our first return home...

i really wanted to post some pictures of our adventure home but i left my chord at home.....bummer! so, i'm unable to post pictures. sorry to those of you who thought you would see pictures.

good news....our house is fine. our electricity is on. huge praise!!!!!!!
bad news....our fence in the backyard is in bad shape as well as our trees took a pretty bad beating. i will post pictures as soon as i am able.

we are heading to rockwall (my parents) on wednesday and then will head back to houston with the kids on friday.

hurricane ike......"we no like"

the above picture of my children was taken at galveston this summer. it's crazy to be seeing much different images as we see the devastation that hurricane ike has caused. obviously, galveston got the brunt of the storm. seabrook also has so much damage...we have many church members who live in the seabrook area as well as our minister to children. it looks like our area (clear lake city) didn't get quite as much damage as was anticipated. however, there are still 5.5 million people without power in the houston area and many of those are clear lake. we also have a church member who had part of their roof collapse and has severe damage. a friend drove by our house and the church and it appears that ike had mercy on us. there is still a lot of debris on the roads and they are asking houstonians not to return as of now.

when we are able, kyle and i are going to head back in to clean out the fridge and get some more clothes. when we left they were anticipating the storm to hit closer to corpus. so, we were thinking we would only be gone for the weekend. things certainly changed.

through all of this difficulty and devastation there will be many opportunities for ministry. we are looking forward to helping our community and surrounding areas as much as possible. as of right now...we have no idea when we will be able to go back home. schools are closed until further notice and we don't know when power will be restored.

prayers are appreciated during this time as there are so many reeling from the effects of ike. hopefully, the body of Christ will band together and shed some major light in our community and as He always does........He will make His name and renown known!

thank you for your prayers, support and concern for our family. we are thankful that we are all safe and that we still have a home to go home to. i will keep you updated :)

i know...i know....

it's been a LONG time since i have sat down and blogged.  excuses....let's see.....i'm tired, i have four children and i rarely even have time to return phone calls or call family and friends.  ok, but those are just lame excuses.........it would only take me a few minutes a night if i would actually keep up and not have to write a book.  so here are a few quick updates.

rylee just finished her second week of kindergarten and is thoroughly enjoying herself.  she seems eager to learn and has met lots of new friends (of course :)  kyle and i both shed a few tears on her first day...by the second day it was more like "see you later.....".  having one gone during the day definitely changes the dynamic and is a little easier.  definitely less sibling rivalry going on.........

kade and lily started preschool on thursday.  they go two days a week and lily was soooo excited to bring home some homework so she could join her big sister :)  they continue to grow like weeds and it's been so fun to watch their personalities develop.....they are twins, but sooo different :)  they do have a special bond that is neat to observe.

grey...what can i say? he is an angel :) grey will go to mother's day out on tuesdays only.  i'm so excited to have a day to myself.   he continues to be such a great baby and has brought so much joy to our family.  he was the missing (and final!!!!!! :) piece to our family puzzle.  he's getting around pretty well.  mostly he does a wierd army crawl where he drags his legs behind him :)  he is pulling up, saying and waving bye-bye, clapping and saying mama and dada.  

on a bummer note...my purse was stolen last friday.  if you've ever had a wallet or purse stolen, you know what a nightmare it is.  got the bank stuff situated...still have to get my license and social security card replaced.  (yes mom, i know that you told me not to carry it with me......you were right, ok!!!!:)  

ok...that's it for now.  i will try to write a little more often.  thanks for reading!!! :)