Hurricane Aftermath

So, we got excited here for...nothing. The hurricane downgraded to a tropical storm and veered east of us. We didn't even get pounded with rain...to say it sprinkled a couple times today might even be stretching it! What we did have though was NO SCHOOL, cooler weather (all the way down into the 80's), and a nice breeze all day. So, I am sure you are asking yourselves what an Iowa family does during their first hurricane warning, you are probably itching to hear the answer, so I will tell you without further delay! We cleaned house, organized the garage, opened the windows and sliding glass doors and let the breeze in and searched every nook and cranny in vain for our baseball gloves!

This is the view from the den into the eating area out to the pool area (minus the furniture that is in living room currently) with the sliders open bringing in the breeze. Crazy that we considered mid 80s cool enough to open up the house!! The breeze made it cool though.
This is from the pool area into the dining room on the left and the eating area of the kitchen on the right. You can get a significant breeze with these open!
Paul (neat freak that he is) noticed the debris/dead bugs in the slider tracks and had to vacuum them all up. That lead to sweeping the carpet and tiled area clean. Later in the day, we discovered we were not nearly as freakish as the neighbors behind us as they spent HOURS power washing the pine needles that were stuck on the cage over their pool. We just let ours stick through right where they are! I'll get a picture when its light out!
The search for the gloves started in the garage where all the items packed with them are currently stored as well as any unpacked boxes. This got us motivated to use the attic storage space and we moved all the Christmas decor up there and the empty moving boxes we really liked. The garage looks much more tidy and organized! What an accomplishment!
After dinner, we went fishing on our neighborhood dock. We didn't catch a thing...until the walk home when Alayna accidentally caught Riley about 2 mm (that is millimeters, not centimeters or inches people!!) below his EYE!! He froze as he was walking and was yelling, but otherwise kept his cool as we figured out where he was caught and quickly were able to remove the hook from his lower eyelid. At first it was impossible to tell where it was with the lure and it was pulled tight to the pole as well. Paul quickly got the tension off of it and I could tell it was just (JUST) in the right lower eyelid and didn't penetrate the entire first barb that would have made it impossible to back it out without taking out a hunk of meat or skin! Once it was out, he was much better and I just hugged him and he cried, but didn't lose a drop of blood! He was so brave! Our friend Ryan is staying with us a few days finishing up video work for Agape and we came back to tell him of the 80 pounder Alayna caught! I am sure that she will NEVER be allowed to forget this night, just like my sister still brings up the day I pushed her down the stairs and she had to get stitches in her head when we were 5 or 6 years old! So here is the proof that he is essentially unharmed:

I must say it was a very fun day spent together as a family, working together and having fun. God's timing was perfect as I already knew this might be a sad day and I was glad to have my family around me as we remembered sweet Avery Kochan on her birthday (she would have been 2 years old today) and prayed for her family and the hurt they must be feeling today, and thanked God for His son Jesus who paid for our sin and will allow us to hold this precious baby once again in Heaven. They had a celebration and balloon launch at their house to remember and honor her memory...I would have given about anything to be there. But God has me here and all I can do is pray and love on my children extra bunches.