Monday, October 24, 2011

hurricane irene 8-27-11

 our back yard...emma asked me why we have a pond there now.
 the water to the top of the pool.

thankfully, we didn't get ANY water in our basement, but drew and fleur lost EVERYTHING on their first floor, including one of their cars...total devestation!
these are pics from their house and around their neighborhood, but even when i got home and put them on the computer after being there, i realized they didn't show the true damage!
absolutely unbelievable~50+ homes in their area were condemned.  i drove through there a couple weeks afterwards and there was a big piece of plywood in front of someone's house that was spray painted with the words "make an offer". 
 their back yard
 all the tiles washed away in their dining room
 yep, that's the fridge...in the laundry room! (2 rooms away)

 laundry room
 out their front door (they had to be rescued by boat, then brought to one of those huge army trucks, and then brought to a place where someone could come and get them)


 down the street...

4 days later...

 down the street, siding ripped right off the house; another one was missing the front stairs; another had a car halfway into the foundation; some foundations completely washed away.
kaitlyn's flip-flop got stuck in the muck...and then i told her that it wasn't just dirt~gross!

the town had a whole set-up where they were handing out water and sand bags

drew and fleur still aren't back in their house~probably not until thanksgiving.   i was down there last week and it still like a ghost town except for the contractors.  we have 2 families in our church who are in the same predicament...one family with 4 kids has been living in a hotel room since it happened and will be there for a while!  please pray for all those affected by this flood.  

thanks, guys!

ed & ben hung my medallion in the dining room so I can finally put up my newly-painted-from-gold light back up.


chcc gala

october 6, 2011

i was privileged to be on the committee for the Christian Health Care Center's 100 year anniversary gala.  it was a beautiful night held at The Venetian
.fancy-schmancy, gowns, tuxs, ice sculptures, unbelievable hors d'ouvres, 7-course meal, good wine, and right up my alley ;)
(i remembered at the end of the night that i had my camera so i don't have a picture of marc and dot who were there with us)
 rob & dork
 rob and his beautiful wife, leanne
 (uh, q-t, you're not supposed to be talking when we're taking a picture!)
 us (duh!)
drew & fleur

girlfriends

a fun day with a couple of girlfriends who live too far away!!
laura came up for a visit after moving to tennessee almost 2 yrs ago. 
 it was SSSSOOOOO great to just hang out and catch up!!  
i brought mady with and she and brooks and brenna caught up where they left off-now exchanging email addresses and promising to keep in touch online.
 and david introduced her to their zip line and played soccer and football with them so it's all good!
 barb, karen, me, laura
 face painting with plants or dirt or something from the earth ;\

  bad to the bone
brenna, brooks, david, mady

family picture day

We finally had updated family pictures taken!  These are taken from that day with our own (unprofessional) cameras.  I just LOVE this family!!!














Monday, September 26, 2011

PV Park

we went to the local lake part with my dear friend and  8 of our amazing kids...
it was a gorgeous day, as you can see.  little did we know that a week or so later this lake would be destroyed by hurricane Irene!

this was hysterical...it's WAY better if you know their personalities, but...
daniel, owen and micah posing as dudes...except, obviously, micah's not doing it 'right'
owen's trying to teach him the peace/gangster sign (i'm detecting a bit of resistance on micah's side, but maybe that's just me)
owen so sweetly trying to teach him...
but micah just figures that whatever he can do is good enough...high 5...perfect! ;)

isaac the scary...
micah the adorable...

daniel and bathany the moat-diggers...
in order for the kids to use the bouncy trampoline, you have to be able to swim to the water trampoline, keep your head above water, tread water at the trampoline for 30 seconds, then swim back to the dock.  every one of the kids who tried, passed the test.  
liv doing a head slide with jonathan cheering her on~true friends!

yes, buddy, you are #1 ;)

the excellent swimmers...the test-passers

i can almost taste the flat taffy from when we were kids at goshorn lake...
mom and norma windemuller (the only adult we were allowed to call by their first name) would us there.  ahhh...sweet memories!
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