To The Max

** Before I begin, thank you for your prayers for my friend Janell. The tumor they found was malignant, but the cancer has not spread so they are very happy about that. You can read more at her blog on the right labeled "Brad and Janell." **

Last week here was incredible in many ways. Good, bad, and all in all, completely overwhelming.

The Good:

• Dave got a job offer!
• Dave's mom came to help us clean/organize before putting our house on the market and she was a great help
• I got to go to a doctor appt and have a massage for my hip while Dave's mom watched the kids... no scrambling for a babysitter!
• We got to go out to a nice dinner with Dave's mom and the next night we got to see the Bourne Legacy by ourselves! We love going to the movies and paying $9 for two small cokes :)

 The Bad:

• Comflicting messages on what is causing my hip pain, specifically, the podiatrist thinking I would need foot surgery to correct a bad joint. That is never fun to hear. We took x-rays of my feet (how much radiation have I been exposed to in the past three years???) and I will know more at the next appointment. When I first saw him he said that I would need this joint replaced when I am older, but when I explained all my symptoms to him he says that I might need that surgery sooner. Now there is no way I can do that now, but knowing that it may be needed is kind of a bummer.
• We never got to talk about the job offer because all that was going on!
• Reorganizing your house (even when you have good help) is completely chaotic and overwhelming
• Marking tons of toys, books a clothes for consignment
• The Bourne movie wasn't as good as I had hoped.... and I had been waiting for it for the last 5 years!! Poor me :)

 The completely overwhelming:



 Yep, on Friday or so it looked like Isaac was headed straight towards us. So imagine your life as crazy as it is, and then add to it the fact that you might be hit with a big natural disaster, have to evacuate and/or lose power for days maybe weeks, and have damage to your property that you are trying to sell.

So see everything above, both good and bad, that was going on and then add to it the stress of watching the weather and preparing for the worst. Spending tons on hurricane supplies and trying to make all sorts of plans based on how bad it could be. How did I deal with all the stress? I got very quiet. I felt like I shut down inside. Dave's mom was being so helpful to get the house in order and I did what she instructed but I was like a zoombie with my thoughts bouncing all around like this, "Is our house ready to sell? Do I need foot surgery? What will happened if our house floods? Sandbags cost how much?? Wait I have all these items to tag for the consignment sale... I have to get these out of the house before they come to take pictures of the house to put it for sale... will we get everything done for the pictures and then the house will have tons of hurricane damage??"

Can you see how I went crazy? All this is followed by constantly checking the weather, seeing neighbors board up their homes, but trying to get the house in tip top shape because they were coming to take pictures on Monday, and be nice to Dave's mom because she came to help. CRAZY.

The storm shifted east, then west, and then east. At that point many of our friends were making plans to evacuate. But we had some good friends in the area named the Beverly's whose needed some help. Ryan Beverly (the dad) just had major back surgery and he only spends like two hours a day out of bed. He is still in rough shape and could not be in a car for very long (unless absolutely necessary). So when it looked like the storm was continuing to shift west and we wouldn't sustain major damage, we invited the Beverly's (they have four girls) to camp out at our house. They live right on the water so they were under mandatory evacuation. We stocked up on food and water preparing for no power and water for about 5 days. They came over on Monday night to be prepared for the bad weather early Tuesday morning.

John, Adam and Lucy

Playing Chutes and Ladders

Dave reading a bedtime story

John and Joy dancing

On Monday Dave took his mom to the airport at 5:45 a.m., they came to take pictures of our house at 11 a.m. just as zones A, B and C (we are zone D) were given their evacuation notice. The Beverlys came at 3 or so, and then schools, the base, and most everything closed down for a few days. However, we managed to come out completely unscathed. Power stayed on, rain came but nothing severe, the cable went out once but came back on in about an hour. We were so grateful, though we were mindful that our good fortune meant that others were in the direct path of the storms. We continue to pray for them.

It really was a blessing to have the Beverlys with us from Monday- Wednesday. They kept us sane, gave us good conversation, and completely entertained our boys (who would have bee fighting constantly if we were home alone all day). All in all, it was a nice break! The week prior had been so stressful and these two days went so smooth and were a complete change of routine. Thank you Lord.

Let's see what the next week brings!