IKE...

There is NO WAY to describe how horrible it is to go through such a thing as Ike with little ones...you just feel so out of control in your protection of them and praise the Lord for His great passion and love for their little lives. We weathered the storm out at our house, fitted with a "panic room" and all!! I was so proud of our little family! Everyone decided to wake up at 2am before the storm hit and we had a mattress jumping/ news watching party until 4am when the storm started to brush the Wlds....we ventured to our little panic room to sleep and laughed our heads off because there was NO way it was going to work. Logan and I slept in there and Ben fell asleep on Daniel for the remainder of the night on the couch. We headed to Austin to stay with some of our best friends on Sunday and got home last night close to midnights after power had been on for a full 24 hours. Needless to say, we have high hopes that tonight will be the first real nights sleep we will have in almost a week...MUCH NEEDED!!! The funnies and yipees and complaints from the week are below!!!!

OPERATION SAVE THE MEAT.... So, due to the fabulous grocery game, a baby on the way, and my ridiculous urge to make a million meals to freeze so we have all our fav's for the holidays...I had over $500 worth of meat in our second freezer!!!!!! I had been counting hours like a crazy woman when the power went out in efforts to save the meat!!!! By the time Sunday hit and we started getting reports of 2-4 weeks with no power we went crazy!!! We started throwing meat into coolers and laundry bins and toy tubs (it was SUCH a sight!!), threw the kids in the car and headed to Austin- and PRAISE THE LORD operation save the meat was successful!!! Amber cleared her freezer for me and we stuffed it full and now I'm back home with all my meat happily back in place and waiting to be made into all sorts of yummy soups, stews, and more!!!! We love the Gentry's!!!

FRIENDS THAT LET ME NEST....If you know me well, you know I'm a crazy nester during the last months of my pregnancies...in the last few weeks at our house, we've repainted most of the downstairs (including the stripy wall in our family room that we just painted, I was SO sick of it!!), rearranged almost EVERY piece of furniture, and reorganized the entire kitchen! So we head to Logan, Amber, Eli & Calvin to do what?? NEST!!!!!! Daniel, Amber & I cleaned out their ENTIRE garage (and Amber's car!!!) and they are both sparkling and happy! Seriously, what kind of friends let you evacuate to their house AND let the crazy pregnant woman nest?? Only the BEST...and the ones who leek mercy from every part of them. Can't wait to read the book that has been changing their lives...and their church "Ministers of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road" by Tim Keller.

HALLELUJAH FOR THE MAID BRIGADE & MY OH SO WISE HUSBAND.... This past year for my birthday, Daniel got me a maid twice a month for the next year (all though we have decided that this should be what I ask for EVERY year for my birthday!!!)- my original thought was to get me through the end of my pregnancy, c-section, and transition to three. But WHO KNEW they would save our house after the storm!!!! We fled to Austin totally forgetting to empty our fridge (obviously we were fixated on the meat!!) AND we failed to leave a key with my parents so smarty smarty hubby called the good ol' maid brigade!!! By the time we came home from Austin the house and more importantly the fridge were in mint condition!!! Being four weeks away from delivering the basketball on my stomach I was giddy that I didn't have to run to the bathroom to vomit every five seconds while cleaning out the fridge!!! Yipee!!!

BOYCOTTING CARBS... One day back from Austin and I'm officially boycotting carbs for the rest of my life. Today our diet consisted of...cereal for breakfast, nuts and dried fruit for snack, and mac & cheese and applesauce for lunch. AHHHHH...I'm going CRAZY!!! I managed to find a grocery store with apples, tangelos, spinach and a couple of veggie trays this afternoon, HIP HIP HORAY!!! Good thing we bought 3 gallons of milk in Austin because it is hard to come by!!!

ARG...THE FAVORITE TREE...I'm MORE than thankful that we had no house damage, kiddo damage, baby popping out in the middle of the storm due to the low pressure, etc etc. But my favorite tree fell on our fence. It was the neighbors behind us- it was HUGE and gave our backyard and master bedroom total privacy from the house that is catty-corner to us (and the one right behind us). I'm tempted to go and buy them a new tree and set it at their front door :-).

Wishing I had pics of all the events but they are replacing our camera at Best Buy b/c Bennett dropped it. Good thing we got the warranty :-).