Photo Catch Up

 

Mother's Day 2013

 

A sand message from Kailey and Natalie

 

Kailey at Island Beach State Park...the cold water temp and cool breeze made for a not so warm beach day!  We had fun anyway :)

 

Snack time!

 

Smile Bella!

 

Mommy bought us paints...let's see how big of a mess I can make :)

 

Concentrating.  Kailey loves art.  In fact, she was chosen to be an art helper next year for her last school year at Clara B. Worth Elementary.

 

More photo's coming soon! 

Catching Up

My semester at BCC has started up again, however, I am only taking two classes so I won't be as swamped as I was in the Fall.  I wish things were different and I was able to complete that semester, but I've come to terms with it. 

I received some great news last week....my Lupus is in remission!  I'm very thankful that this has happened because Lupus is a potentially fatal disease.  It may sound strange, but I am also thankful that the Lord allowed me to have Lupus.  I learned so much about myself this past year.  I learned how to take better care of my body, and how fragile and precious health is.  I know that Lupus can come back any day or time, but I am not worried about that.  I did receive a bit of bad news as well.  The numbers for my Rheumatoid Arthritis are way up, which would explain my severe joint pain and fatigue recently.  Out of the two, I would rather have RA be my worst enemy right now.  I can tackle it!  Lupus is more difficult.  I'm staying active these days and eating fresh and light, and I feel so good on the inside.  My favorite snacks are fruit salad, celery with a little peanut butter, key lime pie yogurt, almonds, or a bowl full of carrots. 

Another food change I made has been good for the whole family.  Three weeks ago, I began planning out meals for the week.  I type them up in a Word document, print it out, and post it on the fridge.  Kailey and Natalie will ask me two or three times a day what we are having for dinner.  This way, I can point them to the menu.  It's also made grocery shopping more efficient and organized.  Tom and I were getting tired of having the same old foods for dinner.  The menu idea allows for variety, mainly because you are planning meals ahead of time rather than trying to scrounge something up last minute.  More time for fun and healthy, but yummy, meals is my cup of tea!  More than all this, it prevents eating out, which is a bad habit for us.  We love to eat out but it's just too expensive and the food is loaded with sodium and calories.  I find that cooking for your family from scratch provides so many benefits.  YOU control what goes in the food. 

On that note, I must study and work on the menu for next week! 

Happy Thanksgiving from New Jersey

After a stressful storm and cleanup, our family reunited with friends from New York for a wonderful Thanksgiving.  The Perry family and ours decided last year to make this a tradition, at least until one of us is no longer living in this area.  I wonder who will move first?????  That is the million dollar question :)

This Thanksgiving was special for many reasons.  We had so many things to be thankful for, and we had the great priviledge of meeting Sienna Rose Perry.  She was such a good baby!  What a blessing to have a baby in the house again.  I grew up with Christian and Alysia in Colorado, and words can't express how awesome it is to see those two grow as a couple and now as parents!  The Lord is truly amazing.

Tom cooked the turkey this year, while Alysia and I handled the sides.  Although, Tom did have to step out of the house a few times for fire calls, but that's to be expected on Thanksgiving.  Too many ovens in use I guess.  We all drove over to Tom's cousin's house for desert, where Sienna continued to wow and amaze our family and my cheesecake made Brenda happy :)  By the end of the day we were all stuffed but just couldn't resist a little plate of leftovers in the evening.

On Friday, we continued our traditions with the annual Brady Tree Decorating!  Last year I had pneumonia so we waited, but this year it was on.  Christian and Alysia joined in the festivities and we all had a great time.  Alysia was sad because we didn't put our Christmas village up, and kept insisting that we do so.  The more I think about it, I think she is right. I'm not being a Scrooge by not putting it up, but it requires furniture to be moved into the guest room, and we do have company coming next week.  So after they leave, my dear Alysia, we will put the village up!  I will take pictures just for you!

Saturday we all ventured out with family to the Barnegat Lighthouse.  It was extremely cold and windy.  We all climbed to the top, but I didn't last long at the top.  I am deeply afraid of heights and my legs and mind couldn't handle it :( 

To finish off their last night here at the Jersey shore, we invited our neighbor's over for dinner and spirited game of "Hand and Foot", a game I haven't played in years.  But it all came back to me very quickly. 

Sadly, the next morning, we had to say goodbye to our dear friend's.  The house was quiet after they left and we all felt lonely.  It's hard to say goodbye to a fun visit and wonderful people who you care about so much.  I am planning a Mommy's Spring Break in May, and all of us are planning to go out there in the summer.  I am looking forward to exploring Ithaca and that part of New York. 

Enjoy the pictures!

 

Tom and the girl's prepping the turkey.

Into the oven!

A game of Monolopy while the turkey is cooking.

Christian and Sienna

Alysia told me that Sienna loves music, so we found the pefect spot for her to hang out!

Tangled?

Kailey feeding Sienna.

Some floor time with Sienna and Alysia.

Feeding the swans and ducks.

We all took a trip to the Barnegat Lighthouse.  Yes, I climbed all the way to the top despite my fear of heights.  Why?  I didn't want my children to see that their Mommy is a big chicken.

Sienna :)

The Perry family.

Aunt Julia :)

Another photo of a beautiful family :)

Oldest and dearest friend's and our babies :)

Kailey and Sienna.  She LOVED helping change diapers, dress, bathe and feed Sienna.

Uncle Tom!

Natalie and Sienna :)

Fishing boats at Viking Village by the Barnegat Lighthouse.  We found out that the movie, "The Perfect Storm" used this area for part of the film.

My little clam :)

A view from one of the window's of the lighthouse on the way up to the top. 

Hurricane Sandy

New Jersey, along with 23 other states, experienced a monster storm named Sandy.  Originally this storm was forcasted to move along the east coast and go out to sea.  However, she had other plans.  Not only did this category one hurricane hit the east coast, but it merged with a nor'easter which wreaked havoc on the coastal locations of the east coast.  While this storm was creating problems for the north east, the outer bands of the storm were still down in the Carolina's!  Due to the size of the storm it earned nicknames like 'Frankenstorm' and 'Superstorm Sandy.'  For those of us along the coast of New Jersey and New York, we were pounded as we took a direct hit from the storm.  At our house we experienced 80 mph winds, flooding, and snapped branches from trees.  Let's not forget that we were in a full moon, high tide, and the storm produced an 8 foot water surge.  This storm was very different from Irene, but then they are never the same as the storm before.  Many people didn't evacuate from the barrier islands, which cost lives.  The damage is unreal.  As I am typing this, it has been a week and two days since the storm and yet as of yesterday 900,000 people are still without power.  To make this whole situation worse, as I am typing this a nor'easter is hitting us again.  We are having rain and snow right now with barely any wind, but the wind is going to pick up to about 50 mph later this afternoon. 

Please keep in mind that the picture's I am posting were taken the morning after the storm.  The water levels are still high, but the night before they were so much higher.  We survived the storm and have lived to tell about it.  It was brutal, but even in storm's God is faithful to us.  He provided protection and we are thankful.

This photo was taken the morning after the storm.  The water was much higher than this the night before. 

Our firewood tarp was unzipped by the wind!  Even the knots that I made to tie it down came out.

This was taken after Tom and I cleaned up all the debris from the front.  The girl's didn't get to trick or treat but we did paint and carve our pumpkins. 

The front debris included items that didn't belong to us.  After we took these pictures, high tide came in again so we had to leave for a few hours.  When we came back, these items were gone.  I guess washed away to another home.

The car did have water rise up on it but not enough to go into the car.  We filed a claim just to be on the safe side, and the adjuster did a thorough investigation and all is well.  We did have to run it through the car wash to get the salt water off .

The water came over the bulkhead, which has never happened during any storm at this house.  I guess there is a first time for everything!  I'm very surprised the duck is still there on the step because water covered those steps as well.

This piling was completely covered the night before.  This was what I used for a marker to see how high the water was rising.

Our neighbor's boat cover ripped from the wind, and their house also flooded.  The have to replace all the carpet on the first floor of their house.  I believe they are going to use tile instead.

Our cousin, Brady, surveying the aftermath with us.

Our street, Albatross Point, was completely flooded and much, much worse the night before.  The water was up to my thighs when I reached the end of the driveway.  This street has never flooded in any storm.  But the Ocean met the bay during this storm.

Thank goodness for the crawl space!!!!  Were it not for this, our house would have had at least 2 feet of standing water.  This is the entrance from the side of the house.  We pump the water into the lagoon, which took about 2 hours. 

Tom pumping out the remainder of the water from the crawl space.  This opening is from inside the house.  We had to use a shop vac to suck up the water, then we poured it into a bucket and used a pool pump to pump the water through a hose to the street.  It took two days to do that.  A very long process.  End result....new heating duct is being installed tonight...insulation has to be replaced as well.

This was the lagoon the night before.  As you can see the water level is very high and at this point, there hadn't been a storm surge.  So it's easy to see how easily the water rose.

What Can God Show Me?

The title of today's blog comes from watching the movie "Soul Surfer."  I have watched this movie with Kailey and Natalie several times, and we love it!  What an inspiration for my girl's and a great example of what God can do with your life, no matter what the circumstances.

As I'm typing this, the power is flickering and threatening to go off due to the hurricane.  So I have to hurry and make this fast and get my point across. 

As many times as I have watched this movie, today it really hit me in a different way.  At the beginning of the movie, Bethany backs away from her commitment to a youth group trip to Mexico due to surfing.  Her youth group leader tells her that they were counting on her and will miss her.  Even her Mom helps her see that her priorities may not be where they should.  Then, Bethany is attacked by a shark, loses one of her arm's, and tries to surf again only to briefly give up out of frustration.  Next, we see Bethany in Thailand after the Tsunami.  Her eyes are completely opened by the pain and suffering of the people.  It's in this moment that I think Bethany can see what is outside of surfing.  Not that she couldn't before, but like all of us, she got caught up in competition's and training that her focus was shifted. 

So one can wonder, did God allow her to be attacked by a shark so that she could see all of this?  I don't know about that, but what I do know from personal experience is that in every circumstance and situation of our lives, God CAN and WILL use that to reveal something much bigger than we could ever imagine.  For Bethany, maybe she saw that there is a world outside of surfing.  God has gifted her with an unbelievable talent to surf, but there is more to her than surfing.  Because of her attack and loss of her arm, she has the opportunity to show the world the love of God and what he can accomplish in any circumstance.  What a testimony! 

So as we go through our own lives and wonder "why did I go through this" or "why did God do this to me," maybe ask the question "what can God show me?"  Better yet, PRAY and ask God directly...."what can you show me?"

By the way, if you haven't seen "Soul Surfer" please watch it asap!  Also, youtube has some great interview's of Bethany Hamilton and her testimony.  I haven't read the book yet but I plan to.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I finally conquered the task of making homemade cinnamon rolls!  This recipe is courtesy of Alton Brown from the Food Network website.  This recipe wasn't very hard, you just need to allow plenty of time for prep and baking.  It's a two day process as the rolls need to sit overnight in the fridge.  Trust me when I tell you, it's worth it!  These are truly delish! 

Ahoy!

Yes, our family has a new addition!!!!  A used, but very well kept, Striper Seaswirl boat!  We are very excited for next summer :)  On Sunday, Captain Tom took us for a family boat ride around the bay.  The sky was perfect blue, crisp air, and beautiful tree's with fall colors.  We had a great ride and can't wait to take our friends and family out when they visit! 

 

The weather folk are predicting a bad winter for the east coast, so a few weeks ago we chopped our remaining firewood from last season, and with the help of the girl's we have a nice rack of firewood all ready to keep us warm and toasty!

It's amazing what a little teamwork will do. We stacked all of this in no time!