Remembering- 10 years

Today marks 10 years since the horrific attacks on our country.

10 years

It just doesn't seem possible that much time has passed.

This morning I watched some of the memorial services with my girls.

Footage was shown of that day, that day of airplanes, fire and tears.

So many tears.

Ainsley looked over at me and said:

Mama, I don't like it.

I told her that I don't like it either.

I don't like that it happened.

I don't like the hurt.

I don't like it that people's lives are forever changed.

I don't like knowing that people are living without their loved ones anymore.

I don't like that our children are growing up in a world that has known terror such as this.

10 years

I remember that day like it was yesterday.

The feelings.

The sheer terror.

The knowledge that life as we knew it was forever changed.

Right at that moment.

We all felt it, that shift.
The awakening.

The knowledge.

This wasn't an accident or some sort of mistake.

I remember my alarm going off, the radio news was playing.

A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

What?

How does that happen?

At the time it was thought to be a small aircraft.

K got up, was getting ready for school and had turned on the television.

Danna, you need to get out here.

I remember seeing the plane hit the second tower.

The knowledge.
The fear.

The sadness.

Today my heart is heavy.

The heart of our country is heavy.

Lives were lost, loved ones died.

Lives were and are forever changed.

10 years

Together we are a united, strong country.

We stand together.

We support one another.

We hold each other up.

We stand together.

God bless those that that their lives.

God bless those who lost loved ones.

God bless this great nation of ours.

God bless those who are making sacrifices to keep our country safe.

Our Ah-mazing Weekend

On Friday morning we headed out to St. Louis because K's cousin was getting married.

At first Abby and I weren't planning on going, she was so miserable on Thursday that even the thought of going on Friday was out of the question.

When she woke up Friday morning she was like a different child, still not quite "Abby" but much much better.

We met up with K's parents as we were caravaning with them and we finished the rest of our journey.

Still not quite 100% but she was smiling!

{The doctor told me that she would be better on day two of antibiotics, he was right!}

Then we got stuck in traffic and I saw this sign.

It was hysterical!

We were staying with K's aunt, it was so nice of her to let the 5 of us crash there.

We went to the wedding on Friday evening.

It was beautiful and the minister was awesome!

We had a babysitter watch the kiddos so K and I could head out to the reception.

It. was. so. much. fun!

Not a great picture, but let's pretend that it is okay?

Great!

The next day K had to do some work so the kids and I tagged along.

While we were at the mall the kids found this really cool, interactive floor/picture/thing.

And they discovered the escalators.

Apparently going up and down them by yourself CAREFULLY is all the rage with the younger crowd.

At least that's how my kids acted.

The nice thing is that the escalators were really small hence me feeling comfortable with the whole thing.

Afterwards we headed over to K's cousin's house.

Oh my word.

It was one of those afternoons that you want your kids to remember forever because it was so amazing.

There were lots of kids and fun and sun AND Abby was her good 'ol self again!

They played in the sprinkler, did a slip-n-slide, had a water balloon fight and looked for frogs.

It truly was the most magical summer day that I can think of.

There was also some grillin' and strawberry eatin' going on.

She was fiercely protective of her strawberry.

Sunday morning we headed over to my in-law's hotel so the kids could get in some last minute swimming and then we headed out for lunch.

Then K got me a vanilla cupcake cappuccino and Adison pretended to squish things while waiting for K to pump gas.

All 13 of us {K's parents, the five of us plus his sister, her hubby and their 4 kids} had some good food and all headed back to good 'ol Kansas.

On the way home we hit some AWFUL weather.

We saw the storm coming at us and it actually made me kind of nervous.

I looked up at the clouds at one point and told K that I saw rotation in the clouds.

Then the entire thing started rotating and the winds hit hard!

K said that the leaves came off of the trees and started spinning around on the road.

{I was too busy staring at the sky.}

We hightailed it out of there only to be slammed with rain so hard that you couldn't see very far in front of you while getting hit by the wind.

We discovered later via the radio that a lot of building sustained roof damage and one roof was ripped completely off of a house!

Down the road a bit a semi jack-knifed and they closed it for a bit.

Luckily no one was hurt.

It was a pretty long drive home though.

We were all pretty sick of being in the car.

This picture of Ainsley sums it up perfectly.

Ha ha!

We truly had the most wonderful time!

We are ready to head back!

How was your weekend?

Do you ever not hit publish?

I have found that sometimes I don't hit publish after writing a post.

Normally it is a post that I have felt compelled to write that is either deep or too real to share.

You know the raw, emotional stuff that a lot of us like to pretend that it doesn't exist.
Other times I write something and then forget about it, oops.

Sometimes when struggling with what to write about I peruse all of those draft blogs.

I read them and wonder why I felt nervous about publishing them in the first place.

Then I chicken out AGAIN and leave them sitting there with the word draft next to it.

Sometimes I envision writing up a blog post forewarning everyone that I am going to publish all of my brain vomit all at once to then be free of it.

Or maybe scheduling them to post at like 3:00 in the morning.

It's not that I have anything scary or secretive in those posts, some of them are just boring nothings and others are the things that just feel really personal.

Here are a list of things that I have either chickened out of writing OR have written and never pushed publish:

Having some postpartum depression after having Abby.

Every time I hear a certain song I think of Emma.

I even wrote a post talking about politics *gasp*

Some posts are silly:

K cutting down a tree in our front yard and it looking like a totem pole.

Going swimsuit shopping for the first time in seven years.

Some of these are just things that I write and forget about.

Some of them though I hold close to my heart and protect, they just feel scary to let go of.

Does anyone else just not hit publish?

No?

Oh, is it just me that does this?

I finally went to the doctor

I woke up this morning fever free {yippee!} but my ear was hurting and I was having a sinus headache.

I finally decided that I had had enough and it was time to go to the doctor.

Yes, I am one of those people that avoid going to the doctor when sick.

 

Adison slept in this morning so I didn't leave as early as I had planned to.

I am really glad that she slept as long as she did, homegirl needed some sleep.

She finally admitted to staying up late in bed reading.

I can't blame her, I was the exact same way!

 

Shortly after Adison woke up Abby bit it.

Bad.

She tripped on a blanket and hit her head on our little indoor trampoline.

She didn't really cry much but it immediately looked awful.

Rather than freak out about it I decided to take her up to see K so that we could decide together what to do.

Everything else looked good; pupil size, not throwing up, acting fine, not sleeping, in fact she was really happy!

So we decided not to take her in but to keep an eye on it.

 

 Luckily the swelling started going down shortly after this picture was taken.

Ouch, but seriously she could care less.

Kids are tough!

After we left K's work I took the kids to Sonic to pick up some lunch.

We then headed over to the doctor's office.

As it turns out I have a sinus infection and an ear infection.

Yep, antibiotics.

I hope they start working quick.

My ear is hurting!

 The kids were marvelous at the doctor's office.

None of the usual shenanigans that usually occur.

Such. a. relief.

Hopefully Abby's head and my ear will be better tomorrow.

I am optimistic folks!

P.S. K is taking Adison to her first baseball game tonight!

I asked him to take lots of pictures so I can share tomorrow.

Oh, it was also a surprise for her.

I love surprising my kiddos.

She was so excited to have some time with Daddy.

Little does she know that there will be other surprise people there too!

Some Tuesday Randoms

1. We are supposed to get slammed by more storms this evening. The town where my mom lives {about 2 1/2 hours south} was told to expect horrendous storms with the possibility of causing ef4 to ef5 level tornadoes. Needless to say, this weather is scary.

2. My mom has a friend who's husband is doing search and rescue in Joplin, MO. He said that the level of devastation down there is absolutely overwhelming. Her friend also has a friend that lives there and she still does not know what has happened to her husband. I simply cannot comprehend the loss and devastation. My heart and prayers go out to everyone affected by this weather.

3. Adison only has a 1/2 day of school left. I cannot believe how quickly 2nd grade went and how much she has changed and matured. It's staggering really.

4. Abby has a new word. "Up" Although she doesn't just say it once. Instead we hear, "up up up up up up up up up up" It darling and it melts me, a lot.

5. Ainsley, well she being her cute, sassy self. She said something REALLY funny earlier and now I can't remember it for the life of me. Sigh.

6. Do you remember me telling you about Annabelle? Well, she went home today!!!! Isn't that such amazing, wonderful news! It makes my so happy for their family and I am so grateful to God.

7. I have actually been sleeping the last few nights. Shocking, isn't it!?!

8. Add on that shocking news is that all three girls have slept in the last two days, I have actually had to wake them up. N.O.W. if only I can get that to continue into the summer, I will be a happy lady.

Okay, that's it for now. I have to go get Adison's costume ready for her assembly tomorrow. I hope that you all are doing well and staying safe.

xoxo, me

Awful weather and some needed prayers

Yesterday I wrote about the storm that came through our town. It was such a scary moment that really brought home the fears of living here in the Midwest. But, We are safe, a tornado didn't touch down.

 I heard last night that a tornado ripped through a town here in Kansas. One person was killed and 20 homes were destroyed.

This evening I just heard about a storm that ripped through the town of Joplin, MO. The town was hit very hard. The hospital itself took a direct hit.

I feel so awful for everyone affected by these storms.

I know from our sermon from yesterday that we are called to not be fearful. However, this is a scary time. There is serious hurt and need going on.

Will you please join me in praying for all of those affected by this?

We had a nasty storm roll in

Update:
The storms in the Midwest have been truly awful.
Someone died from a tornado in our state last night and 200 homes were destroyed.
I also just heard about another tornado hitting the town of Joplin, MO. From reports it sounds awful.
Please join me in praying for all of those affected by this terrifying and cautostrophic weather.

This evening we attending church.

The key verse that our pastor was speaking about was Philippians 1:27.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see your or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

He was mainly focusing on the fact that we, as followers of Christ, will experience salvation and suffering. A main point of suffering that he was speaking on was fear. We were about 3/4 of the way through the service when we heard the tornado sirens going off. This, in and of itself, was not a huge deal. {We live in Kansas after all.} However, the fact that we were in church when it went off was a first for us. We picked up the little kiddos from the nursery and met with Adison downstairs in the basement. Her church program is down there. Since there were so many people in the basement {and a ton of children} our pastor said a prayer regarding fear and our current situation. Our pastor is REALLY funny, so he had all of us laughing, kept the mood light and just handled the situation perfectly. Then our worship leader started playing some music. It was really fun and a pleasant time. {Keep in mind that we live in tornado alley, so tornado sirens going off in May is not a big surprise.} Ainsley is apparently NOT a fan of loud music though as this was her position pretty much the entire time.

All in all we were in the basement for about forty-five minutes. After we were given the all clear we decided to run an errand and head home. We had just stepped outside when someone commented on the wall cloud outside. This is what we saw. Then the sirens went off again.

I have to say that I have lived in the Midwest the majority of my life and have had my fair share of bad weather. I have NEVER seen a wall cloud like this before. I took all of these pics with my phone and the storm was actually closer than it appears here. The storm was moving the opposite way of us so we were completely safe.

I talked with my mom about all of the weather and mentioned to her the fact that our neighborhood was COVERED in leaves. It looked as though someone had picked up the trees and shook them around a bit, there were leaves everywhere. Luckily though there weren't any fallen limbs. As I was sitting in the driveway talking to here I mentioned the fact that we didn't appear to have gotten any hail at our house when I looked down and saw all of this.

I measured the hail in the bottom picture and it measured 1 1/2 inches across. After K got home I mentioned the hail to him and he told me that his friend that lives over by us called him to tell him that we had baseball sized hail by our house. Yikes!

Thankfully we are all safe and sound. We did have another storm pass through, but it just had some thunder and lightening. I am praying that the storms are done for the night.

I hope that you all are safe and had a fun Saturday!