catching up

Wow it's been a whirlwind few weeks! I have wanted to blog so many times, but things have just kept piling up on us. It's been unreal. We have had our washing machine go out, our vacuum literally broke apart, and our parents were very close to losing their home in a wildfire. And friends, that's just THIS week. Sigh. Dano had his very first ear infection and very first prescription. We have been so lucky with him, he NEVER gets sick. This year however it seems like he's been sick every other week. Of course with the crazy Texas weather everyone I know has been sick at least 2 or 3 times. It's been wild. All of this has sent me to my knees more times than I can count. I have been so down these past few weeks. It just seemed like everything has been snowballing. Then God finally brought to my eyes that even in all this mess we are blessed. We were able to buy a new washer and a new vacuum. It could have been worse. We could have not had the resources to do that. And so I'm claiming the blessing rather than dwelling on the the down sides.

On Monday I got the scare of my life. Well, ONE of the scares of my life. It was my mom and she sounded terrified. At first I didn't really grasp what she was saying. They were being told to evacuate because there was a wildfire coming towards their house. My dad said he looked out the back door and all he could see was fire. There was nothing to do but grab moms purse and leave the house. I can not imagine. I'm still tearing up now just thinking about it. They were allowed to wait in their car on the side of the road for a little while as the firefighters tried to turn the fire and save their home and our neighbors home. My moms friend called their small group and asked them to pray for my parents. I did the same with our small group. Being able to reach out that way was amazing. We felt immediate prayer. That feeling will stay with me. I love the way my dad explained it. He said within 10 minutes of hearing that so many of our church family were praying for them, he said he saw the fire switch directions. The wind turned, some heavy machines were brought in, and my parents home was spared. We've seen some arial photos of the fire damage and it literally looks like an arm was laid down stopping the fire and sending it another direction. When my mom called from their house I wanted to scream some Hallelujah's! We'd been talking throughout the ordeal, but I knew when that # popped up on the caller ID everything really was okay. Nothing but the power of God could have made the fire move the other direction. The winds were gusting up to 50 mph at times. The fire was moving 300 yards a minute. The flames were at least 20 feet tall. The embers were flying up into the air and being carried across the highway. It was unreal. Without God's intervention, my parents would have lost their home. For those of you reading this that were part of that immediate prayer team - Thank you doesn't even cover it. Knowing that over 30 people went to the throne immediately for us... THAT is an amazing feeling. One woman did lose her home, several other homes were damaged, and a Dodge dealership suffered about 1.3 million dollars in loss and damages. I'm attaching some photos of it all. These were taken from my parents driveway after the fire had turned. They were still not allowed in their home, but at this point there were allowed to wait in the driveway in their car. (this was so in case the wind flipped again they could leave quickly)

these are a bit grainy because I had to enlarge them

these were taken the day after