No Apologies, OK… maybe a few

Great intentions have been getting me no where. Things have been so crazy lately (you know, in the last 3 1/2 since I last updated). When things happen, good or bad, I think… I should blog about this. And then I don’t. And then something else happens, and I think, “I can’t blog about this until I catch up on the last thing.”

Well, last night we were sitting at Brent’s parents’ house looking through old pictures and scrapbooks. It was so fun to listen to stories and hear the different memories that certain pictures brought up for different people. It was then that I decided to not feel guilty any longer. No catch up sessions (except for the really big stuff), but it won’t be in order. I need to blog about what’s going on in our lives, because you can bet your bottom dollar that these things certainly aren’t going into a scrap book of any kind.

So there you have it. Sorry that I’ve been missing. But I’m not sorry. Life happens. I’m only sorry to my boys, in case they ever wanted to look back at this as their scrap books.

Happy Monday. You’ll be hearing more from me than before.

Kelli

Tornado 2010 (Part III)

What do you do when you find out your house has been hit by a tornado? How are you supposed to act. We were all OK. Immediately I thanked God that I could honestly say we were all OK. Brent looked out our kitchen window and saw a hole in the back of our garage. Of course, there was no electricity, which meant no lights, which meant that we couldn’t fully understand the extent of the damage. Karter was scared and didn’t know what to do, but so was I. The first thing he asked is why his slide was broken. My heart broke for him as he looked out the window at where his swing set used to be. Brody clung to me, but I think that was just because it was dark. I just remember Brent’s shakey voice saying, “Kelli, we were hit by a tornado.” We walked into the living room. I remember thinking, “Thank you God that we still have a living room.” The boys and I sat on the couch in front of the big window. Just on the other side of that glass was chaos, and I didn’t want to go out there. Brent put shoes on and walked out our front door, now with an actual flashlight. Our front porch was in pieces. He didn’t know if it was safe to actually walk on it, but he did. Outside in the street people were coming out of their houses. Fire trucks rode down the street. Firemen knocked on doors making sure everyone inside was OK.

The next thing I know, I had dialed my sister’s phone number. By this time it was about 1:30 AM, and I didn’t know what else to do but call Kristi and talk through this. Matt answered right away, like it wasn’t even weird that I was calling at that time. He and Kristi were vacuuming up water in the basement (thank you God for keeping the water out of our basement). I didn’t even ask for Kristi. I don’t even know if I was making sense. I just remember telling Matt that our house had been hit by a tornado.

Karter asked a few questions, and I didn’t know what to tell him. How do you explain this to a 3 year old? We sat on the couch, and watched the commotion outside. Karter wanted to know why those “fire guys” broke the houses. I explained that they were good guys and were making sure everyone was safe. After a few minutes Brent came back in. He sat with the boys and I went and walked around.

It was shocking! I couldn’t take it all in. There were flashing lights, people walking, trees down, entire roofs missing. It was chaos. I asked Brent if I could take pictures, but he thought I should wait til morning. Here are a few pictures of our damage:

The garage door in our 3rd stall was either sucked or blown in (yet the doors on the two stalls where we park our vehicles were not damaged)

 

The back wall of our garage was pushed about a foot off the foundation (and yet our vehicles remained undamaged).

The front porch: (One of the support beams actually went through our neighbor’s window. Thank God no one was seriously hurt!)

Our swing set and some broken trees:

 

In my last post (part II) I mentioned that I remembered feeling a draft of air when I went in to get Brody. It wasn’t until later that I found out that draft of air was coming from the window. Brody’s window had shattered. Luckily his crib is across the (very small) room from the window, and none of the glass made it that far over. Karter’s room was also missing a window, but that one was not shattered. It was sucked out and landed about 3 houses down. It breaks my heart to know that this all happened while they were still snuggled in their beds. I can’t help but think about the what-ifs, and it makes me fall to my knees and thank God that he kept my family safe. I am amazed.

At about 3:00 that morning we headed up to Brent’s parents’ house to try and get some sleep. That was really the first time that I paid attention to the damage done to the rest of the neighborhood…

Tornado 2010 (Part II)

Let me start by saying that I am a tight sleeper. When I was young I had no choice but to be a tight sleeper. My Dad snored so loudly that it didn’t matter where your bedroom was. If you weren’t a tight sleeper… there was no sleep to be had. So, it’s not surprising to me that I don’t really remember Brent saying (loudly) to get the boys and get downstairs. I really don’t remember all the little details. All I knew was that he flew out of the bedroom, and I was following him. It was pitch black, and I didn’t know what was going on. Brent ran in to Karter’s room and grabbed him. I grabbed Brody, and we all headed to the basement.

It’s funny how after a little time has passed and you have time to stop and think (or wake up) you remember little details.

Example 1: In the confusion and chaos Brent and I ended up running right into each other. I’m not talking about just bumping into each other. No, I mean a collision in our pitch black hallway. It was when we were trying to get to our boys. In true Kelli fashion, in one of the most inappropriate times, I got a serious case of the giggles.

Example 2: When I went in to grab Brody out of bed (still not really sure what was going on) I remember feeling this strange draft of air.

So, we’re all sitting in our basement. Brody kept looking at me like I was crazy (I couldn’t argue with him there). Karter was scared and unsure of what was going on (totally justified). Karter had to go to the bathroom, and he didn’t understand when we said we couldn’t go back upstairs to go to the bathroom. We let him pee in a spare bucket that was down there. Normally that would be fun for him, but not in the middle of the night when your parents rip you out of bed and can’t explain why.

The thunder was loud and the lightening was constant. We could watch the action from our basement windows. We sat, the four of us, on a spare mattress while all around us the wind had reared its ugly head. I remembered hearing what sounded like a dish falling to the floor. I remember feeling very unsettled. I didn’t dare ask Brent any questions, as I didn’t really want to hear his answers. I wanted to sit on this mattress with my little family. I wanted to cuddle, fall asleep and wake up to a big misunderstanding.

That didn’t happen.

“Mommy, why is Kevin barking?” Brent and I had the same thought, “Hallelujah, Kevin is barking.”

The power was out, and our cell phones were our makeshift flashlights. After about 30 minutes in the basement, we talked about going back upstairs. Just as we were discussing it, we started to see headlights outside, and then we started to see flashing lights. We headed upstairs and looked out. Brent’s worst fear had been confirmed. Our neighborhood and our house had been hit by a tornado.

Tornado 2010 (Part I)

Last week Wednesday seemed like a normal day. Work for Brent and myself and daycare for the boys. Brent was supposed to get together with his Bible Study guys that night but ended up skipping. There was too much he wanted to get done around the house. He was mowing and cleaning out the garage. The boys and I spent the evening playing outside. Brent finished mowing and drove the mower back up to his parents’ house. While he was gone, it started to rain. Normally I would have rushed the boys in the house to keep them from getting wet. That night, however, we decided to play in the rain.

Brent came home and joined in the fun.

 

It was probably about 8:00, so I headed in to make supper. We ate, played in the house and headed off to bed. Sounds pretty normal, right? That was the end to our normal day.

Thursday, July 22, 2010 ~ 12:30 AM

I woke up to Brent jumping out of bed and yelling, “Kelli, get the boys and get downstairs!”

Feeling Called

I must admit, I’m very excited to write this (quick) post. For a while now, Brent and I have felt like God was calling us to serve Him. We wondered what it would be. How would He use us? Well, I’m so very excited to say… In September, we will begin our three year adventure as youth sponsors (Sr High) in our church. I might be a bit biased, but I feel we have some of the kids (adults) in our church! And I have a feeling that they’ll teach me far more than I could possibly teach them!

I’m also really excited to work with the sponsors! I love getting to know people of our church a little deeper, and this sounds like a really fun way to do it!

Looking forward to September!

Thank you, Father, for the youth in our area. Not only at Carmel Reformed, but all over. I ask that you be with them through the summer and that they may all feel welcome to come and learn more about you, no matter what level of relationship they have with You. Father, please be with us as we prepare to be sponsors. I thank you for this opportunity and look forward to serving you!

Whew! What a Week!

Last Weekend

Brent played in a co-ed softball tournament in Craig on Friday night and all day Saturday. The boys came along on Friday night and Saturday morning. Then Wendi took them for the afternoon. They went with Wendi & Phil to the Summer Festival days in Hull. There was a parade and Karter said he saw FIVE tractors. (Wendi said it was more like 55, but who’s counting?).

Then Saturday evening we went to the fair grounds in Sioux Center. It was the start of the 2010 Sioux County Youth Fair. The fair has always been a big part of Brent’s summer. There are tons of pictures of Brent when he was younger receiving all kinds of ribbons and awards for whatever animal he was showing that very moment. I have a feeling that at least one of our boys will follow in their Daddy’s footsteps.

 

He hasn’t quit talking about this since that night. In fact, this morning he was moving his bike and he said to me, “Mommy, that was almost like I was showing a sheep.”

They even gave the “old folks” a chance to get out there and see if they remembered how to show a lamb. It’s like riding a bike, or so Brent says.

Sunday

After church, a quick lunch and a long nap, we headed out to Wendi & Phil’s to go swimming. There are no pictures, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that the boys LOVED swimming.

Monday

After work we took the boys back to the fair. We walked through all the different buildings, checked out all the different animals and checked out the awards that 2 of our nieces accumulated during the day. (Way to go K and T!)

Tuesday

Karter got to go to the fair all day with his Daddy today. Let’s just say he was more than a little excited. They were there in time to watch K&T show sheep at 7:30. Brent said that all day Karter would run up to him and say, “My need to show you sumpin Daddy.” What a great day for the two of them. (Although Karter was a little worried about Brody going to Gretchen’s house alone.)

After work I met with a group of ladies. We’ve been working on something, but I’ll do a separate post about that sometime. Very exciting, though! Eli came over afterwards while Matt & Kristi went to the races at the fair. They played so nice and had a ton of fun riding bikes and watching Charlotte’s Web.

Wednesday

What? Did we have a free night? I must be missing something!

Thursday

Brent had his 3 month check-up today. Praise God! We got great news again! Dr Wender explained that if he didn’t know any better, judging by the blood work you’d never guess there was anything wrong with Brent. In October Brent will have another bone marrow biopsy. These are more accurate and will show evidence of the Philadelphia chromosome in the blood. But we are getting closer and closer to remission!

Thank you God for touching Brent with your healing hand! You are an Almighty Father and deserve far more praise than we could ever give you!

Friday

YEAH! It’s Friday! Tonight we are going to relax! I’m making sweet corn and HOME MADE corn dogs for supper. I might do some laundry (no guarantees). We’re going to walk to the park and let the boys play. And we’re all going to sleep as long as possible in the morning.

I haven’t posted a picture of Brody for a while… He’s just too cute not to share…

 

Karter Henry

Karter Henry, today you are officially three and a half years old. I can’t believe that you are that old already. It seems like just yesterday I was buckling you into your infant seat and taking you home for the very first time. It is amazing to think about how much our lives changed when you came into this world. Things that were so important back then are now so very unimportant. You and your brother are now what matter to us.

Here are a few facts about you:

Fact #1:

Your favorite foods are: Pizza, Mac ‘n Cheese, Hot Dogs (you call them Dot Dogs), Scrambled Eggs, Chips ‘n Dip (you know, all the healthy stuff)

Fact #2:

A while back we decided it was time to get a puppy. Thankfully Jami Sandbulte told me at church that they had some puppies they were trying to get rid of. We went out that night and got one. When we asked you what you wanted to name your puppy, you said named off the following options: Grass, Tree, Monkey, Dog in a Box, and Kevin. You decided on Kevin. And you love him with all your heart. Brody’s not as sold on the idea as you are, but he’s OK with him, too.

Fact #3:

Your favorite song right now is My Beloved by Cory Asbury.

Fact #4:

Some of the cutest things you’ve said to me lately:

- Love you so much, Mommy (or Daddy or whoever)

- Love you like crazy!

- Don’t leave out with me. (You always say “out with” instead of “without”.)

- My will do it all myself.

- My will stay home with you all days Mommy. All days. Right? For FIVE days? (You have somewhat of a fascination with the number five. I think it seems huge to you.)

- Why did God hit the rain button again?

Fact #5:

You love to pee outside. You are 100% boy, and I love that about you!

Fact #6:

You are one of the most tender-hearted, stubborn, sweet, pokey, funny, sarcastic, loving kids I know. You are truly loved by your Daddy, Mommy and Brodes. We can’t wait to see what you do in this world, Bubba!

(Picture taken when we went camping for a night at Oak Grove over the 4th of July)