So the roof is totalled! I get a new roof, 5 new screens on the house (the hail TORE holes in them!), new turbines (they cool off the attic) and they are giving me money to replace the porch swing (the hail ripped the cover off) and to wash or restain the fence (there are dings and nicks all in it)......so to my untrained eye (and dads) the roof looked okay with just a few shingles off.....the inspector guy saw the damage as soon as he pulled up! It's because we are on the corner, but there are already 4 houses on my street that are getting new roofs....and the storm just hit!
So far I have been very impressed with our new ins! We changed to Nationwide when we bought this house for both the house and cars. I'll let you know if things change, but so far they have been fast and SUPER helpful! The inspector even went and looked at my neighbors roof for me. She's older, widowed and works alot so I wanted to help her out if at all possible and make sure her roof wasn't going to leak on her :)
So a new roof it is....now we are just waiting for the guy to come look at our cars and see how much they will give us to fix them. I would say that having to deal with this for the first time (in our family) the entire 25 years we've been here is not all bad....would I leave Texas.....NOT A CHANCE :) Texas storms are my favorite (but I wouldn't mind not having hail like that for another 25 years ;)
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
and the damage is....
Hail damage on both cars but no windows (or sun-roofs) broken or chipped on the cars or house. Our fence is all dinged up (looks funny) and the tree lost a TON of leaves, but no branches (which is a HUGE blessing because they could have landed on the house on my bedroom!) The roof looks fine but I'm going to have dad double check it before I call the ins company about the cars.....SERIOUSLY, my parents NEVER parked their cars in the garage my ENTIRE childhood and have NEVER had hail damage....this was a fast, but massive storm! I can't thank God enough for keeping us safe, for my quick reaction and for the superficial damage to the cars and house....nothing we have to fix or that makes it to where we can't feel safe here for the next round of storms.....Texas storm season has begun (and I WILL be getting my weather radio up and running today :)
pictures of the storm....
These are from www.wfaa.com (I haven't downloaded mine). I can't sleep so I thought I would share. We are in one more batch of storms (not severe) but my nerves are shot and I can't sleep until they are all done (about 30 minutes from now :) Now, despite my current frazzled state I still LOVE Texas and her storms...just not when they hit super late at night when my weather radio is broken...oh, a note about that! I made TWO trips to radio shack today to get the new cord for my weather radio and when I went home to set it up THE CORD DIDN'T FIT!!! I had taken the old one in and everything! So of course the store was closed and I didn't have it tonight (the one night I REALLY could have used it!!!)
This is our funnel cloud from Monday, no tornado touchdown through...Thank you, God! The dogs were in the laundry room and Stephanie and I were on "stand by" watching the sky and news....
I have some larger than this in the fridge.....and that was after it had melted about 10 minutes!
Lightning....which is noting new around here! but a very real danger and fire threat!
I pray my car doesn't look like this! This is a combination of hail damage and tree leaves (stripped off the tree by the hail)....WOW!
This is about what my backyard looked like in parts! I didn't get any pictures this good because I didn't venture past my door step, but against the side of the house (by my HUGE bedroom window) we had this kind of hail pile...amazing!
Okay, the storms have passed now and I'm going to bed. Praying Stephanie sleeps till atleast 7 today...which is a possibility since she had a bottle around 3:45 (after the storms). Night all!
Yes....we're alive....
For those of you who were worried....Yes. Kati, Stephanie and I are alive and well (I'm a bit shaken, but fine).....For those of you who weren't worried.....YOU SHOULD BE :)
So we were woken up to some heavy rain and small hail....I wake up and sit up.....thinking about getting up to watch some TV to see how bad the weather really was. As I'm thinking (about 10 seconds passed) the hail starts to get harder, harder, harder and harder....so I grab Stephanie and am running through the house to get Boulder out of his cage (in front of a window) and yelling at Kati to get up. We all meet up in the bathroom as the tornado sirens are going off......and my house alarm (due to the noise from the hail hitting the roof and windows)! I gave Kati the baby and I went to investigate (It's the science teacher in me :) Once we no longer had hail that sounded like it was going to COME THROUGH THE ROOF I let Boulder go back in his cage and went outside to investigate (and take pictures for my upcoming weather unit at school....and gathered some hail for my freezer (saving it for Josh :). The sirens had stopped going off and I started putting Stephanie back to sleep....congratulations little girl, you just made it through your first MAJOR storm!!
So after talking with mom and Kati we've decided we have NEVER had hail that bad or that quickly here (at our house) in ALL the years we've lived here! Folks, there are a few things I don't exaggerate on.....weather is one of them. This was CRAZY! I had a little freak out moment as I stood in the bathroom looking at Kati, Aspen, Boulder and Stephanie....I'm responsible for their safety and we only had like 30 seconds from the time the little hail started and woke us up until the HUGE hail was hitting the roof. We had 1-1 1/2 inch hail (quarter to golf ball sized hail). I actually went out and collected some hail (it's in my freezer)...it had melted some through, but there is TONS out front and back (I'll post pictures later). If we had more winds I would have broken windows....good thing is it hit pretty straight on and just the roof (haven't checked the cars yet....praying that is not something I have to worry about fixing!)
For my fellow science nerds...the storm is moving about 30-35 miles an hour so it was intense, but short :) 60 plus mile an hour winds in the "hail core" that passed RIGHT OVER US (we almost never get a direct hit from a storm!) and if you are familiar with Doppler radar we had "black" over us....it goes from green to yellow. red, various shades of purple then black....black is large hail, winds and intense rain....I don't think we have EVER had something come through so fast, and so scary! This is only the third time IN MY LIFE I have had to "report to the bathroom" during a storm....doing it with my little girl was scary....but I was quick and have gained some confidence in all this! TO all those who always say "we had no warning" I AGREE! The tornado sirens went off as I was half way to the bathroom.....and at that point the hail was already BEATING on my house. I pray there is no roof damage! Will go check it out tomorrow. You can check out some great pictures at www.fox4news.com or www.wfaa.com People flood local news stations with pictures from storms...I use them in class all the time!
When we have bad storms Roxy sleeps in her cage in the laundry room so she was already safe. Boulder listened SUPER well and followed me right into the bathroom. I grabbed Stephanie so fast it took her about 5 minutes to wake up and realize what had gone on.....she never really fussed though. She drank a bottle and is back asleep, sweet and peaceful (we'll hope I can leave here there). We have more severe storms...but not supposed to be as bad as the one that just passed over. I'm going to TRY and get some sleep now...not sure if I can, but it's worth a shot :O) Praying God gives me strength and energy to be a mommy today....So far I've only had 3 hours of sleep and she'll be waking up in about two hours...I'll be taking naps wit her today :) Much love to all and thanks for listening....I feel better now ;)
So we were woken up to some heavy rain and small hail....I wake up and sit up.....thinking about getting up to watch some TV to see how bad the weather really was. As I'm thinking (about 10 seconds passed) the hail starts to get harder, harder, harder and harder....so I grab Stephanie and am running through the house to get Boulder out of his cage (in front of a window) and yelling at Kati to get up. We all meet up in the bathroom as the tornado sirens are going off......and my house alarm (due to the noise from the hail hitting the roof and windows)! I gave Kati the baby and I went to investigate (It's the science teacher in me :) Once we no longer had hail that sounded like it was going to COME THROUGH THE ROOF I let Boulder go back in his cage and went outside to investigate (and take pictures for my upcoming weather unit at school....and gathered some hail for my freezer (saving it for Josh :). The sirens had stopped going off and I started putting Stephanie back to sleep....congratulations little girl, you just made it through your first MAJOR storm!!
So after talking with mom and Kati we've decided we have NEVER had hail that bad or that quickly here (at our house) in ALL the years we've lived here! Folks, there are a few things I don't exaggerate on.....weather is one of them. This was CRAZY! I had a little freak out moment as I stood in the bathroom looking at Kati, Aspen, Boulder and Stephanie....I'm responsible for their safety and we only had like 30 seconds from the time the little hail started and woke us up until the HUGE hail was hitting the roof. We had 1-1 1/2 inch hail (quarter to golf ball sized hail). I actually went out and collected some hail (it's in my freezer)...it had melted some through, but there is TONS out front and back (I'll post pictures later). If we had more winds I would have broken windows....good thing is it hit pretty straight on and just the roof (haven't checked the cars yet....praying that is not something I have to worry about fixing!)
For my fellow science nerds...the storm is moving about 30-35 miles an hour so it was intense, but short :) 60 plus mile an hour winds in the "hail core" that passed RIGHT OVER US (we almost never get a direct hit from a storm!) and if you are familiar with Doppler radar we had "black" over us....it goes from green to yellow. red, various shades of purple then black....black is large hail, winds and intense rain....I don't think we have EVER had something come through so fast, and so scary! This is only the third time IN MY LIFE I have had to "report to the bathroom" during a storm....doing it with my little girl was scary....but I was quick and have gained some confidence in all this! TO all those who always say "we had no warning" I AGREE! The tornado sirens went off as I was half way to the bathroom.....and at that point the hail was already BEATING on my house. I pray there is no roof damage! Will go check it out tomorrow. You can check out some great pictures at www.fox4news.com or www.wfaa.com People flood local news stations with pictures from storms...I use them in class all the time!
When we have bad storms Roxy sleeps in her cage in the laundry room so she was already safe. Boulder listened SUPER well and followed me right into the bathroom. I grabbed Stephanie so fast it took her about 5 minutes to wake up and realize what had gone on.....she never really fussed though. She drank a bottle and is back asleep, sweet and peaceful (we'll hope I can leave here there). We have more severe storms...but not supposed to be as bad as the one that just passed over. I'm going to TRY and get some sleep now...not sure if I can, but it's worth a shot :O) Praying God gives me strength and energy to be a mommy today....So far I've only had 3 hours of sleep and she'll be waking up in about two hours...I'll be taking naps wit her today :) Much love to all and thanks for listening....I feel better now ;)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
CF Husband
Mandy turned me onto this...should be shared with all! This is what true love and faith in God is all about....
Looking Back....
So I've spent some time today looking back in awe at where God has brought our little family.....About 6 years ago Josh and I were married and he worked a variety of jobs while I finished my degree.
Summer 04 Josh joined the AirForce after much prayer and talking....we actually decided over dinner on our Thursday date night....I'm the one who brought it up!!! He had always thought about it but thought I would say no so he never said anything (wow, God is so fun!) Josh started bootcamp shortly after. We moved back in with my parents so I could be with them while I finished school. I graduated Dec 04 and got my first teaching job January 05. I waited to tell him until we met up at my best friends house (he wasn't allowed to drive all the way home, too far from the base). We moved into our apt April 05 with the plan to try to buy a house in the next few years.
We STUMBLED upon our house April 06 and started talking and working through the process of buying it. We purchased it from a VERY DEAR FRIEND I work with June 06. I enjoyed that summer playing in my yard and getting things just the way I wanted them.
A year ago February Josh and I decided to start trying to get prego (actually on my best friends birthday :) A year ago March I was in California for my typical Spring Break trip. We weren't prego yet by the first of April so my dr put me on some hormones to try and help out....little did we know that our little one started to grow and the timing of the hormone treatment prevented a miscarriage!
The weekend of April 13th I was heading to my best friends baby shower and a HORRIBLE storm was pounding my house! Josh slept through a VERY DANGEROUS storm and I outran it on my way to the shower. I woke up the morning of my friends shower and felt like DEATH! I could barely function! I made it through the shower and then drove home. I, of course, rushed to the store and got a pregnancy test....still negative. I was actually prego, but not enough to show up on the test.
I took one again about a week or two later and it was positive....I rushed into the spare bedroom where I had a mommy figurine waiting to give Josh (I had bought it months ago waiting for the final positive test). We didn't tell anyone until I had been to the dr to confirm it. They were surprised that I was "very" pregnant as she put it. This ended my OBSCENE pregnancy test budget :) We surprised my parents with gifts, the aunties and uncles got really cute cookies, Jim and Bonnie got a photo album and we also drove to tell Josh's best friend....what a GREAT night!!!
A year ago this month my boss offered me the AMAZING opportunity to teach science campus wide (instead of just 5th grade). I actually took this job just before we found out we were prego....it's my dream job and makes being a working mom so much easier!
Two days before school was out my "morning" sickness began....God is soooo good! I was able to make it through the last few days of school, my family came and moved my classroom across the hall and then I was able to rest and let Miss Stephanie grow all summer.
A month or so into the school year my principal told me I had to move classrooms again. My wonderful family again came to my rescue and moved my classroom for me.
Just a short two months ago my body did the most AMAZING thing I think it will ever do! It labored for three days in which I learned so much! I think childbirth is the most amazing and wonderful experience and though it didn't go as I had planned....I thank God for every minute of it. I am one of those CRAZY women who would rather go through childbirth and skip the whole pregnancy thing!
Since I've had Stephanie I've had complication after complication with breastfeeding and finally had to give it up which broke my heart...but as of today my dr thinks those complications are over and I am back to "normal".
So now I look at going back to work in two weeks and am so excited. A WONDERFUL FRIEND is going to watch Stephanie and will love her like her own. I will be able to go to work, enjoy my kiddos and not have to worry about Stephanie's care. My job allows me to work while at school and not have to bring anything home....letting me have all that time with my family.
This summer Josh and I have tons of time off from work to just be a family which is a dream! We'll be able to visit friends and family and just hang out...I can't wait! It's good to take a minute and look back at all the amazing things God has done in our lives and how blessed we are! Just thought I would share this recap of our journey...thanks to all who have been a part of it!
Summer 04 Josh joined the AirForce after much prayer and talking....we actually decided over dinner on our Thursday date night....I'm the one who brought it up!!! He had always thought about it but thought I would say no so he never said anything (wow, God is so fun!) Josh started bootcamp shortly after. We moved back in with my parents so I could be with them while I finished school. I graduated Dec 04 and got my first teaching job January 05. I waited to tell him until we met up at my best friends house (he wasn't allowed to drive all the way home, too far from the base). We moved into our apt April 05 with the plan to try to buy a house in the next few years.
We STUMBLED upon our house April 06 and started talking and working through the process of buying it. We purchased it from a VERY DEAR FRIEND I work with June 06. I enjoyed that summer playing in my yard and getting things just the way I wanted them.
A year ago February Josh and I decided to start trying to get prego (actually on my best friends birthday :) A year ago March I was in California for my typical Spring Break trip. We weren't prego yet by the first of April so my dr put me on some hormones to try and help out....little did we know that our little one started to grow and the timing of the hormone treatment prevented a miscarriage!
The weekend of April 13th I was heading to my best friends baby shower and a HORRIBLE storm was pounding my house! Josh slept through a VERY DANGEROUS storm and I outran it on my way to the shower. I woke up the morning of my friends shower and felt like DEATH! I could barely function! I made it through the shower and then drove home. I, of course, rushed to the store and got a pregnancy test....still negative. I was actually prego, but not enough to show up on the test.
I took one again about a week or two later and it was positive....I rushed into the spare bedroom where I had a mommy figurine waiting to give Josh (I had bought it months ago waiting for the final positive test). We didn't tell anyone until I had been to the dr to confirm it. They were surprised that I was "very" pregnant as she put it. This ended my OBSCENE pregnancy test budget :) We surprised my parents with gifts, the aunties and uncles got really cute cookies, Jim and Bonnie got a photo album and we also drove to tell Josh's best friend....what a GREAT night!!!
A year ago this month my boss offered me the AMAZING opportunity to teach science campus wide (instead of just 5th grade). I actually took this job just before we found out we were prego....it's my dream job and makes being a working mom so much easier!
Two days before school was out my "morning" sickness began....God is soooo good! I was able to make it through the last few days of school, my family came and moved my classroom across the hall and then I was able to rest and let Miss Stephanie grow all summer.
A month or so into the school year my principal told me I had to move classrooms again. My wonderful family again came to my rescue and moved my classroom for me.
Just a short two months ago my body did the most AMAZING thing I think it will ever do! It labored for three days in which I learned so much! I think childbirth is the most amazing and wonderful experience and though it didn't go as I had planned....I thank God for every minute of it. I am one of those CRAZY women who would rather go through childbirth and skip the whole pregnancy thing!
Since I've had Stephanie I've had complication after complication with breastfeeding and finally had to give it up which broke my heart...but as of today my dr thinks those complications are over and I am back to "normal".
So now I look at going back to work in two weeks and am so excited. A WONDERFUL FRIEND is going to watch Stephanie and will love her like her own. I will be able to go to work, enjoy my kiddos and not have to worry about Stephanie's care. My job allows me to work while at school and not have to bring anything home....letting me have all that time with my family.
This summer Josh and I have tons of time off from work to just be a family which is a dream! We'll be able to visit friends and family and just hang out...I can't wait! It's good to take a minute and look back at all the amazing things God has done in our lives and how blessed we are! Just thought I would share this recap of our journey...thanks to all who have been a part of it!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
adicted to picnik.com
Well I am still up editing pictures, but have had A VERY PRODUCTIVE day (again :) Today I started the VERY big process of sorting through Stehpanie's clothes and packing up all her 0-3 months. Why you ask...well my little princess is too LONG for just about all her 0-3 month stuff! She's in the 25% for weight, but 75% for length! I also began moving her out of my room and into the nursery....before many of you start your "I told you so" I'm not actually moving her out of our room....just all her stuff! Her diapers and clothes have all be in my dresser....which I need back so I can clean out my closet (because I haven't seen the floor in about 9 months :) All in an effort to ease in my transition back to work (being able to find clothes for both of us in the morning will probably make things run a bit more smoothly :)
So Stephanie is sound asleep and I should be as well....but I am just having too much fun editing pictures and playing on my blog! Enjoy!
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