Rita, Rita we don't need ya!!

What in the world?? Can you believe another hurricane?

The last couple days have been a blur for our family. Yesterday we left our house at about 5:00 in the afternoon. Leaving my house was one of the hardest thingsI've ever done. The way the hurricane is going it is headed right in our direction and we will for sure get flooding or worse. It is was so hard yesterday going thru my house deciding what I would save or let float away in the Gulf of Mexico. Needless to say there were a few tears...especially when we pulled out of the driveway not knowing what we would face when we returned. Of course we packed both our cars as full as we could. I grabbed pictures off the walls, pictures in boxes, scrapbooks, pictures just sitting around, pictures on my refrigerator....obviously I had alot of pictures!! ha ha We also had to get important papers, kids stuff, Grannys quilts and who knows whatelse I threw in there at the last minute. It makes me sad because I couldn't get all my Christmas decos....I know it doesn't sound important and it's really not in the big scheme of things but alot of my ornaments are things that either my kids made, I bought just for them, or we got when we got married. You just don't realize how many precious things you have in your home until you have to choose what means the most to you .... it is heartbreaking. When we got hours down the road I remembered I left my favorite pillow....

I got so tickled at Reid because I told him to go in his room and grab a few things and he came down with a backpack full of baseball cards, baseball hats, a baseball signed by John Lackey and his trophys!! ha ha...I was cracking up. Macy got her backpack and loaded it up with some of her Noah's ark little people and I think some baby dolls. She would't let me open it...she wanted to load it in the car all on her own! Go figure.....

We went to Wal-mart on Monday night and got whatever was left. It looked like a bomb went off in there. Troy got batteries, juice, water (2 cases were all we could get!!) and some canned stuff. We also picked up a few rubbermaid containers. I was able to get all my pictures and stuff in them. I also packed tote bags and garbage sacks. We looked like the Beverly Hililbillys going down the road...which brings me to the next part of the story..... :)

We were headed for Smithville, not knowing what was ahead. As I said we left at 5 in the afternoon. It took us 11 hours to get from our house to Rosenburg which is only about 50-60 miles. I finally had a little breakdown and told Troy we could not sit in this any longer because it was already about 2:00 in the morning and Macy had just about had enough. So we called Ashley to get back road directions to get to Katy. My sister is like Nana..she can get you anywhere anytime thru all kinds of dirt roads and back roads. We didn't know where we were she was telling Troy to turn here, there and all of a sudden we were on her street...only by the grace of God and Ashley's smart inherited sense of directions. ha ha (by the way, we had to bust thru one baracade...but intense times calls for intense measures...is that the saying?? ha) Thanks, sissy for all your help!

You just can't even believe all the traffic. It was bumber to bumper all night. I think the fastest we went was 20 mph. The kids did great about the first 9 hours.....thank God for portable DVD players! I think we watched Barney 89 million times. Reid and Troy were in front of us in the Honda and every so often I would see Reid turn around and wave! I think for him it was a real adventure..... for me it was NOT but seeing my sweet boy smiling and waving made it all better.

So, we finally all got to bed about 4:30am and are slow moving this morning. Ashley and I went to Wal-mart and were able to get some stuff and now I think it is nap time. I am just glad we are not still sitting in traffic like SO many people. I am so thankful that we are at Ashley and BA's and are safe...

Please keep our family in your prayers and pray that Rita will lose strength and spare our home. Also pray for the people still sitting on all the main roads trying to reach their families. It's a parking lot out there....

Sorry it's so long...I got on a roll. Hope I didn't bore you too bad.... ha ha

Aloha

Your Hawaiian Name is:

Lanikai Hokulani

What's" your Hawaiian Name?

I thought this was fun...now that I have a cool Hawaiian name I think I should get to go to Hawaii, right?? So, what is your Hawaiian name?

Have a great weekend..........

update on Picasso

OK...I feel bad. Macy just came in and said, "I'm sorry mommy for writing on your floor." Doesn't that just melt your heart... heehee I know she just wants out of time out but her apology was so sweet. Thank you God for forgiveness..........

My Little Picasso

I had to sit down for a minute and blog before I lost my ever loving mind!! ha ha Macy is really trying my patience today. She is a ring tale tooter....Last month she wrote on my couch with a red marker and then when I asked her who did it she blamed it on Reid......UGHHH!! How do they learn to lie?? So, she got in a little trouble. Well, today I am cleaning up toys and I notice a blue crayon on my carpet and I look a little closer and yes, you guessed it.....I nice little portrait on my tile floor in the entry way. So, I ask her about it and it wasn't Reid this time...the conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "Macy, what happened to my floor?"
Macy: "What? I don't know" (with hand on hips and a confused look on her face)
Me: "Why is there blue crayon all over my floor?"
Macy: "Well, I wanted to color my baby dolls face and we got it all over the floor but it was a accident ok mommy."
Me: Your daddy will be so sad when he gets home and sees the floor."
Macy: "No he won't"
Me: "Please go sit on your bed and think about what you did."
Macy: "I already did think about what I did."

OK....what do I do about my budding artist and anyone have any ideas about how to get crayon off the tile?? I haven't even tried to scrub it...it's been one of those days. I hope tomorrow I will laugh about this.. :)

Pray without ceasing.....

I have tried for days to post about Hurricane Katrina but I cannot find the words. My heart aches for the people who have lost everything. I can hardly put my mind around it. The news is depressing to watch but I have been glued to it since day one. I want to help so badly but don't know what to do. All the people are right here in my town and I feel completly helpless. Our church is taking in people and hopefully I can be used there. I don't know.... what do you when you don't know what to do? (that was a weird sentence...) I wish I could help like Oprah. She is one amazing woman. I watched her show today and it was very touching. I didn't get up the whole hour...my eyes were open to things I thought I would never see. The devastation and sadness she showed was unreal.


Reid got 1 student in his class today and 1 across the hall. There are many more thru the school. I really think his eyes were open to the tragedy today when those precious children told them of everything they lost. Can 9 year olds really understand the depth of the horrible aftermath of the hurricane? I can barely understand it. All we can do is pray, especially for the little children.


Tonight my heart is heavy.......