Tornadoes, Earthquakes and Hurricanes OH MY! updated...

Well, it's been quite a week!  It all started with the earthquake last Tuesday, then thunderstorms and severe weather causing us to duck for cover when they posted tornado warnings in our county.  Next it was Hurricane Irene.  I'm seriously thinking we need to move to a safer area!!  If you know of any please let me know!
I attended a Women of Faith conference in Washington, DC this past weekend with some ladies from my church.  I had such a good time!  The speakers were amazing, the company I shared was a lot of fun, and I'm ready to sign up to go next year!  Thank you to our coordinator, Tricia, Melissa who took me under her wing and became c0-monkey with me (and who safely drove us home in a hurricane), and to Judy and Dar who arranged dinner on Friday night.  Good food and good company, can it get any better than that?  It was such an amazing event, if you are ever thinking about going to one I would highly recommend it!  We laughed, we cried, but mostly we felt God's presence and His abundant grace and love.  I just hope I can go again next year!

I have to tell a funny story here.  I mentioned that Melissa was my "co-monkey".  One of the speakers told us that we need companionship, that it can relieve stress and discussed a study done with monkeys.  They put a monkey in an extremely chaotic environment then studied his stress hormones, and they were very high.   They kept the chaotic environment the same and added another monkey... then studied the first monkey's stress hormones and found they were cut in half.  They concluded that having a companion during stressful times can be beneficial to your health and well being, so he encouraged us to grab a monkey when we found ourselves stressed.  Melissa and I had taken a walk, downhill from the convention center and decided to take the metro back as it was nearing time for the next session.  I had a smart card, but she did not and was standing at the machine trying to by a ticket.  Since neither of us had done this before we were perplexed and a man walked over and asked her what she needed then punched the buttons and out popped her ticket.  She thanked him for being our monkey...I started telling him the story because I was afraid we might have offended him but he only laughed and said that was fine, then showed us a tattoo on his inner forearm that read... Gorilla ...  Tell me that wasn't a God moment!!

After Melissa dropped us off at the church I still had a 45 minute drive home, through driving rain and mild wind gusts.  I felt myself hydroplaning a couple of times so had to slow it down some to stay on the road.  Fortunately we had just put new tires on the van so I felt fairly safe and hurried home as I was anxious to get out of the weather.  I arrived home ready for a hot meal, so dropped my suitcases upstairs in my room, unpacked a couple of things and came downstairs just in time to have the lights blink a number of times and then go out for good.  No hot meal for me!  Fortunately the guys were prepared with flashlights and games so we had a game night and listened to the radio while we watched this one particular tree that looked like it wanted to plant a kiss on our roof!  Fortunately it never happened...nor did we get any flooding in our basement (our sump pump was going off every few minutes before the lights went out then grew quiet when the power went out) which I am so thankful for.  Our neighbors were bailing out their basement at 1 AM but they live three doors down and just a wee bit lower in elevation.  I am so thankful we were spared that chore!  Our power was out for about 24 hours, so after about 18 we threw up our hands and started searching for a hotel so we could take a hot shower and have a little electricity.  We stayed the night and returned home today to put the pieces back together.  Some of our outlets weren't working so we had to run extension cords to different outlets so our phone and internet would work.  Ah Mother Nature...she's not one to reckon with!  I have been praying for those I know by name and those I don't, and though I know that some have been flooded and have lost loved ones, I keep praying that they will find peace and help where they need it.  DH was off to work this morning, DS did not have school as their school is without power this morning, and I am home from work as the store I work in is still without power.  It's looking like I won't make it in today as I was supposed to come home at 2 and it's already after 1.  I have to say, I'm kind of glad as all this running around has left me very weary.


I haven't had much time for stitching, but I have been able to put a few stitches in here and there.


I've been working on my UFO without fail on Thursdays.  I haven't been getting very far, but there has been progress.  I just realized I don't have any current pictures...so I'll have to update it later this week.


I caught up with the Star Sampler...
 

With the Oakhaven designs Owl SAL...


 

Sampler Romantique...

 

And I completed another of the 15 crazies...this will make number 13 completed...The Tree Of Stitches that was offered on The Stitch Specialists yahoo group.  Only two more to go!!

 I'll be off now to get some stitching done since I haven't heard from my boss....since I was only working two days this week, that will surely put a crimp in my paycheck this week, but hopefully as time goes on I'll work a few more days in a week.  Oh, and I reached another milestone last week, I was discharged from physical therapy!  My life is slowly becoming my own again.  Till next time...

I just saw on Babs blog that she is giving away some fabulous gifts.  I encourage you to take a peek and leave a word of encouragement for her!  *Hugs*