The Final Week in Texas

Josiah has made his final week in Texas count.  On Monday, he went to lunch with the junior high pastor.  They headed back to Chili's and had good food (chicken tenders, of course) and even better conversation.  Chris has been an incredible mentor to Josiah for the past four years.  We are going to miss him a lot!   From there, I dropped Josiah off at a friend's house to go fishing.  Josiah and Ethan would fish every morning at Kamp as well as the Fall Retreat.  Ethan loves to fish and keeps the location of his favorite lake mum so no one else can score the big catfish that he catches.  He took Josiah knowing he was on his way out of town and could not give up the secret.  They stayed out for three hours and caught one catfish.  Josiah thought it was a big one.  Ethan said it was a small one.  They had a good time together.  I asked Josiah if he had any pictures of them fishing.  He texted me a machete-wielding picture of himself.  Yes, it's real.  

The following day, Josiah headed to Bobby's house for a sleepover with several friends.  They headed to Typhoon Texas the following day with Bobby's church.  I thought their day might get cut short due to a storm moving in mid-afternoon.  However, things went a little differently.  Josiah said he was in line for the drop slides when they had to shut the water off because someone got stuck on a slide.  They went to the lazy river instead and not too long into that, the whole park shut down because their filters were not working.  A thunderstorm moved in just 20 minutes after that anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered much, but Josiah did come home and hopped right in the shower.  Filtering the water seems like a big deal at a water park.  

Henry, Caroline, and I got some pool time in as well.  Our friends invited us to their pool for one last get-together.  Their neighborhood has a very nice pool.  The slides were damaged during Hurricane Beryl, so Caroline never got to try them.  The last time we were at this pool, she was slightly too short to ride them.  This time, when she was plenty tall enough, they were not working.  They did have a leap pad obstacle that they spent most of their time on.  It was good to hang out.  

Mid-week, Henry was able to go to a friend's house for the better part of a day.  He also had one last Bible study up at church.  After his Bible study was over, we stopped by the children's minister's office because she had made cookies for us.  She said she made good ones (soft and chewy) and bad ones (golden brown and delicious).  We got goodbye hugs.  The kids were 2, 4, and 6 when we started going to this church, so they've all had Ms. Leslee as their children's minister for the elementary years.   

We went from cookies and hugs to Chick-fil-a with Bobby and Melissa.  One final meal with really good friends.  Josiah has been in school with Bobby since kindergarten, so it'll be so weird not to see Bobby all the time.  Every get-together right now is happy hugs and sharing fun memories followed by sad hugs and held-back tears.   

When Henry was at his friend's house for the day, Caroline and I headed to Target to check out their uniform display.  They have a dress code at the new school and Caroline is now fully attired.  She looks so cute in it, too.  

Caroline also helped me change out the front door knob.  It has been falling off for the better part of a year now.  As we were transitioning out the old knob, it became clear I had packed all our Phillips head screwdrivers.  The box of tools I had saved had four flatheads....  Fortunately we have a newish neighbor across from us who is always working in his garage - he keeps the door open, so I knew he had a ton of tools.  He was incredibly nice and let me borrow two which made all the difference in the world.  It was still tricky and frustrating to get it on, but Caroline was a big help with that, too.  

When we weren't packing, we were playing cards.  Henry learned a new card game on his mission trip, Egyptian Rummy, and it's been a hit here.  It is not a quiet game.  There is a lot of slapping of the cards and loud exclamations.  

On Sunday, the movers were scheduled to come.  The time I was given was between 1 a.m. and 3 p.m.  We stayed home from church with the hope that they would come in the morning.  The morning passed.  I took the kids outside for a last picture in front of the house.  We hung around for the afternoon.  By 3 p.m., no one had come.  All the phone numbers I had said the offices were closed or the mailboxes were too full to leave a message.  Frustration was high.  At 5 p.m. I called again and someone answered the phone.  She spoke with the driver who said he was told we were moving on Monday.  She said they would compensate for missing our 3-day window.  What was the compensation?  A whopping $30.  The driver did call me and he should be here tomorrow morning.  So instead of driving to SC tomorrow, we'll be moving out instead. 

The year we moved in and today. 

Beryl, Chicago, & Austin

Monday morning, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. because Josiah's LED lights had made a noise and were wildly flashing all the colors.  It was the oddest thing.  I turned them off and went back to bed.  This happened three more times in the span of 10 minutes.  Every time I got up to fix them, I could hear the wind and rain from Hurricane Beryl.  It was intense to say the least.  I went downstairs to watch the news to see where it was headed.  It had just touched down on land as a Category 1 storm.  The projected path went directly over where we live.  The lights, wind, and rain had woken up Caroline, too, and together we watched the news until 5:30 a.m. when the power went out for good.  We laid on the couch listening to the wind.  It was so strong.  The news said 75 mph winds with 80 mph gusts.  It had not diminished in strength even after being on land for over an hour.  I heard a big snap, looked outside and saw a section of our fence fell over.  A little while later, another section fell.  The wind was traveling sideways right into the fence.  I was really worried it would all fall.  We had two big tree limbs fall and I never even heard them snap off.  In the end, three sections of fence were down, and quite a bit more was leaning.  It was a little overwhelming mostly because I didn't know what we were going to do with Benson.  

At some point in the morning, the eyewall was over us because we had a moment of calm.  That was a welcome reprieve and an opportunity to take Benson out.  He was so enthralled by the knocked down fence and by all the people walking that he would not take care of his business needs.  So, he let me take him out later when the rain had started up again, and we got soaked to the core.  Caroline and I did not have a ton of stuff to do because we have packed up our house and there was not much left.  We played with Playdoh and had to guess each other's creations.  She slapped tunes on her legs and I had to figure it out.  We played Pictionary and Hangman on her white board.  We played a TON of Hangman.  

Pictionary - that's me wishing I could watch Gilmore Girls

By Monday afternoon, the storm had stopped and Caroline helped me do a temporary fix on the fence so we could at least take Benson out safely.  We used big zip ties and connected the sections so they wouldn't fall.  For the sections bending into our yard, I broke down the fallen limbs and used them to leverage the fence upright.   We kept it classy around here.  Fortunately the temperature stayed in the 80s on Monday so we were not dying of heat.  Not yet.  

In the midst of all the hurricane fun on Monday, I got a call from Josiah's leader on the mission trip saying he was not feeling well.  His ears were so stuffy that he couldn't hear well, he said it was hard to swallow because his throat was so sore, and his eyes looked red and sickly, too.  The leader, JP, said Josiah wasn't complaining at all.  Quite the opposite, Josiah was constantly saying he felt fine and wanted to keep doing what they were doing.  I got off the phone and tried to figure out a plan.  And that's where Uncle Taylor came in and helped us in a huge way.  He drove 40 miles to get Josiah, took him to an Urgent Care, found out he had an ear infection, went to the pharmacy for medicines, dropped Josiah back off with his group, and then headed an hour plus back home.  He was our hero in a cape and it made all the difference that Josiah got the medicines he needed.  Josiah was incredibly happy he tested negative for covid and strep, so he could stay with his group.  When I picked Josiah up at the end of the week, he said he was so happy that he got to see Taylor again.  They had a good time together. 

Tuesday morning we were up at 6 a.m.  No power for 24 hours.  The cell phones and internet were not working either.  We decided to venture out looking for some breakfast (and coffee).  We found a donut shop near us that was open and, being one of the few places with power, they were packed.  We were so happy to find it and we enjoyed kolaches for breakfast.  We then drove the car to cool off and charge our phones.  We stayed on the highway because all the traffic lights seemed to be out.  We saw downed fences and tree limbs everywhere.  It appeared that no one had power - just a few grocery stores, gas stations, and a few businesses.  Any gas station that was open had huge lines.  

When we got back home, it wasn't long before we heard a trash truck coming.  We could see it a ways down the road and quickly kicked it into high gear.  We emptied out our fridge and freezers and got the well defrosted food to the curb.  Then, since the appliances had been defrosted, I gave them a good cleaning.  It was a million times easier to do without power.  

Tuesday was much hotter.  Caroline and I were not motivated to do much.  We played so many games of Hangman.  It was the one game that we both were up for at any point.  We made block creations, we played cards.  For dinner, we went to the Chick-fil-a near us.  We went at 3:30 p.m. thinking it would be a good 'off' time.  We were wrong.  We entered the drive-thru line at 3:30.  And made it to the window at 4:00p.m.  Being one of the few places open, everyone went there.  At 7 p.m. our power came on for 3 minutes.  We were so excited at the possibility of having a cool evening.  But then it went off again.  It did mean they were working in our area, so that was a positive.  Then at 7:30 p.m., our power came back on for good.  We sat under the living room fan for a while cooling off with smiles on our faces.  I waited to plug everything back in until we knew it was on for good.  

Josiah texted me on Tuesday to let me know he was improving, so that was a huge positive.  I did text the leader as well to make sure he really was improving.  

For Henry's mission trip, the leaders uploaded pictures throughout the week, but there were very few of Henry.  Very few.  I could not tell what he was doing each day because he was never in the photos of the work crew groups.  On Tuesday evening, they got a tour of the Capital building, and he made those photos.  He said they got to see the governor's office and the press room.  

When I picked up Henry on Friday, he told us that he had worked at the Food Bank all week.  He said he never wants to see another carrot for a long time.  He had to sort through them and throw out the mushy, moldy ones.  He also had to make 10 lb. bags of assorted produce (carrots, squash, cabbage, sweet potatoes, etc.).  He said by the third day he could get the scale to 10 lbs. really quickly.  In fact, his team broke the Food Bank record and bagged 2000 bags one of the days he was there.  Speed is Henry's thing.  He did like the work and he liked a number of the Food Bank employees a lot.  His church leader for that was someone he knew which made it better, too.  Photos got uploaded after Henry arrived home.  It was good to see where he served.  

They did get some free time during their days and Henry played 9-square.  

They also had a time of blessing and prayer on their final night.  

Josiah's team flew in on Friday as well.  His flight got delayed in Chicago, so it was a late night for us all.  He had a very good time.  His group put on a free soccer camp from 9a-12p every day.  Josiah and two friends, Paiton and Wesley, worked with kids ages 6-8.  Josiah said Wesley did a very good job teaching the kids.  When they had their water breaks, Josiah got chased around the field by the kids trying to squirt water on him. 

In fact tossing water on people became a theme with the whole soccer crew.  Each day it sounds like they were scheming to toss water on one friend or another.  During the camp, they had a break mid-morning and had snacks and a short lesson.  They did the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, & self-control) and on one day, Josiah spoke about love.  He even refrained himself from bringing the Beatles into it...but he thought about it.  His friend, Wesley, gifted Josiah an Abbey Road Beatles t-shirt signed by all of his friends.  It was very thoughtful.  

The Soccer Crew

Before they left town, they got to enjoy Gino's deep dish pizza.  They had Portillo's one day and milkshakes at Scooby's.  He said it was a great time overall.  And the antibiotics made it even better.  

Before the boys came home, Caroline and I had a huge clean up day in the yard.  We waited for the POD to get picked up and then we headed outside to work.  There were tons of little branches to pick up from Beryl.  We filled 3 bags full of them.  She mowed, I edged, she blew, we both swept.  Later I mowed the backyard and bundled the branches from the big limbs.  We were out there for hours and it was exhausting.  We celebrated by using up our gift card at Gringo's and enjoying some nice Tex-Mex.  Caroline tried the fajitas for the first time because she's always seen Henry get them.  She is now a fajita fan.  

Benson met a friend one morning, too.  Because of the fence being shoddy right now, we don't let Benson go outside alone anymore.  He and I went to the backyard a little after 6 one morning.  Immediately Benson alerted, I look and there was a cat on the fence.  The cat hissed at us and then refused to move for what felt like forever.  I finally had to yell for Caroline to help me get Benson away from the standoff.  This cat had so many options to leave, but instead it just sat on the fence staring at us.  

This week we are finishing up the preparations for the movers who are due at the end of the week.   

The POD

Josiah went to a sleepover on Monday.  It was the OG sleepover - the original four kids from CC that have been together since kindergarten.  Josiah said they played Monopoly for seven hours as well as some video games.  They even braved the heat and went outside for a time.  Josiah called me at midnight to get more time on his phone.  Then he (wisely) called his father at 4:30 a.m. (central time) to get even more time.  His friends stayed awake to see the sun come up, but Josiah hit the hay at 5.  He got a good four hours of sleep in him before starting his day.  Josiah caught a ride home with a friend.  They were not expected until after 5 p.m.  I knew he would be tired, but I really needed him to not go to sleep.  A surprise was coming.  At 6:30 p.m., there was a knock on our door.  Josiah opened it to find one of his church friends say, Oh, I didn't know you lived here.  I'm going door-to-door selling ping pong balls (while holding a golf ball).  As he was doing his pitch, a bunch of other friends jumped out with a Surprise!  They let Josiah get some shoes and then whisked him off.  They went to the same house where they do LifeGroups.  They ate some snacks and then they had Josiah share a favorite memory of each of the guys.  The guys also shared a favorite memory of Josiah.  They even had sad music playing in the background.  The mom there said she was trying not to cry.  It was such a sweet thing for them to plan.  

The middle of the week was filled with all things moving.  We had a POD delivered Tuesday evening.  The idea was to get as many boxes as we could out of the house.  We started to pack the POD on Wednesday.  It felt so big and I expected everything to fit no problem.  The first day went very well because we loaded up the boxes that were already packed.  The remaining days were filled first with packing, then loading.  The novelty quickly wore off.  I only gave us a week to pack it thinking that would be plenty of time, but we could have used a second week.  This week has confirmed that we clearly have too much stuff, I have no more time to go through it, and the boxes are being haphazardly labeled because I just don't care anymore.  The POD itself has been great, but packing is just an exhausting process.  

The kids, however, have been great helpers with packing it up.  Henry prefers we pack all the boxes at once and then bring them all out to the POD.  Once we step outside, we step into the sauna that is Houston, so we try to minimize our time in it.  

Josiah had friends over this weekend to make videos and just spend time together before they go on their vacations.  They created a video of a contest in which whoever stayed in the POD the longest won a billion dollars.  They 'stayed' a week and neither contestant gave up.  Because neither gave up, neither won.  Josiah can edit some video.  He's quick and really good at it.  

We celebrated the 4th of July with some strawberries and pound cake, and just a little whip cream.  For the first time since we've been in this house, no one around us shot off fireworks.  We still heard them all night long, but they were safely in the distance.  Benson did not seem disturbed at all.  

This Sunday morning, Josiah woke me up at 1:53 a.m. dressed and ready to go for his mission trip.  I (not so kindly?) told him I had set my alarm for 2:30 and it was my plan to stay in bed until then.  We had to get him to the airport by 4:00.  His group of 9th graders went to Chicago to serve in different capacities.  Today, Sunday, was more of a fun day.  Our student pastor is from Chicago, so he always brings the kids to get deep dish pizza as well as his favorite chocolate cake milkshake.  Josiah sent me two pictures today and there was one posted by our church.  

Henry's group of 7th graders went to Austin for the week.  They will have service projects all week as well and they also get a tour of the capital one evening.  He'll be the only one of us to make it to the capital of Texas.  They took vans from the church and left just before the torrential downpours hit our area. 

When Caroline and I left church we walked by all the people waiting to be picked up under the overhang.  We smiled and walked to the car and proceeded to get soaked to the bone.  It was crazy rain.  And there is more coming.  Tonight shall be an interesting one.  Tropical Storm Beryl is headed directly at us.  It is supposed to hit during the overnight hours which is always a favorite time to deal with wind and rain.  The little lady and I are just hunkering down, praying our roof handles the wind well.  

We'll spend the week getting the house cleaned up and packing the remaining items to go in the car with us.  It'll be quite the vanload.