A couple pics and a video. The first was taken in Indy a few days before Lucas was born. The second was a couple of weeks ago at the park.
Lucas's favorite pastime. He is always hiding in the laundry basket. He carries it around on his head so that all he has to do is drop down and he's covered. He will watch movies covered in his little turtle shell, peeking through the holes.
I really liked this slideshow. The news/media started portraying the flood stories as a hopeless situation and what they found instead was, ironically, hope. A renewed hope in people.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/03/30/fargo.slideshow/index.html
I have been asked why would someone want to live in my hometown. This is really what it comes down to. It is a community. Having lived through a very similar situation before, I have a special place in my heart for what is going on in Fargo. I know that it is hard to capture the spirit and determination through videos and photos, but bare with me as this may be for myself more than anyone else.
By the way, my family is back in their home although they need to climb over a seven foot dike to get in and out.
Here is an article that my family was in. I'm really proud of his positive attitude and fighting spirit. They aren't giving up on their house or their neighbors. Even if it means sleeping in shifts and taking levee duty at 2 in the morning when there is snow on the ground and it's only a few degrees out.
I just thought I would post this since a few of you have asked about my family via telephone, email, etc. My family is now under a mandatory evacuation from their home. My mom is staying with a neighbor, across the street. That might sound odd, but there is a seven foot dirt dike between the houses. My dad and brother are currently staying at the house, but have an escape plan laid out if needed, and emergency supplies just in case. They are staying to pump water that is seeping through the dike. The situation isn't dire, but they could still use a few extra prayers.
This is a great video. I am so proud of my hometown. No matter what happens it is a great place to live with absolutely amazing people. Most of the scenes with homes shown are from my parent's neighborhood.
This is not a picture of my parents yard, but a few houses down. My parents are ready to leave if there is a mandatory evacuation, but right now they're still holding down the fort. They now have a dike in the back of their house AND in the front. The one in the front won't help them much, but it will be a backup for the rest of the city if the sandbags can't hold the water.
Here is an article I found on a friends site that reminded me of the great people in Fargo that are helping out.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_re_us/flooding_pulling_together
My parents were informed today that they need to pack up their basement because one of the dikes ahs already broken a few miles south of where they live. They may need to evacuate because another dike is being built in front of their house as back up. I am so glad they live around so many wonderful people who are willing to help in such an emergent situation.
I just got off the phone with my mom. She is currently slicing sandwich buns and making food to feed the dozens of college kids and community volunteers who are helping build a sandbag dike in their backyard. The Red River in Fargo, ND is expected to crest at record levels this week, and with more rain and snow on the way there is no telling when this will all be over. My parents live on the river, but should be OK. However, they have several neighbors in real trouble and due to overland flooding and other water outlets, the whole city is in some degree of trouble.
This emergency reminds me of 1997, when the same thing happened and I was able to be part of the largest community-wide effort to fill and stack sand bags I had known. We worked all day and night in freezing temperatures and snow/rain. I remember people from church showing up at a moments notice to move all of the basement furniture up to the main floor. It was renewal of faith in a teenager's perception of humankind.
This year it's worse and thankfully there are more volunteers to help. People are really stepping up and helping out strangers. They are cancelling schools and universities to free up volunteers and those volunteers are filling up buses as they're transorted to local areas of need. Check out this link to see some great pictures of the volunteer effort. I have been on my parents to get some pictures of what's been going around around their neighborhood, but they've been a little busy.
Keep the area in your prayers, and hopefully the levees will hold. We lost one city in 1997 when a dike broke. Hopefully Fargo will fare better a decade later.
My adorable, sweet, perfect children (gagging on the sarcasm) decided to take advantage of a distracted mommy and to create the biggest mess I've had to clean up to date. Lucas got into a barely opened box of cornstarch and spread it to his heart's content. When I first discovered the little angels, the mess was contained to the kitchen. It took about two second for them to spread the superfine dust from the back door to the front door. I am still cleaning up the chaos. It is on every bookshelf, tabletop, appliance, etc. Here are a few pictures of the darlings before things got really good. I figured I should put down the camera and wrangle up the snowmen. Oh, the pictures aren't blurry, the corstarch created a thick haze that took half a day to settle.
Anyone following the tournament may have heard about the NDSU Bison. This is their first year of eligibility for the D 1 NCAA Tounement and they made it!! Elena has a message for them!
So, since I won't get a facelift (or the nose job I've wanted since I went on a date with a guy who told me my nose looks like a butt - a cute butt, however) I decided to give my blog a little tweek. Nothing too exciting, just a new name. It isn't like going from a buttface to a supermodel or anything. Obviously I was scarred by the lack of social grace this guy demonstrated, but a butt? Really?
Today I have been smothered by the kind deeds of others and I feel like I should bake everyone cinnamon rolls. This morning I went to get my transmission checked out at a transmission shop. They didn't find a problem with the transmission itself, but they did a few other repairs that they saw. They didn't charge me a dime. Then this guy at Wal-Mart saw my overloaded life and took my cart and put it away for me. The lady at the car-rental place upgraded us and gave us an additional discount for the weekend. To top it all off, Drew is taking the kids for the weekend. They're off to Detroit to visit his family. I'm floating on a cloud. (I'm still waiting for someone's neck to start bleeding or head to fall off that would make Drew stay too late at work and cancel the bliss). I really should be baking and delivering goodies to everyone.
I guess making soup and cheesecake for a stake activity will have to suffice for now.
