November 7, 2011, at 10:17 pm | Here are some of my observations from our “powerless” stretch last week. I had lots of time to think while sitting in the dark!
1. Kids are resilient, adaptable, and warm-blooded
2. My good old-fashioned paper Bible never lets me down
3. Getting up at 1:00 am with a crying baby is even harder when it’s cold in the house
4. Automatically flicking on lights and turning on faucets are hard habits to break
5. I can start a generator with a flashlight in one hand and a baby in the other
6. Generators act as wonderful white noise machines
7. I greatly underappreciated my vacuum, especially with two messy kids and a crawling baby
8. I never thought I’d yearn to do laundry, but I did. Oh, how I wanted to do laundry.
9. My girls don’t protest too loudly when they can’t watch TV, but they fall apart when I can’t toast a frozen waffle
10. I missed the internet almost as much as I missed running water
11. I was reminded how quickly kids incorporate new words into their vocabulary, like “power” and “generator”
12. Disasters bring people together, especially at Dunkin Donuts when everyone is wearing heavy coats and cradling their coffee cups as they try to warm up
13. My eyes are getting too old to read by candlelight
14. Never underestimate the transformative power of a hot shower
November 6, 2011, at 9:49 pm | Losing power for eight days due to a freak October snowstorm changes how you think.
One minute you’re sitting in your warm, well-lit house watching the snow fall onto the leaf-covered trees and thinking, “Oh, how pretty!”…
(See? Isn’t it pretty?)
But then the snow keeps falling (we ended up getting around 15 inches) and becomes this:
…And soon you’re sitting in the dark, listening to trees creaking and cracking all around you, and you’re thinking, “Oh, how awful.”
To be honest, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. We didn’t sustain any tree damage to our house, and the trees that did fall on our property were easily cleaned up. We were fortunate enough to have a generator that we would run for a few hours at a time to heat up the house, power the well pump, and turn on a light or two. People in the towns all around us were shivering in their 40-ish-degree houses and running out of bottled water, so we were extremely thankful that we were heated and hydrated. For me, the most disconcerting aspect was the lack of communication. For four days, we had no phone service, so we initially didn’t know what was going on around us and had difficulty checking on our loved ones. I was almost as excited when we regained cell phone service on Wednesday as I was when our power was finally restored Saturday evening.
So, in the meantime, we entertained ourselves as best as we could. We bundled up:
We watched DVDs on my computer:
We drew lots and lots of pictures:
We sang songs in the firelight:
We played in the snow:
And we ate out. A lot.
So, as you can see, we certainly didn’t suffer very much (although Jim might disagree with me, since it was his early-morning job to sprint across the yard in the freezing air to turn on the generator so we could heat up the house before we had to get up). I am humbled by the fact that many people all over the world don’t have electricity, heat, running water, or ample food, and here we felt that eight days was unbearably long.
So, we’re thankful. Very thankful.
And I may just go soak in a hot bath to prove it.
November 5, 2011, at 10:07 pm | Our power is back on! And our son is sitting up!
I guess he just needed a spotlight!
November 3, 2011, at 2:10 pm | For those wondering why there have been no updates in almost a week, it’s because we have been without power and internet access since Saturday. We are hoping power will be restored in the next day or two. We’ll resume blogging then, Lord willing!
October 28, 2011, at 11:45 pm | I may never be able to read one of the girls’ favorite books again.
The book looks harmless enough, doesn’t it?
Don’t be fooled.
See, the story is about a little squirrel, Miss Suzy, who becomes homeless and seeks shelter in the attic of a nearby house. She settles into a dollhouse, makes friends with toy soldiers, and lives quite happily there until she is able to return to her tree house.
The problem is, “Miss Suzy” isn’t so cute and cuddly when seen up close.
And in your own house.
The fantasy of the children’s story became reality when little Miss Suzy herself somehow ended up in my fireplace.
She frantically tried to escape, and I really wanted to aid her return to the wild, but I had no idea how I was going to make that happen without letting her loose in my house (we have no way to close off the room that the fireplace is in). I was quite unnerved by her presence, and by my fear that she would somehow find a way into the house (the fireplace cover isn’t perfectly flush with the stone hearth). I also didn’t want the girls, spurred on by the story of Miss Suzy, to open the glass door so she could set herself up in our dollhouse.
Thankfully, she must have found her way back up the chimney, because I haven’t seen or heard her since yesterday evening.
I hope she’s happily situated back in her tree house. And I hope she stays there. There’s only room in this house for one Miss Susie, and she doesn’t have a tail!
October 27, 2011, at 11:42 pm | How can Starbucks get even yummier?
By offering “cake pops.”
Cake on a stick.
Now why didn’t I think of that?
October 26, 2011, at 9:30 pm | Neither one of these two may be able to walk or talk, but they can still smile and laugh!
October 25, 2011, at 10:38 pm | Some days I feel like I’m running a marathon. Minus actually getting in shape (even though I oftentimes do find myself getting sweaty and panting for breath as I either chase or carry young children around). Yesterday was one of those days, and although the kids were all sufficiently well-behaved, I was having trouble keeping up with their high spirits (a.k.a. craziness). So as I was wracking my brain for something slow-moving to entertain the girls, I remembered my mom had left me a “Cat in the Hat” book-making project.
I grabbed it out of the closet and opened it up in front of the kids with a flourish. It worked! The girls loved it, and Jimmy enjoyed sitting and watching the girls. Three for three!
Becky actually transformed a few of her book pages into a “letter” that she intends to mail. She had me remove the pages, folded/squashed them up, stuffed them into an envelope, folded/squashed the envelope, taped the whole thing together, and then decorated it. She loves to make “presents” this way. The thing is, no matter how earnestly she says she’s going to give the present to someone, she will never part with that creation. I guess she puts so much effort into it that it pains her to give it away!
So the next time you need to pull a rabbit out of a hat, try the “Cat in the Hat”!
October 24, 2011, at 10:03 pm | You know a movie is a winner when the girls don’t even touch their snack because they’re so absorbed:
Unfortunately, their enjoyment was short-lived because the DVD (Disney’s classic Peter Pan), which we borrowed from the library, was too scratched to watch. But they at least managed to get roughly familiar with the characters, because they looked at a book jacket from a library book (Miss Nelson is Missing – an oldie but goodie from my childhood), and declared that it must be Captain Hook!
October 23, 2011, at 9:10 pm | This may not constitute crawling, but I consider it forward progress!
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ABOUT US I'm blessed to be saved by the grace of God, loved by my wonderful husband Jim, and embraced by my twin girls, Rebecca Faith and Susanna Joy and my sons Jimmy and Danny. I started this blog in May 2008 when I was hospitalized for pre-term labor at 24 weeks gestation. The Lord allowed me to keep the girls inside until they were 34 weeks along, and on July 27th, Rebecca made her debut, followed by Susanna, five minutes later, on July 28th. We ecstatically welcomed Jimmy into our lives on April 25th, 2011, and Danny on August 31, 2012. This blog has been a personal journal of faith and motherhood and the only way I can remember which child did what and when. Thanks for stopping by to share in my Faith and Joy! Feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected]. |
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