much this morning.  Sad little plant.

It travels all the way down our street

View of our house from the neighbors (Thanks Jeff for the pic!)

As you can see - the water is a long way from getting in - but we are stranded.

We were glad the guy across the street finally moved his van!

The ants are trying very hard not to drown - lots of little islands in the water like this.

Our back yard

Fortunately when we realized the water was rising yesterday, I went to the store so we are all stocked up for a few days.  We are chillin' out - having a movie day - staying in our PJ's.  Over all - we really cannot complain.  We welcome the down time.

Not sure how much higher it will go - Black Creek is not supposed to crest until later today.  Until then, we will stay inside and enjoy our lake front property - for now.

Until next time....

VBS and TS Debby

So last week was VBS at Hickory Grove.  We had a wonderful week!  We averaged about 75 children per night with over 50 adults and youth helping.  We stayed incredibly busy but I think the best part was working with and getting to know everyone from the church better.

Jarod is now old enough to help instead of being in a class.  We were very proud of his participation.  He arrived early every day to help in the kitchen.

These wonderful people cooked dinner for us each and every night.  Because our VBS started each evening at 6:15, they made sure we all had a great meal.  It was so nice for those people getting off of work and having to rush to the church.  Jarod also helped deliver meals to some of our shut-ins and members with medical issues.  We have a great kitchen crew - they are always doing a variety of different food ministries.

He also helped keep the records for a guessing contest we were having all week.  Each night, the children had the opportunity to guess how many candies, cookies, etc were in specific containers.  At the end of the week, we announced the winners.

Helping the kids guess

Announcing the winners

A VERY happy winner!  LOL!

Russ had a great time as well

Singing songs.....

Talking to the kids.....

There was even a special visit by Marcus the Philippian Jailer.  He told the kids all about the time he had Paul and Silas in his prison and how God caused an earthquake to set them free.

Having dinner with Anne

Anne had a wonderful week too!

She loves craft time

Prissy was a regular guest this week.

Our registration ladies doing some AP shopping during their down time.  I randomly sold over $400 just by letting them dig through stuff at the table.  Crazy!!!!  

I cannot keep the above medallion necklaces in stock.  I received 17 on Tuesday and sold all but 1 in three days.

The kids brought in cereal boxes all week and offering collected is going specifically toward shipping the cereal boxes to Haiti.

We collected $598.00!!!!!

Which is a good thing because I have lots more boxes ready to go!

Over all it was an AWESOME week!  Once again God continues to confirm our call to Hickory Grove.  We are in love with the people and the ministry they are involved in.  It's such a great fit for our entire family.  God is so good.

So now that Scout Camp, Dance Recital and VBS are over with, we can really begin our summer vacation.  The kids and I slept late today although we woke up to Tropical Storm Debby over us.  God's timing is perfect because whenever one of these storms comes around, we are stranded for a few days.

This was our cul-de-sac at 1:00 this afternoon

And this was our cul-de-sac at 6:00 this evening.

Whenever the creek by our house floods, it backs up into our neighborhood.  The creek is continuing to rise and is expected to crest around 2 pm tomorrow.

This has happened once before:

Tropical Storm Fay - 2008 

I've been documenting it this time so we can compare and see how high the water gets.  Our house is on a hill so we stay high and dry but because of the dip at the end of our driveway, we don't feel safe trying to take our cars through it.

 

So - we stay put until the water clears up.  Like I said, it's always God's perfect timing for us.  He forces us to stay put for a while, regroup and chill out.  The weather man is saying that this storm could dump up to 25 inches in some areas around Jacksonville - he's using the phrase "Epic amounts of rain."  We'll see what happens.

Until next time.......

Dance Recital 2012 "The True Princess"

It's that time of year again - time for Anne's Dance Recital.  I have to say that this year went down without one major hitch!  Unlike last year!

This year's theme was "The True Princess" and Anne was a butterfly in the royal garden.  She danced beautifully!  We are so impressed by her improvement.

So pretty!

Proud Nana!

We love our Anne Girl!!!