Friday, April 29, 2011

Tornadoes & floods.

So while the storm that raged over our southeastern states left tornadoes in some parts things are a bit different in Memphis. The rain mixed with an extremely high Mississippi River? The river is at historical flood heights, yet it isn't due to crest until next week. Many of the streams and small rivers that flow out of the Mississippi are left with nowhere to go. One of these rivers, the Wolf River, has overtaken my hometown of Germantown, Tennessee. I drove around today to take pictures since the river hasn't been this high since the 1930s.

What a week of history, huh? One of the largest tornado outbreaks that somehow went just a bit south of here sparing our city but overtaking other Tennessee cities, Mississippi towns, Alabama cities, & so many other states. Then there is a royal wedding in the United Kingdom that occured today. Meanwhile, historic flood levels threaten to overtake homes in this area. So like all the other rubberneckers, I sought some pics to document. I thought it might be interesting for some other Memphis natives who no longer live here to see what's been going on.

This is a home in Germantown. The Wolf River usually sits WAY behind those trees. I've never seen something so close to a person's house!
Posted by Picasa

This is kind of insane. I took this picture not far from Cameron Brown Park.
Posted by Picasa

This would be the area behind Chick-fil-a Germantown, where the old Wal-mart parking lot used to be. The entire trail is under water. So, this is the backyard of Chick-fil-a (which is still open by the way).
Posted by Picasa

Yeah, this is still behind the Chick-fil-a.
Posted by Picasa

This is driving down the Pkwy in the fields by the Agricenter.
Posted by Picasa

This is the Sunflower Fields covered by water from Wolf River.
Posted by Picasa

I was standing at the Butcher Shop, here looking out towards the road. Now just imagine, Chick-fil-a is about three or four lights down.
Posted by Picasa

This was driving towards Chick-fil-a.
Posted by Picasa
So there ya have it. Mother Nature at her worst right now in the southeast leaving all kinds of craziness!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Our toy mishap.

Micah likes to help me out in the kitchen a whole lot. Ok, not really. But as I clean the kitchen or when I'm baking, he sits in this chair a lot. It gets him in the upright position, and it gives us some bonding time. :) At any rate, I was doing the laundry and heard this random cry from him in the chair. While the good mother would have rushed to give him his toy back...I rushed for my camera. I guess I'm mean like that, but who wants to miss a photo op like this? It looks really staged, but I promise...it happened! Look where he had dropped his toy! It's a hard life having a toy stuck on your foot. Tough stuff, I'm telling you.

Posted by Picasa


Posted by Picasa


Posted by Picasa

My heart is oh so heavy. The tornadoes. Oh, the tornadoes.

Usually, I try to backblog. (For those of you who aren't on the up & up--"backblog" is Mrs. C speak for going backwards in time and pretend I blogged in a nice, human order when really you just pulled an all nighter of blogging all at once.) Tonight, I'm breaking my own rule and blogging what is going on now. I'll finish up Easter posts later. (And I'll also finish up that awful post that didn't load all the pictures. Thanks for nothing, Picasa.)

I am on the verge of tears over the devastation that is taking place all around me. I live in the southeastern USA, and I have lived here my entire life. All twenty-nine plus 3 years of it. I know so many people scattered across the south, and I am overwhelmed by the fact this could have been us.

You see, when the storm system started coming through it was Monday. On Tuesday, I went to WOM (Women on Mission) at my church as usual (well for my fake SAHM time) around 10 AM knowing storms were coming in that afternoon. I came home around 1ish after sewing (yes! I sewed--well, kind of) in the Faith Stitchers group, ate lunch, picked up Micah, and went to the grocery store with Mr. C. We were almost out of everything except meat, so we figured we'd get out before the storm hit. The clouds were ominous, and we were hurrying to get home before the 4pm arrival of more rain. What followed were hours of uninterrupted tornado warnings, sirens, urgency by weather forecasters of the uniqueness of this day, & my family hunkered down in our master bathroom.

I'm so afraid of tornadoes.

But this was the third Monday or Tuesday in a row that we'd seen this. Tornado warnings. Sirens. Devastation. Power outages. In fact, Monday night after some wall to wall coverage, I was tired of it all. Absolutely tired. So tired because I stayed up late into the night when nothing happened on Monday. I was convinced it was all a crock, and our weather forecasters were just plain overstating this "Weather EVENT." I mean on Monday it was just rain.

But that was Monday.

By Tuesday evening, I made a decision to bring Micah into our closet so he could sleep. I reasoned I was probably overcautious because nothing was happening. But I didn't want to run across the house, scoop him up, and something happen to him in the middle of the night. As Tuesday night rolled on, I was scared out of my wits because constant tornado warnings were issued. The wind whipped around my chimney, it howled & swirled. Rain pelted. I knew it was bad as our power flickered, and I freaked out. I helplessly watched weather forecasts on my laptop, made a pallet for myself in the floor of the bathroom, and somehow fell asleep. This was probably the first time I've missed the carpet that used to be in the bathroom!

When I woke up on Wednesday morning, the crick in my neck was indescribable. I thought to myself, "What a drama queen. Idiot. Why did you sleep in the bathroom?"

Then Wednesday happened.

It continued all day. South of us, warning after warning. City after city pounded by tornadoes. I prayed constantly for the people of Mississippi. Was there a tornado? Reports were sketchy. The Memphis area wasn't out of the woods, either. It kept happening around us, too. By three or four pm, it was over. The sun came out, and Mr. C & I headed to Wednesday night church where Bro Danny spoke on having faith in God despite the bad things in life. Where did your faith lie? How ominous that was without even knowing it at the time.

Selfishly, I don't even remember thinking about the fact these two almost three days of storms would move onto another location. I didn't really think about the fact that other people might be in the path. I didn't even think it was that bad, really. We weathered it, made it through. Another tornado experience to check off our long list of tornado experiences.

When we got home from church, I got on Twitter where massive tweets started hitting me in the face. Videos. Facebook status posts. I sat in awe of God's mighty hand.

Then Thursday came. The death toll continues to rise. Higher. And higher. And these poor people only brief hours away from me have died. I've been through Birmingham more times than I can count. I know people there. My heart hurts for them. I physically ache for them. Please pray for them. Please.

And if you don't know about your salvation. If you have questions. If you need someone to talk to about your faith. EMAIL ME. confidentuntilcompletion gmail com. There is no time guaranteed in this world. The Lord does what He wills.

It could have been me. It could have been our city. I don't understand how God does things. I don't know why Memphis was spared, but Tuscaloosa was not. I don't know, but I do know it is worth your eternal life to get yourself straightened out spiritually before Jesus comes back.

Would you have been ready???

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

We keep trying. He still hates it.

Well, I think we've figured out why Micah hates tummy time so. I'm going to blame it on his fingers. Little dude would literally suck his fingers off if we let him & if it were physically possible. He just isn't an optimal finger sucking position when he is on his stomach. I mean, it is a lot more work to get those fingers into his mouth when you are using your hands to support yourself.

I like to call this face, "Mama, would you just STOP IT ALREADY. Don't you know I hate this tummy stuff?" At this rate, he'll probably never crawl. I'm being overly dramatic, but I really do wish he'd start liking this already. Or at some point. Maybe not?
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter post #4. Now you know why it has taken me so long to catch up.

Well, welcome to the final installment of Easter 2011 at Casa Confident. We ate a lot, had multiple Easter egg hunts, and took lots of pictures! Our evening continued with an Easter egg hunt for the boys.

Well, for a boy named Ebin since Micah didn't exactly know what was going on this year. It is crazy to even think that he'll be hunting eggs next year.

On with the pics! (Again, thanks Aunt KerKer for the pictures!)

Ebin goes out for some eggs!

Why must Easter mean embarrassing the young?
It's just more fun that way.

My parents get in on the action of hunting eggs. I think the guys were inside eating or something.

I watch, Micah sucks his fingers.

Ebs wanted to show his cousin an orange egg he found.

KayKay and her grandkids. Surprise! Ebs smiled for us!

Ebin is really into his tractor.

Then he wanted the baby in the back where he proceeded to show Micah eggs. I hope these boys will be the best of friends over the years!

Micah wants to eat the eggs.

Ebin, Micah, & the eggs.

Mommy stops to hold Micah for a bit. Micah stops to suck his fingers.

The Easter eggs must have been scared seeing the giant child come after them.

Aw. Cousins & friends. Micah's going to join in playing with you really soon, Ebin!

Ebin says farewell. And so do we. (At least for Easter, that is.)

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!!

Easter post #3

After enjoying a fabulous lunch and wonderful afternoon with Mr. Confident's family, we headed north to spend time with my family for Easter supper. When we got there, my mom had outdone herself as usual! We had ham, dressing with gravy, corn pudding (made by me!), hash brown casserole (made by my sister!), and many other wonderful dishes. The boys enjoyed their Easter baskets from KayKay and Papa (Micah's third of the day!) as well as time playing with each other. Here are some of our pictures from the day. (Thanks, Aunt KerKer for taking the pictures!!)

Easter baskets from the grandparents.

We had an impromptu photo shoot with the boys. It can be rare to get a photo without Micah's fingers in his mouth. This outfit was made by my mom! :)

KayKay purchased this fun tractor for the boys to play with. Ebin's carrying around some presh cargo, huh? Don't worry, we only posed them a whole bunch. There was no movement of the actual tractor by either cousin.

Our first Easter as a family of three.

Uncle Jase, Aunt KerKer, & Ebin

Me & my main man.

The girls pose for a picture.

Hopefully Keren won't kill me for putting this on our blog, but she posted it on facebook. I figured that means it is ok. Ebin is going through a "no picture" phase right now, and he wasn't in the mood to stand and smile. So this was the outcome...

Daddy with Dale, Jason trying to hold Ebin, Christopher laughing with Micah.

Our entire family with Ebin trying to hide from the camera behind Uncle Dale.

My parents

Ebs loves his cars, so KayKay gave him car candy. In true Ebin style, he didn't actually eat the candy. (He doesn't like candy!) He just played with the chocolate cars.

Daddy holding Micah at Easter dinner.

Micah laughing. Kind of. So hard to catch his smiles these days!

Papa with his grandkids and Uncle Dale.

Hugs and kisses for a great Easter Sunday!
But that's not all. More pictures to come in Easter post #4.