Summer of Storms

This summer has been full of storms.

It seems if it isn't in the high temperatures, it is fiercely storming outside.

The end of June we were hit with a hard storm.

We were on our way back from picking Spencer up at Camp Dawson, over three hours away from home. The sky was as blue and clear as could be.

Thankfully mom called and warned me about a storm that was coming through and to be careful. I turned the radio on and sure enough there was a weather warning on.

In just a matter of minutes the sky was as dark as night and the wind was blowing terribly. We were driving through a construction zone and we were two miles from an exit. I pulled off the exit that I was familiar with and drove past cars that had decided to wait out the storm underneath an overpass. I knew there was a gas station just up ahead.

The road was covered in tree branches and by this time the storm was really coming down hard. I made it to the gas station, pulled up and parked and the kids and I jumped out and ran inside. The man stopped us at the door and told us that he was closed because their power was out. I asked him if we could just stand inside for some shelter until the storm passes. He agreed and about that time several other cars pulled in looking for shelter.

We waited out the storm and then went to my husband's parents house for the night. They lived just a few miles from the gas station we were at but driving through all the down trees and debris wasn't fun.

Their power was also out but we made it fun and camped out at their house for the night. The kids played board games, visited with Grandad and Grandma and spent the night tucked in safe and sound.



The next morning we all got ready and started home. The kids were begging for me to run through Tudor's Biscuit World....I told them it would be closed but they didn't believe me.

 I turned the radio on only to hear the craziness that the storm had brought with it. The power was out almost everywhere around us. There were only a handful of gas stations and most stores were only taking cash. I started to worry because we needed gas and I had no cash. A lesson well learned.

I made it to a gas station and to my surprise it wasn't awfully bad. There was a long line but they had attendants out  directing people to what pumps to go to. And the best part, they had a working ATM inside! I filled up the truck on gas and then went to the grocery store.

My mom called and their power was out, so was my sister's power and my best friend's power and water. I received a text from my friend and neighbor. It was pictures of our home and it said, "A big mess but at least we have power!" I was SO RELIEVED to know that we had power.

My parents, my sister Savannah and her two boys, my grandma, my sister Jolena and her two girls (and Natalie who had been staying the night with them and my best friend Mariah and her daughter ended up staying with us. There was a house full but it was fun. I was glad that I had power, running water and a place that they were able to stay, and that it was with us.

The kids spent the days beating the heat by swimming in the pool. I think for days they basically lived in the pool.

The storm did mess up our tree in our front yard. The tree that I tied a yellow ribbon around and promised to not take it off until Jerome is home safe again.

 We headed into July and many still didn't have power or water to their home.

The power would come back on at places, then another storm would hit and knocked the power back out again. It was crazy.

We watched several more storms go through. One time we sat on our front porch and watched the storm blow in.

Another time the kids pulled up the chairs and sat and watched the storm pass through. They watched the sky get dark, the rain come down hard and the wind blow through the trees.



And here we are the end of July, still waiting for a storm to pass.

The kids start back to school in three weeks.

With all of these storms this summer it feels like the kids haven't had much of a summer.

This was taken on our way home this evening.

I had picked up one of Natalie's friends to stay over and we were headed to the store. I saw the sky and quickly changed my mind. So we turned around and headed back home.

{ a month in pictures: May }

May has been an eventful month for us. We have stayed very busy and finished up all the projects and homework assignments that were needed to complete the school year before starting our summer vacation.

1. Natalie had a wonderful teacher this year, Mrs. Morton. Her teacher had the kids do an in class project of taking care of eggs that soon became little chicks. Natalie begged for weeks to bring one home when it was time. I finally gave in and we happily brought "Buddy" home from school.

2. Spencer and Jerome took a paintballing trip with several of their friends. I'm glad they are able to make some of these good memories this summer.

3. The girls and I made these mini cherry cheesecakes for Memorial Day.

4. Jerome spent two weeks out of May in Williamsburg for military training.

5. Natalie and Katie enjoyed splashing in the pool with their neighborhood friends, Autumn and Cheyanne. We had a cookout Memorial Day and had a great time visiting with close friends.

{ hopscotch days }

Hopscotch days are here to stay for a while. School is out, the weather is hot and the evenings carry over into the night. Our girls have been filling their days and evenings with hopscotch, splashing in the pool, running and playing with the neighbor's girls and eating all the popcicles in the freezer. It feels like summer, finally, and they are enjoying every minute of it.

{ chickadee }

Natalie had a wonderful fourth grade teacher this year. Everyday while they were doing this chic project at school Natalie would come home and tell me about what they had learned that day. She had an orthodontist appointment one day and was very anxious to get back to school because they were doing something very important with the eggs that day.

Along with this, she asked me every.single.day. if she could bring her chick home when it hatched. I right away didn't like the idea because I know little chicks become big roosters or hens....and that I didn't want. I repeatedly told her if I wanted to live on a farm and raise chickens I would have and that I really, really didn't want to have a chicken. Then I would remind her how often we have to tell them to feed or water Molly, our dog.....that they begged for too.

Eventually I gave in. She was so into this project at school and really, really wanted to bring her chick home. The day we picked the chick up from school you would have thought it was Christmas morning. She talked to her chick and held it close to her, then looked at me and gave me a hug and a thank you for letting the chick come home with us.

I couldn't wait to get my camera out to take some pictures of Natalie and her new chick, which she named "Buddy".  I took a lot of pictures and laughed watching her with her new chick. It started pecking at her arm and she laughed and said, "Buddy likes my freckles! He is pecking at my freckles!".

That was about two weeks ago. Since then we have ALL become attached to Buddy. He is getting bigger every day. Natalie agreed when I told her that we could bring Buddy home that when he got to big to stay inside that he would go to her friends house who has a farm and a good place where Buddy can live.

Natalie is tired of cleaning up after Buddy and asked me today when we were going to take Buddy to another home to live. I asked her why and she said, "Oh, I don't know. He makes a big messes now." I think she is ready for him to go, but everything is reversed now and I, I am not ready to see Buddy go.

{ the simple things }

There it waits.

The tire swing swing under the old sycamore tree.

Waiting.

Waiting for summer to arrive.

Waiting for bare feet to swing it back and forth.

Waiting for little hands to hold on tight.

Waiting for kids to spin round and round in circles filling the air with laughter.

Waiting for summer to arrive.

We had a break in the weather earlier this week. The kids played on the tire swing late into the evening. When I told them it was time to come inside to get cleaned up and ready for bed, they begged to play outside just a little bit longer.

I can't wait for summer to get here. To watch the kids play in the yard and swing in circles round and round on the tire swing. Just a few more weeks and summer break will will be here.

There is one sure sign of our kids getting older. That is that the tire swing is to low to the ground for them now. I guess their daddy will have to tie the rope up a little taller for them this year.

{ light shining through }

Yesterday evening, after a hard rainstorm, Natalie came running inside from the porch where she had been watching the rain fall. "Mommy, Mommy! You have to come and see the sky how pretty it is!", she said to me. I walked out on the porch and smiled as I looked up at the beautiful sky. "You're right", I told her, "It is a pretty sky this evening isn't it?". She then looked at me, put her hands together, letting me know she was getting ready to ask me something that she thought the answer would be no to. "Mommy, can I please, please, please use your camera and take a picture of the sky?", she asked me. I smiled and said, "Of course you can, just please be careful". She gave me a big hug and ran inside to get my camera. I showed her a few things on it, set it to auto for her and went inside to pull a load of clothes out of the dryer.

She came back in the house after some time and proudly showed me all the pictures she had taken. I told her how good they were.

Last night after putting the girls to bed, I loaded up her pictures and the one above caught my attention. I think it is beautiful. She did a beautiful job of holding a big camera in her tiny hands and capturing what she saw as beauty, the sky showing through our worn out American flag hanging from our front porch.

~Amber Hope