Happy.....

Since we were camping the past few days, I didnt post on my blog, so I'm a little behind.  Happy Birthday Aunt Tara!  Happy Anniversary Pappy and GG!  Happy Memorial Day Everyone (and a great big thank you to all the men and women of the armed forces, both past and present!)

Here's how we spent our weekend...

 Welcome to Roaring River State Park....Let's go to the hatchery

and see the fishies (we LOVED the fishies)

 But we werent so sure about the water dripping on us from the bluff above

 Bicycle riding

 And toenail painting

 See my fingernails! (they are hot pink...and nope couldnt see them but wasnt this cute??)

 And playing in rocks

 And throwing rocks in the water

 And eating giant marshmallows

 And splashing daddy

 And sitting in the water (she stood up again real fast!)

 Jumping in the water

 And swirling it with a stick

 I love the water!

 And climbing trees

 With a little help from "My Becky"

Sometimes He Calms the Storm

and other times He calms His child.  That line from a song has been going through my head a lot recently in the midst of so much destruction, so close to home.  I actually know where Rangeline Road in Joplin is, I've been to those places they keep showing on the news.  And luckily it only stayed on teh ground what it did because that storm system went so close to my grandparents and parents, and actually where my inlaws were at when it hit.  We can ask why all we want, we just have to remember, God was there, He knew what was happening and He was in walmart, home depot and the thousands of homes that were destroyed.  Could He have stopped the destruction?  Yes.  But for reasons we may not comprehend, it was allowed to happen. 

This is a picture of my cousins house (borrowed from her facebook album:)  Even in the heart of the storm, they survived...and with a sense of humor.  I believe the caption on one of these photos was "I think we are going to need to move".  I have a friend that lives in Joplin,   Here's what she said in an email on Monday

We were actually in town pushing Henry on the swings in the park right next to St. John's hospital (that's the one they keep showing on CNN).  It was thundering and when it started sprinkling a little we decided to head out.  The park was full of kids and parents and we were the first to leave.  Then we drove down 26th street (where the tornado started) and decided to pick up dinner to take home instead of stopping at a restaurant (thank goodness).  The tornado sirens went off and since we're so used to hearing them and having storm warnings it didn't even phase us, plus it was barely raining and didn't look serious.  So we stopped at two different restaurants to get dinner then headed home.  They said the tornado hit 17 minutes after the sirens went off and we were in town a good 10 minutes after wards.  So I guess we missed it by 7 minutes.  I honestly think we were driving parallel to the tornado, just 4 miles south of it heading home.  We had no idea what was happening, we just thought it looked like a bad storm.  When we got home it felt like night time, but we had minimal wind and hail at our house.  We turned on the tv and some storm chasers for the national weather channel had just arrived and were standing in the park across from the hospital filming.  Henry was on those swings twenty minutes earlier and they were gone, along with that whole neighborhood.  It was jaw dropping and we feel so lucky and so stupid we didn't take it seriously.  I think most people felt the same way, it was just another thunderstorm coming.  Anyway, it has been very surreal watching the national news and seeing Al Roker, Brian Williams, and Anderson Cooper standing in our town reporting on this

And since, the question in our minds has been, how can I help?  Well, for us, our church was contacted by a ministry called Life Choices in Joplin to help supply families with diapers, wipes and formula.  It should all be in Joplin by now.  I nearly broke into tears whenever I went to drop off a couple bags of diapers and wipes.  The foyer of our church was half full, the breezeway also.  Knowing the cost of those baby supplies and the sheer quantity there, literally thousands of dollars worth had arrived to go to Joplin in less than a 24 hour period, from one, not all that big church.  God was there.  And now He's showing those affected His love through the kindness and willingness to help.  Its been several days now, the media is slowly leaving the community of Joplin, but there will still be a need for help for a long time, as well as a need for prayers.  And there are still many missing.  So even though the highlight will be on some other disaster in some other place in the coming days, keep remembering the people of Joplin, its a long road to recovery from here.

On the tornado note, after all that destruction when the storm sirens go off and tornado warnings are issued, you have to take them seriously.  Therefore I spent an hour in a storage room with three rather unhappy 2 year olds (I was making them miss Caillou).  Two of them fell asleep there.  One thought it was great to be in a place they dont normally get to go!  Lets just say, I hope this tornado season comes to a rapid end!  And I'm sure people all across the plains and south will agree.

So much fun

Took a few pics outside playing yesterday.  we had fun.

 had to take time out to smell the roses!

 Our rabbit lookout station

 New wheel we got free just for sending the company a picture of our completed playset

 "mommy abbit" 

 Kept buidling "punzels" tower.  Yes, we love tangled!

 Watering our plants.  if we actually produce food it will be nothign short of miraculous!

 "Hey Emily, how'd you do that?"

 "I keep trying but it just isnt working"

Mission Accomplished

There might have been a time or two when I wondered if this was ever going to get done, but alas, we have our swingset...and according to three little girls (ok so I've used everything on it too and yep, fun!)  it is a blast!  They played so hard this morning that all three of them are sound asleep....a side benefit of a great swingset. So we need to say thank you to my parents and husband for getting it complete and mostly still all speaking:)   

 The finished project!  And the rest is mostly pics, but you can see the progress....unfortunately my mountain of laundry might take as long to do as that swingset took to build so I dont really have the time to reorganize them into proper order, but enjoy anyway!

 Ready to begin!

 Grandpa working hard....said that sliding down the climbing ramp wasn't a good idea but you couldnt stop!

 She tested out ever step as it was completed....although the slide was the easiest to install and the last thing, she could have had tons of fun if we had only put it up earlier!

 The A-Frame getting to go up.  Mom must've taken this on one of my emergency trips to Lowe's (glad they were only a mile away yesterday!)

 Let the fun begin!

 Climbing....

 And swinging...

 And even swinging with Mommy....

 Going up the rock wall....

 And trying out the trapeze bars...

 Mommy showed her how to hang upside down (sorry didnt post that one but my guess is that if you are one of Grandmas facebook friends you've seen it)

 It is fun to swing this way too!

 Saturday morning we said we were ready to start so she went down to the garage ahead of everyone and this is what Grandma found....

 starting to take shape...this part I was told was remarkably easy

How you get down from the fort without a ladder

 A break with daddy

This was day 1 cutting....much better picture than I got posted earlier

All laid out and ready to begin

She got hot watching everyone work and grandma had brought her ice cream cones so she had one...her first ever! (she ate the cone before the ice cream......)

Marking something

Hey this is fun! 

I see a fort appearing!

Ok, so pause here for a little story.  Kendall needed a haircut.  We didnt have time to give her one.  SO....we decide to just fork over the money and take her to Petsmart.  My thought, Wouldn't it be easier if I just take Emily so she doesnt get in teh way?  And she likes to look at the fishies.  Ok, so we take Kendall.  We go in the store.  We go to the grooming salon and leave Kendall.  We go look at fishies.  At this point we are having a blast.  They had some kitties out she got to pet.  Looked at birds. Thought we should be getting back to help so we start out the door.  "Mommy, where Kendall?"  "Kendall's getting her haircut"  We get to the car (startign to get really upset) "Mommy, get Kendall"  "We'll have to come back and get her in a couple hours"  "Kendall lost"  Tears are flowing.  She kept tellinng me to go back, pointing to where Kendall was and crying.  We get home and she is flat out mad at me.  "Mommy lost Kendall"  tears.  Goes to her bed, won't look at me.  Very sad.  Wouldnt even come talk to Grandma or Daddy.  Finally cries herself to sleep with no lunch.  I went and got Kendall while she was asleep and when Kendall got home she gave her a kiss on the nose.  Daddy tells her "see Mommy went and got Kendall"  "Thank you mommy"  So sad...never thought about her not understanding we would get her back soon:)  Anyway, she got a picnic lunch because she was too sad to eat with everyone else because her doggy was lost.

Really starting to look like something

A girl and her doggy, she was happy again! (And Kendall was much cooler and could see)

She is now a pro on the ladder.

Finishing up work

The final assembly!  Hanging the trapeze bars.

Thanks again for all the hard work.  If you lose me the fort is pretty peaceful!