Hurricane Party

My Mom, Dad, brother, and their dog Sam were evacuated from Beaumont last week, so they stayed with us while Hurricane Ike blew threw. We enjoyed having them here! My poor dad had to work nearly the entire time he was here because he's the plant manager at one of the big chemical plants in Orange and it was just a mess there. The plant had at least 1 foot of water in it...not a good thing at all! My dad has a very busy next few months getting things all back up and running. 

Josiah really LOVED my brother, John. He has been going into the sun room (where my brother slept) and has been all around the house looking for him since they left. They played on the air mattress a lot, he like to be bounced around. He even tried to be superman and jumped off and got his first bloody nose. I was in the kitchen when it happened, and all I heard was a blood curling scream and John bringing Josiah to me. He said, "Josiah just stood up on the bed and jumped head first before I had time to react!" It was just a little bloody nose, no big deal, and it won't be the last. 

While they were here my mom was stir crazy, so she stayed busy doing all sorts of things. She wanted to wash all of the windows on the inside and out, so she put John to work too. He was thrilled as you can see from the picture. The windows were filthy, and looked like they hadn't been wiped in 20 years. The weather has been nice since the hurricane blew threw, so we opened all of the windows and cleaned in the house too. I get so much more accomplished when my mom is here!
My mom also enjoyed playing with Josiah. He always followed her when she would leave the room. I snapped these pictures when they were playing in the front yard.

After a hard evening of playing with John, Josiah got sleepy so John picked him up and starting stroking his cheeks and head. Josiah looked like he was in a trance. It was so sweet. I am so amazed at how good my brother is with Josiah. He will be a great dad one day. 
My mom and brother went on to Oklahoma City to visit my sister and grandparents...because it will take a while for all of the power to be restored in Beaumont.  But tomorrow, Justin's mom, brother, his wife, and their foreign exchange student are coming from the Houston are.  They have been without power since last Saturday and gas is getting sparse around there so they won't have much longer to run their generators. We'll have another full house! I've been doing laundry and cleaning like crazy trying to get everything ready for them to come.

 

I am thankful for our spacious house and all of the food that I was blessed with and able to stock up this summer so that we were/are able to provide good food to our family. I have a freezer and pantry full of food and haven't had to go to the grocery store in weeks. Isn't that amazing. God always provides! I am thankful today for all of the simple things and ways God has blessed us recently.