Aftermath of the Storm

The Texas freeze spared our home for the most part. The worst damage was to our mantel. It got a little singed from the fireplace heat. I'll sand it down and repaint it. I'm hopeful our plants survive. They seem to be okay.

We only lost power the one time, for about 20 hours. We boiled water for several more days until they said it was safe again. Our neighborhood seemed to fare well. A few broken pipes but nothing major.

The kids and I enjoyed more at home activities. It's really nice that we're used to being home so much. School closed for the Monday after the week of the storm. We had some chill days. Joseph went back to turnaround so was gone again. It was refreshing to not have a schedule to keep up with.

Now I need to remember to restock our supplies before hurricane season. But all the stores have limits on water and other non-perishables so I'll wait a little bit. It was a nice dry-run of hunkering down for a hurricane.

I never really loved the tile on the fireplace. So this provides an opportunity to paint it all and do a stencil design on the tile. I'm excited for the finished product. We are also upgrading the materials to be more heat-resistant. We also learned to open the flue when we use it. Whoops!

100th day of school

Ashton finally had her first "100 day of school" event. Last year's was cancelled as it was later in March I believe. She was thrilled to dress up for it.

The Prayer of a Young Boy

Texas was hit with a bad storm this week. Very frigid temps and then the power grid failed. Politics aside, it's a disaster. We've been fortunate so far. We lost power for about 20 hours. And we have a boil water notice. That means we can't drink the tap water or do much with it. Basically flush toilets. But then the water pressure bottomed out for all of Houston so we had no water. It was/is a mess.

Thankfully, our prophet and Church leaders have encouraged us to be prepared. We prepare for hurricanes and we've learned this is pretty much a hurricane except no wind damage and no 100 degree weather. We also couldn't really leave if we wanted to because roads were icy everywhere.

We have plenty of water storage. We have a gas fireplace. We have batteries, flashlights, camping lanterns, propane grill, etc. It was nice to feel validation in our preparations.

We had two families stay with us the first night of the ordeal. One family is still here. We expect power to still go on and off over the next several days. Hopefully shorter increments. And it will be cold the next couple days but nothing like Sunday-Tuesday. We've had so many blessings through it all it is almost too long to list. But I don't want to forget:

- I'm glad I stopped pumping Lydia a few weeks ago and weaned her from breastmilk. Trying to keep all that refrigerated and finding time to pump with the chaos would have been challenging.

- I'm glad we have a slew of kid activities that I save for "rainy days." It's been a great few days with the kids to do some fun things.

- I'm grateful for good neighbors. This morning, our neighbors across the street knocked on our door asking if we needed anything. We needed some pool water to flush our toilets. That way, we didn't have to use our precious drinking water. The husband helped fill up a big bucket and carry it over to the house.

- that the power went out after the kids went to bed. The first 10 hours of no power were during the night. Not such a bad time.

- I'm glad we listen and prepare for natural disasters. It's been nice to focus on serving others rather than being worried about our own livlihood. 

Tanner reminded me tonight of the purity of a child's prayer. He said our dinner prayer and so plainly asked Heavenly Father to give us power again. I started crying. To hear my son ask and more importantly, to know God would hear his prayer meant so much. The power came back about an hour later and Tanner was thrilled. It was better than Christmas morning.

Ashton's Valentine

Ashton brought home this card from her friend at school. It made me smile to know that others see her in such a positive way.

To translate, "you are the bestest friend. You are there when I need you." 

Turnaround

It's that time of year again... Turnaround season. It's a love/hate relationship with it. Joseph either gets extra pay or extra vacation time. But he works 12+ hour shifts 7-9 days straight, one day off and then back at it. He leaves before the kids are up and comes home around 6 or 6:30pm.

We finished week 1 today. The ice storm coming to Houston is a welcomed reprieve. He'll work my tomorrow but then stay home for at least 2 days. However, that ends up tacking on more days at the end in March.

We've survived so far. The hardest part of the day is the morning. Getting all the kids up, in the van by 7:45 to take Ashton to school. But after that, it calms down. I have a friend picking up Ashton everyday from school. That's a tremendous help. Her school pick up time falls right in the middle of nap time for everyone at home.

The kids and I are staying sane by birdwatching and feeding. We've done some fun crafts and lots of playdough time. Ashton and Tanner have a school holiday on Monday. And then with the storm, school is already cancelled for Tuesday. I'm guessing it will close Wednesday and Thursday as well or go to virtual learning. Ugh.

Lydia fell down a few stairs and got a pretty good goose egg on her head.

Gemma's annual heart check

Today was the day. Gemma saw our favorite cardiologist, Dr. Gospin! We love her! It was the first time Gma didn't scream for the appointment. It's quite the ordeal for a little kid. Blood pressure, pulse oximeter, EKG with lots of sticky stickers and pokey things. Then the full echo with the ultrasound wand and gel.

Good news is Gemma's numbers didn't change from last year. She still (and always will) has pulmonary stenosis, moderate level. We'll continue annual checks because every now and then, the child can have a sudden growth spurt and the valve can have issues.

It was a little odd as our doctor called Gemma one of her CHD patients. That stands for Congenital heart disease. I know her defect is congenital but I never see it affect her. I'm grateful for that. But it felt odd to think that I have a child under that umbrella. I'm grateful to be lucky and get one that hasn't required much intervention or additional testing. But I always keep a little extra eye on Gemma.

Permanent marker meets table

Once, as a kid, I used a permanent marker to color something on a piece of paper. I failed to realize that the marker bled through the paper onto my mom's dining room table. Thankfully, it left just a small mark here and there. And it blended in with the grain and stain of the wood. 

This morning, we spent time making lots of Valentine's day gifts/cards. Ashton was using the permanent marker and I was cleaning things up. I failed to grab the marker quick enough. Tanner came inside and decided impulsively to write on the table. He wrote some great letters. And he felt really bad after he paused and realized what happened.

I'm grateful for rubbing alcohol. As I cleaned it off our table, I thought how often Heavenly Father rubs a little rubbing alcohol on my mistakes.

Soap carving

To get the kids involved safely with nature, I want them to learn carving skills. It's great fine motor skills development and hand eye coordination. Tanner and Ashton want to carve stocks so I found soap carving to start with. It was a fun FHE night and even Gemma got in on it. It was super cheap. Just a few bars of soap. Then we used stuff around the house to carve. Ashton made a butterfly. Tanner made a football, turned into a boat. Gemma just pushed toothpicks into hers. It was a fun activity that I enjoyed too. 

 

Tanner's Army men

About a year ago, I got army men from the dollar store for Tanner. He pronounced it "armian" and it stuck. He loves his army people and battles. For his birthday, he got a ton of stuff to go along with it. Tanks, towers, rock formations for hiding, army base furniture and a repurposed dollhouse for it all. One night, I went to check on him after he'd fallen asleep and found this.

He had them all set up on the piece of cardboard, ready to battle in the morning. I love this kid!

Color

With the world events this past year, I've reflected on my thoughts and ideas. For a long time, I said, "I don't see color. I'm colorblind." As it relates to the color of someone's skin. And I had a difficult time understanding what was wrong with that thought process.

I can count on one hand the number of times I felt discriminated against for some reason. Once was in elementary school. A friend could not come to my house because my parents were divorced. I had mentioned something to my friend about my first step-dad being an alcoholic and she had shared that with her mom. Despite him no longer living with us, her mom was concerned about having her come over. I recall being upset. However, now as a parent, I can see the mom's perspective.

The other time I vividly recall was when I interviewed for a job in Utah after I was married. I purposefully removed my wedding ring prior to the interview. Graduating in a predominantly female program, I had been warned of this. However, the interviewer asked me point blank if I was married. I did not want to lie so I said yes. He spent more time asking me about my husband's path and career options than he did to me. It was devastating but no surprise when I did not get the job. Looking back, I wish I had spoken up to him and understood the legality of the situation.

I am sure I have been discriminated against for religious reasons but thankfully am unaware of them. I am also grateful that my skin color has not led others to discriminate against me or to racially profile me in a negative manner.

Over the last year, I focused on reading books to open my eyes to the issues that people face because of the color of their skin. I've seen how it does impact so much of a person's life and it shouldn't. At least it shouldn't negatively impact them. I don't see "color" as far as the negative connotation of skin color. I love Houston for that reason. We have so much diversity here. I remember talking to Ashton about this and she didn't even think twice about the color of someone's skin. Her school has a high Hispanic population as well as other ethnicities. I love that!

But when I made playdough this week, it hit me. If I was colorblind, I would see the rainbow of playdough as this:

Yes, they would all look more similar, minus a few a little darker than others. But I would miss this:

I would miss the vibrancy that each color brings to our world and to our lives. I would miss the cultural differences and I would miss the opportunity to celebrate them. I would miss the opportunity to mourn and comfort individuals who face difficulties based on the color of their skin.

If anything, this past year has strengthened my testimony in Heavenly Father's design of His children. He created us in His image and desires that we are proud to be His. We should never feel ashamed, embarrassed, hated, despised, ridiculed, punished, discriminated, persecuted for the way that Heavenly Father made us. And this goes beyond the color of someone's skin. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who can answer prayers, especially the deep, philosophical ones that come late at night.