Wow... looking back on the beginning of this month, things could have gone SO differently for us... With Irma's path continuing to look like it would hit us hard, we decided to evacuate on Sunday, September 10th. Levy County was put under a mandatory evacuation, and so were many other places. Only God knew where Irma was going, and He was SO merciful to spare our area from extreme damage! It weakened quite a bit around Tampa, and hit our area more as a tropical storm. With more than half of Florida still out of power right now, and so many suffering from severe damage--- we are so blessed to be able to continue on as normal, with having had only a few days out of power and having a generator besides! Praise the Lord!
Here are some pictures of our flurries to get ready for the storm, and the "big campout" we had with 6 other families at church!
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| My job most of the time was keeping little guys busy=) |
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Some friends from south FL evacuated up here, and helped us get out before hunkering down together!
Thank you, Natalie! |
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| Daddy and Mr. Mena boarding up the barn doors... |
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| The boys and Nathan worked on covering up the windows on the house. |
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| Bo got the cooler part of this job=) |
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| The most adorable "cheesy" smile ever=) |
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| Taking the "sail" off the chicken coop=) |
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| Bath time! |
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| What the outside of our house looked like Sunday morning! |
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| Gathering up all the shoes out of the bins, and storing them in the barn. |
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| The inside of our barn, Sunday morning before boarding up the last door and heading to church! |
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| It was hilarious seeing everyone's sleeping quarters on the stage, pews, and back rooms of the church! |
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| {Don't worry, no one slept on that mattress like that...=)} |
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| All the little people thought this the greatest adventure, I'm sure! |
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| Some eating lunch... |
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| Mr. Maxson had prepared a message for that Sunday, so since some of us were there (regular church services called off) he gave it to us! |
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| Playing games... |
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| It was a blessing getting to spend so much time with dear church family! |
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| Coloring pictures! |
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| Sunday night, the small kitchen was all a bustle with so many dinners being prepared! It was mighty convenient, because what one or another was missing or had forgotten to bring, someone else had and could borrow! |
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| Russell helping Mrs. K. Maxson blow up their air mattress=) |
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| Goofy Frankie=) |
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Sitting up after putting the littles down, and "waiting for the action!"=)
(none came till 2ish AM, when several of the men stayed up and patrolled around the building.) |
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| In the morning, the low part of the field outside the church building was full of water! We call it "Lake Faith=)" |
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| There was debris everywhere, and maybe a few small branches down... |
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| We girls and Frank took a walk in the breezy weather! |
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Emaline and Felicity playing a duet=) They sounded really good together!
We arrived back home around 1:00 PM Monday, September 11th after cleaning up around church. Praise the Lord we all had homes to go back to!
"Happy is he that hath the GOD of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his GOD:"
Ps. 146:5 |
