Another Blessing: God's protection!

On April 9, 2011 we had my 84 year old grandpa, Cy, over for dinner. He loves pork burgers and know he lives alone and doesn't like to cook so we try to invite him fairly often. He's also a really funny man and I love the fact that even as a 30 year old woman, I get to spend time with my grandpa. Anyway--that night right as we were finishing up dinner (around 7 p.m.) it started raining pretty hard with the threat of hail. Grandpa said "Man, I got to get Jazzy home so she doesn't get hail damage". Our family has named his Buick Terazza Jazzy because he's so proud of it. He's proud of it but he's cheap...er...frugal. He didn't have full coverage on Jazzy...liability only. Didn't want hail damage on her. So, he ate and left.

About 9:30 that night, it started getting really bad. So bad that our (cheaply built) house was shaking. After putting off waking the kids up from their slumber, we woke them and took them out in the pouring rain, wind, and hail. We drove over a few blocks Grandma Donna and Papa Ike's who have a basement. After almost tripping on the 35' evergreen that had uprooted and landed across their front porch, blocking their front door, ran around to the back of the house and got in. Not fun carrying 2 little kids, but we made it...Praise God.

While waiting out the storm, my aunt Brenda called me. "We can't get ahold of Grandpa...can someone go out and check on him?" I knew my parents were out of town (they live a mile away) so I said as soon as the storm passed, we'd go. No sooner than we got off of the phone with her, my brother Adam called. He's a BV county deputy who got called into work. He had stopped over to check on grandpa quick before he went to work. Adam reported that grandpa was ok but that a tornado had ripped through the entire house and was GONE. Praise God for his protection. There was SO much debris and clatter that he could have easily gotten hurt badly if not killed. God must have been there with him that night. He's not ready for him yet and for that, we're thankful!

This is just one of the many abundant blessings that occur in my life and the reason for starting this blog. I'm so very thankful for so many things....one of the things I'm most thankful for is my Grandfather, Cyril. I love you "Papa Cy"!

Here are some photos from the wreckage on April 9th:



My Grandparents house...days before Grandma Barb passed away





Front of the house after the tornado



"The Miracle Room"...Grandma's room was left untouched



1744 Sierra Ave. is destroyed but Grandpa is OK!!! Praise God!

Kids say the darndest things...

It hit me today that Alexis has said SO many funny things in her life and I can't remember what 99% of them are because I never write them down. I'm going to blog tonight about a few of the funny things she's said this past week and then continue to add to it so someday I can make some scrapbook pages out of her funnies! Here are a few to start...

Funny #1: Grandparents day...3/24/11. Alexis brought my parents to my classroom to see me and I had stepped out for a minute. She asked one of the students in there where I was and the student said "I don't know" in which Alexis replied in her dramatic voice. "UGHT OH...THIS ISN"T GOOD!"

Funny #2: Papa Cy's Birthday 4/1/11 Alexis asks how old papa is going to be. Grandma Robin replies, 84. Alexis goes..."80, 90, WHOA..that's almost 100"

Funny #3: In the car 4/2/11 Alexis..."What does Italian mean".
Mommy~ "Being Italian would mean that someone from your family would have been from Italy." (followed by some explanation about family heritage"
Alexis~ "What language do the Italian speak"
Mommy~ "Italian".
Alexis~"What's Italian."
Mommy~ "It's a different language that I don't know."
Alexis~ "hahahaha(lots of giggling) You don't know the Italian language???"
Mommy~ "Nope"
Alexis~"Are we Italian".
Mommy~ "No, we're German...Papa's grandpa came from Germany"
Alexis~ "Oh, what language do Germaneese speak?"
Mommy~ "German...Guten Morgan....then I start reciting the German alphabet and told her I learned that in 7th grade"
Alexis~ "BAWAHAHAHAHA. 7th Grade?? You're supposed to learn the alphabet in KINDERGARTEN!!!"

Funny #4: In the car 4/2/11 After having a conversation about whether Uncle Mud would give her a ticket or take her to jail for not wearing a seatbelt she says "No, he would never do that because he knows us but MOM, Let's face it.... just follow the rules so we don't have to DEAL (in her dramatic voice again) with that."