First of all, let me just say, that while Lon and I are both counting our blessings and feeling God here with us, in this, Emma is sort of not. She did lose one of her pets, her favorite chicken, and her room was most impacted and she was unable to locate some of her treasured items, in particular a toy she had saved from her bird that died not long before we moved out here. Please keep her in your prayers. She is struggling, and pray that I will know how to reach out to her in a meaningful way, that will help her see beyond her pain.

So, tonight at worship, our reading ended with the question: How has your family seen God's hand in your lives in the last few weeks. HA! Where do we start? Here is the list we came up with:

We're alive

the house was still standing

we were able to salvage a lot of our stuff

no one was hurt

Phil K's truck broke down so he had his mom's van

Chris Canatella was in the rescue workers team

our friends/neighbors are still alive

homeowner put a basement in the house, and built the house extra strong

we have a new house so quickly

that Phil S. was at the Fret Shop, not at home

That it didn't hit Jesse's house

That Baylee's house was ok

that the Showalters took us in

that their neighbor's did our laundry

that their neighbor's took care of Maggie Lou

that the weather was dry after the storm, so we could dry our clothes on their lawn

that the electricity came back soon

that April could take the little ones for three days

That I landed on a mattress when I fell and broke my leg

that flooding in the basement was minimal

that my ankle was a clean break, no need for a pin

That a tree fell on the church roof so Daddy was at the church not at work (three times as far away, and with no transportation!)

That the truck is drivable – no glass is broken

God is using this to help get us out of debt

That so many people are helping us and helped us move

That most of the chickens survived

Emma's harp was not destroyed

Mrs. Newman is helping get the harp fixed

Only had 13 days of school left so could just cancel the rest of the year

I guess I should fill y'all in on the whole broken leg thing. Since that is where I left off on the chronological part, and it also plays in to the whole 'counting your blessings' thing too.

Saturday evening, after taking the day to count our blessings and relax, we were looking forward to an evening fellowship with all the neighbors at Showalter's cul-d-sac. But that was pre-empted by my trip to the ER. Now, one thing I didn't tell in the previous post was that sometime on Wednesday I had picked up a nasty scratch on my heal, and it was festering a bit. Darlene had told me I probably ought to get a tetanus shot. I was being kind of stubborn, not wanting to bother them in the ER for a little scrape, and figuring, maybe once the stuff was out of the house and in storage we could tend to it then.

Apparently, God had other plans. So he arranged for me to be taking a trip to the ER anyway~~ BUT He also arranged for it to have the LEAST impact possible. I landed on the mattress that was in the garage because someone had to sleep out there with Maggie each night so she would not keep us all up with her barking. It's a clean break, and it does not need a pin or a plate (though there is still one more hurdle on that front on Tuesday - as long at Tuesday's pictures look good) (so pray for that - that Tuesday we STILL hear the 'no surgery' verdict!) I'm almost half way through the 6 weeks of no weight baring already! It's my left foot, so I can still drive. It appears that there is no ligament or tendon damage. There is a PT in our church, just waiting to get started with me, and help me heal quickly. I'm able to control the pain with Advil and avoid the Codine, which does odd things to me. Anyway, I got my tetanus shot, and I really think a trade of a simple broken leg, instead of Tetanus is a pretty good trade, I'll take the broken leg, over tetanus any day. Tetanus is fatal!

Wow - I'm tired again already - blogging must make me sleepy. Bummer. I had so much more I wanted to write tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - not sure I'll get much chance to write more tomorrow or not. Lots of laundry to do, some fellows coming to build us a new chicken coop, a recliner to pick up (a hotel is going out of business, and someone posted on my Craig's list posting that I had put up, asking to buy one from someone for cheap - "DO NOT buy a recliner, I have several you can HAVE! Our hotel has recently gone out of business!") so we get that at 7 in the morning. Then Lon has men's group for two hours, and then PROJECTS here at the house. Chicken coop, bed platforms, etc, etc, etc. Some people are coming to help, but still, LOTS to do! And everything that gets unpacked, also has to be cleaned!! I wanted to use my hair dryer today, and while I DID know where it was (a miracle) it had not cleaned it yet - took Lon 5 minutes.

Still have not forgotten to try and get pictures posted, too.

Many have requested that I post our address. I want ya'll to know, I'm doing this only because so many have asked for it. It is in NO way any kind of a hint that anyone should be sending us anything. Let the spirit lead you, and if you don't feel him tapping you on the shoulder, do NOT worry about it - There are MANY in MUCH worse need than we are!! If you want to help, you can donate to ADRA or the Red Cross. But, because so many have asked, here it is:

14515 Hunter Rd
Harvest, AL 35749