And speaking of Sunday, it's been too long that we've been at church! I'm really looking forward to going tomorrow and singing and hearing God's word preached! We did stop and see a church while in Belize but we didn't stay for the service. Then last Sunday we watched Hadassah play volleyball and Mike boarded another airplane and flew to Arizona for his annual week of golf.
This means I was at home all week with the kids and I CANNOT wait for Mike to join us again at home and hang out with us again! We loved, LOVED all the family time we had in Belize and it's time to get us all together in the living room tonight!!!
The week went really good for me though! I'm very grateful that this does get easier when Mike's out of town because the kids are growing up and even though I've had SO MUCH kid talk and I'm ready for some adult conversations :), it went well! I was busy and I like it that way when Mike's not home! Because Mike left Sunday morning for Arizona, I went alone to watch Hadassah play volleyball in York! The kids decided to stay home. Mike slipped me $20 before he kissed me goodbye and said, "Get yourself a good coffee on the way home!"
And that's just what I did! Thanks Babe!
Monday the kids were back in school and it was laundry and watching Felicia while Linda got some dental work done to her gums. Austin loves when she comes over and they play well together!
Tuesday Mim's boys were here while she worked. Colson and Austin were all into playing boy things! Hunting, cars and trucks and baseball all got checked off the list that day! They did good! That night I whipped up a batch of homemade Belize Burritos from a recipe I found on Pinterest! They turned out really good for being my first time making them! We filled them with Homemade Refried Beans that I also made from scratch on Sunday, scrambled eggs and cheese and then spritzed it with some Maria's hot sauce that we brought home from Belize! We sent Mike a picture of it and he was jealous all the way from the sunny Arizona state!
The refried beans I cooked in my crock pot for six hours! They were really good!
This might not look so great to you but it really tasted like Belize and with a side glass of fresh squeezed limeade, we were all in lala land!
On Wednesday Ashlyn's class had chapel and did a wonderful job! I loved it!
Austin was begging by lunch time to go see if Adrian made it home safe and sound from Florida and so I told him that we would go see if they were home and maybe go get some French fries! Matt and Lena were in Florida since we left for Belize and now that we were home almost a week, it seemed really long that we saw them! Austin and I went to their house and when we walked in both Matt and Lena were both sleeping the three boys were running around playing! I told them to go with us to Chickfila for fries and then come play at our house! I grabbed their jackets and Bryce's blanket and after telling Lena that I was taking the boys, we were out of there! The boys had a BLAST!!!! Adrian talked nonstop! I didn't take them back home till after 5 PM!
This must be the week to babysit and have kids come over because Marlene asked if Jessica could come over for a few hours on Thursday! Of course and that was another friend for Austin to play with while I did my normal Thursday cleaning here at home! Mom called me Thursday morning and asked if I heard about their night? No … why? When I woke up I thanked Jesus that I slept ALL night because the other nights Ashlyn asked to sleep with me in my bed since Mike was out of town but Wednesday night I told her that I really would like her to go to bed and leave me for a full nights rest!!!! But that's not how it was for my parents and others in my family! My brother John Micheal and his family were all sleeping on Wednesday night when they were suddenly woke up by a big bang at midnight!!! What just happened? They woke up and knew they needed out of their house as soon as possible! Mim grabbed their two small boys and ran outside! John called Dad immediately and said, "We had an explosion!!! I need help!!!" My dad woke up as soon as he heard his phone ring and jump out of bed! Mom jumped up and could tell something was wrong. Dad thought it was my brother LaVern at first and Mom right away tried to call Fannie Lynn (LaVern's wife) to see what was going on. She didn't answer for it was past midnight. She called LaVern and he said that they were all fine and that it must have been John that called! By now, my Dad was out the door and Mom was hollering that it was at John Mike's! Dad then heard the sirens and followed the firetrucks up the road to John and Mim's house. Long story short, the electric company was working on some wires miles down the road and a big electric wire feel and sent a surge of energy out. It blew the transformer right at John and Mim's house and sent a heavy surge of energy into their house!!!!! I when I say "heavy surge" it blew out their stove, washer and dryer. All the small things like baby monitor, diffusers, sound maker, etc. all got blown out and need replaced! Warren (their one year old) had black behind his curtain from electric coming through! A multi receptacle cord that they had in the basement by their desk is charred!!!! Totally fried! And so much more!!! The firemen came into their home in the middle of the night and pulled all their furniture front to make sure there wasn't fire in any receptacles. Thankfully and a miracle happened that the whole house didn't blow and start on fire! The electric company came out and said that they have no idea why the whole house didn't blow up with all that energy forced into their home!!!! We know why!!!!!!! God kept them safe! God has a big plan for their family yet and we are so grateful to still have them all safe and sound! And, while this all happened, my cousin Lena lives right across the street from John and Mim and she was up nursing her baby when all this happened. She heard the loud noise and saw a big bang from the window and thought for a second that John's house blew up. Then she realized what happened but smelled something strange in her house. She called my mom at 1:00 AM (her husband was out of town) and asked if my dad and brothers could walk down to her house and see where the smell was coming from! Dad and my other brothers were all at John's by now and they all walked down to Lena's and went in her basement. Here she had propane gas leaking out. They called her husband to see where to turn off the gas valve and then took Lena and all of her children out the road to her parents house to spend the rest of the night. When the gas people came out to check her home, they said that they had three different gas leaks from the surge of energy that happened at John's house! Again, God protected her home because she was also told that it could have been only minutes that their house would have blew up. God sure had his angels watching over my family that night!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!!
John and Mim and their two boys are very grateful to be alive and well! They spent the rest of the night at my parents and waited for the insurance and electric company and electrician to do their repair work.
The kids had a two hour delay on Friday morning because we got some more snow during the night. I was just ready to head out the door and go see if I could help Mim with anything at their house when Fannie called and said they were all going to Speckled Hen to hang out and enjoy some yummy food! Austin and I joined them and then we all went to Mom's to be together. It's easy to think of all the "what ifs" and I'm sure John and Mim were thinking it but again, God kept them safe!
Every night the kids would ask me, "Are we doing something tonight Mom?" I would say no and we got to bed in good times each night. But this was Friday night and I was ready to do something! Lena asked if the boys could come over and play in the snow with the kids and then make hamburgers.?. Sure! We had a fun night here at home with more kids in the house! This was a week of many little hands and feet here and it was fun! And, the kids got to enjoy the new carpeted basement that just got finished up today. Mike's basement project is coming to an end and it's looking nice!!!!!
And now today, it's still snowy outside and we got a some snow again during the night. The forecast is saying 4-8 inches of snow tomorrow night and Mike's coming home tonight!!!! We can't wait for him to be back home with us and just in time to get snowed in together!!!!!!!
Another exciting thing that happened this week is that it's now March!!!! Ashlyn and I are excited to soon go shopping for garden seeds and I hope Spring is on it's way!!!!!!
And another exciting thing is that I won Esh Foods Strawberry Basket Giveaway last night!!!! I got delivered a big basket filled with all things strawberries!!!! Thank you Esh Foods!!!!!!!
It's the weekend folks!!!! Mike's going to be home any minute and I can't wait to see him again and have him back home!!!!
Happy Weekend everyone!!!!!
