Life has been happening in a crazy whirlwind, literally, around here. I barely get through one and then another hits. Let me begin with the wind. Well we were hit with hurricane Ike on Sunday, and I don't mean a few puffs of wind, it was a lot of big wind blowing all around for about 3 or 4 hours. It was hurricane force winds, I heard from various people that it was about 70-100 MPH winds. trees uprooted, roofing materials picked apart, and power lines down. After the storm at stopped in the tri-state area there was only about 40,000 homes and businesses with electricity. If you ran out of gas there was none to get. The few gas stations with gas quickly ran out. Grocery stores were closed and the ones who did open did not have anything cold. Anyone who has lived their whole life in this area will tell you they have never seen anything like it. Was it predicted? I do not recall hearing about it until it did hit. I had heard that we could get some of hurricane Ike and I figured liked most that it would be some rain, it rained softly for about 1/2 hour or so. Many were without power for days following the storm, some may be without still. We were blessed in the fact our lines are connected with the City Building, and that is first priority due to emergency services need to be up and running quickly. I think our power was out about 4 hours all together. Unfortunately I do not have pictures because the days following the storm included cleaning up and making sure my mother-in-law was taken care of, her electricity did not come on until tuesday afternoon. Other then a some tree limbs and a bunch of leaves and little branches we did not have much storm damage. I feel blessed that God would take care of us, even though others may have had worse in this area none of us are going though the devestation in Texas. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

The next whirlwind is the dentist, we have all been going through our bi-annual checkups the kids are all good, Randy had a tooth cracked all the way down and had to get a crown. He had a lot of trouble eating until the tooth was fixed, thankfully he did not need a root canal. I have to have some work on some teeth that have been giving me problems, one was this week. I am not good the dentist chair, I squirm and sometimes cry. Its a whole big mess so I now take a little pill to help me be calm before I go to the dentist. It has made a world of difference, the only problem is I am pretty wiped out for the rest of the day from the medicine.

Ok, whirlwind #3, a fieldtrip. Yesterday we went to a firedepartment for a field trip with a group from out church. It was fun for the kids. They got to get in the fire trucks and ambulance and ask question. They were given a firesafety talk and also got the see where the firemen eat and relax between emergencies. I think the kids enjoyed it. I don't have my pictures yet but when I get them I will post them so you can enjoy. As for whirlwind #4, I am waiting on that one but when it hits I can face it head on knowing that Jesus is beside me to help and guide me through. Recently a women doing political campaigning for Obama knocked on the door of a house and started talking to the man who lived there and asked who he would vote for when he told her McCain and Palin, her responce was,"aren't you afraid of the next four years", he smiled and said, "As long as I have Jesus what do I have to be afraid about". That is how I want to face each day. As long as I have Jesus what do I have to be afraid about?