Turn Around, Don't Drown

Those are words of advice I've come to accept as the gospel truth over the last 4 days. For anyone living under a rock or not on Facebook, or both, let me recount my nightmarish experience.

On my 33rd birthday - last Friday - there came a monsoon of epic proportions. The weather man said to expect bad thunder showers with possible flash flooding. I went to work as usual that day not expecting any interesting turn of events to occur.

At lunchtime, I ran a few errands with a co-worker friend of mine. By the time we returned back to work in the van, the rains were coming down hard and we had to maneuver ourselves back into the building. We were both soaked. I knew then it was going to be bad going home, but tried to put it out of my mind.

At around 1:45 p.m. all the employees in my building were directed to the bottom floor due to a tornado sighting in Midland County. I'm still unsure of the credibility of that claim, but nevertheless, we obeyed. We returned to our desks around 2:05 p.m. and worked as usual. All workers in my immediate area and I would take turns peering out the window to see how black the sky was or how big the hail looked. Ironically now, I remember thinking how I didn't mind hail damage in my old van.

At 3:30 p.m. the director of the building walked through the halls announcing that he had made a decision to close the building due to inclement weather. In fact, he noted that his weather source said there was another storm coming and that everyone needed to vacate the building within 10 minutes. Truth be told, I had one thing only on my mind by that point: Get to Braylon who was at a school 5 minutes away. I knew I couldn't get across town to get Blaine quickly, but at least I would have one of them with me. Brandon was supposed to get both of them, but I knew that he had not left the house yet by 3:30 p.m.

With my focus on my son and not necessarily on safety issues, I left the building in a hurry. I was going to take the 'road more traveled' but the line was not moving as quickly as I wanted it to move. Here is where mistake #1 occurred: I turned off the high road and headed for the 'road less traveled.' I knew the back ways pretty well because I take them fairly often. The first intersection was too flooded. So I went to the next, then the next: By the time I could see dry land I was far off the beaten path and in about a foot of water. I had only to get through one more intersection before I clearly saw a safe path in front of me.....

I pulled up to that last stop sign so that I could get out of the mess I had tangled myself up in. Right when I hit the brake, the nose of the van went down - And more down. The water started rolling in the van and my first response was to roll down my window about 12 inches. I could see water everywhere around me and that's when I realized; This intersection goes really low. I dialed 911 and got an operator right away. I was able to stay calm for several seconds. It wasn't until I was drifting away from the intersection, swept away in the flooding that I started to panic. I was unable to see what cross road I was on and the 911 operator was getting irritated.

After I had turned 180 degrees in the van and drifted about 30 yards away, my help was provided. I told the 911 operator I saw a City of Midland Water and Waste Management Truck coming towards me and they disconnected the call. The two COM men were most helpful; Pulling me from my van window into their truck window. They drove me out of the mess and onto dry land. I knew they had to be available to help others so I did not ask them to drive me anywhere.

From there I walked to a nearby elementary school. They were most helpful in letting me seek refuge from the rain and wind. I'm sure I looked pretty pitiful up to my belly in soaking water and drenched from above with pelting rain, too. I soon learned that AT&T had put restrictions on all non-emergency phone calls in the area due to the storm. After a lot of texting and coordinating, my parents came to rescue me and Braylon; my in-laws rescued Blaine from his school and Brandon stayed at home and out of the mess (after I sent a nearby friend to deliver the message).

I have learned a valuable lesson: If you're safe - Stay safe. The kids were never in danger at their schools. We just put ourselves into danger trying to earn our own peace of mind. Hindsight tells me if I had just refused to leave work and stayed until 5 or 6 p.m. I would have been much better off.

Sooooo, please take this lesson from me; Turn Around, Don't Drown!!!

Random Acts

Of Kindness.....

I don't know why God keeps blessing us with sweet, thoughtful friends, but I guess He knows we need all the help we can get in this world!

You know who you are and you know what you did!! (And so does God, incidentally!)

I pray I'm a great friend in return, not just to those who have personally blessed me, but to everyone God puts in my path.

Movie Review

Movie: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief

Rated: PG
Starring: I'm sorry I really have no idea who the teen actors are, although I should

The story is a coming of age journey that one teenager encounters when he finds out that he is the son of one of the prominent Greek gods. In order to restore his father's name and prevent a war breaking out between the gods, Percy Jackson must journey to Hades and back again in search for the stolen lightening bolt. He finds a lot of help amidst many foes along the way.

Becky's Rating: A

Ok, truth be told, I really enjoyed this movie. It was relatively clean (a few minor curse words and no suggestive material). However, I MUST say that I feel this movie was really PUSHING the PG rating. We took both boys and Braylon was sitting on the edge of his seat with worried looks in a few places - And he's the OLDER of the two. I simply had to cover Blaine's eyes about 5 or 6 times because I was sure we were scarring him for life. It's been 10 days since we saw the film and he's yet to have nightmares, but only by the grace of God, because it was too scary for him in my book. The story was well developed and the adventure moved along smoothly. It was entertaining for children as well as parents. Of course, let me make one brief mention that the movie does center around FICTIONAL gods. I don't find it to benefit anyone for Christians to rally against this film for the sake that it deals with idols or false gods. It's a work of fiction and any parent can easily explain this to a child before or after the movie, which is what we did.

Bottom Line: An excellent choice - For families with kids 7 and up!!

Silver Lining in Prayer

You know its going to be a long prayer when it starts off with "Dear God, Chapter 1." At that point you just have to take the ride with your imaginative 4 year old and realize that some days are just like that.

My favorite part in Blaine's prayers is that usually at the end it goes something like this, "And thank you for the bad guys, the evil people and all the enemies and even for Braylon." This came after having two separate conversations, 1) telling Blaine we pray for our enemies and those who persecute us and 2) reminding Blaine not to intentionally leave out his brother in his prayer after he prays for every one else he can think of. Don't think we've let it slip by us his particular placement of his brother in his prayers. The little stinker.

Bottom line, however, is that we take the time to pray with the boys. It's their time to say whatever is on their hearts to God. And the cool part is the silver lining for us parents...We get the blessing of hearing them talk to God, but we also usually get a chuckle out of it, too. I can't help but to think that God does too, sometimes.

March Madness

Thinking of changing the name of my blog to Monthly Dose of Hamilton. Would be more fitting.....

March is upon us...In reading my last entry, there really haven't been any more updates since then. Our bedroom is 90% done - We only lack putting up the crown molding to be done. It looks really nice. It's a sea foam blue with browns and greens. Sounds a little different, but it looks really pretty.

Brandon is off for Spring Break this week and the boys will have theirs next week. The last 2 years the weeks have been off from each other, preventing us from traveling. We hope to still take a weekend trip next weekend to get away...Boy could I use a weekend trip!

That's about it...Livin la vida loca!!!

February Update

I have good reasons for not being a good blogger lately (other than my nasty Facebook addiction). Blaine had tonsillectomy/adonoidectomy on 1/29/10. When Braylon had the surgery done in 2006, let me tell you, he bounced back extremely quickly. Like, as in, he was completely fine by the next week and I don't recall him missing much school at all. Not the case with Blaine. Noooooo.... He seemed just fine the same day of his surgery, when I suppose he still had the strong hospital meds running through his veins. But by the next day, it was a losing battle. I have never seen a kid who is usually so active, so dead to the world. He was a limp noodle on the sofa for 3 solid days. By Sunday night, we were excited because he got off the sofa to go pick up a toy and come back and sit down. Nearly needless to say, it took 2 full weeks of recovery before we could stop giving him meds and before he didn't wake up at night screaming in pain (which would only aggravate the pain). That first week was exhausting with around the clock medicine dosing and comforting...Thankfully he is back to himself and back to school with a clean bill of health. So far, no strep!

On February 5 we also learned that Brandon's grandmother passed away here in Midland. They had moved her to inpatient hospice the day prior and she didn't make it even their projected 4-7 days after moving. Her life was a beautiful one and I am so grateful to have known her and been a part of her family. She treated me like I was her own granddaughter and I never felt like I wasn't. We attended her funeral here in town on February 9th. Brandon was a pall-bearer. I had the privilege of playing 'Victory in Jesus' for her service. It was a nice memorial to her.

And here we find ourselves leaning toward the end of February. I'm finally getting around to some home projects I've needed to tend to for some time. (Thank you IRS refund check!!) We are redecorating our bedroom first since the boys rooms are nearly done. I also worked on some finishing touches on Blaine's this week and Braylon's will be done very soon as well. That will just leave 1 room to do - the current junk/utility room. Probably won't get to do much with that, but I can at least make it look a little nicer than it does presently. It seems like there is always a room that collects junk more than other rooms do....And since we don't have a garage, there you go!

That brings us up to date....Work is good, the kids are healthy, Brandon has 63 days of school left before walking the graduation stage. Life is good.

May The Force Be With You

The boys have discovered a love for Star Wars. We decided Braylon was old enough to appreciate it, so we rented the 4th Episode "A New Hope" last night. You know, the first one to come out (not the 1st episode). They loved it!! Even Blaine was glued to the tv the entire movie and they were both asking 1,000 questions. Blaine was especially funny. He couldn't get the names right and so he just coined a few nicknames for people like: Darth Vador = Dark Vador. Luke = Star Wars. (I guess he thought the title was Luke's name??) Obiewon Kanobee = Nathan. At one point in the film he leaned over and said, "I wonder if Dark Vador killed Star Wars' mother in law?" Just makes you wonder what is exactly it is that they are thinking as we watch the story unfold.

I'm so glad we are in this phase in their lives. I'm looking forward to many a sci-fi or family action film!!

Brother

My son is now my brother. Braylon prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior this week. He was so sweet, too. I did not prompt him to do this - He decided it was time and just prayed it on his own. Praise be to God, I got to witness it and it was so precious. He will be baptized next Sunday and he has been so excited about it all. The Lord's been good to me.

Tonsils

Blaine DOES have to have his tonsils out. We are going to have the surgery performed next week. The ENT specialist took one look and within about 5 seconds said the tonsils could not be kept and that they looked really bad. I am always apprehensive about surgery on children, but this will surely be the answer to the strep problem.

Tooth Fairy

Yesterday at Blaine's school a dental hygienist came to speak to his class. Of course she spoke about how to take good care of your teeth, how to brush, and things like this. Before she left she gave each child a goodie bag of dental items like toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.

Over dinner we asked Blaine how his day was and what all happened that was neat. He replied, contemplative and serious, "I'm not really sure, but I'm pretty sure....The Tooth Fairy was at my school today."

It was all Brandon and I could do to stifle our giggles to ask more questions about it. I asked, "Well, then, what does the Tooth Fairy look like?" After giving it more thought he decided that it probably wasn't the Tooth Fairy after all....But it was so precious....

Sinful

Last night Brandon and I went with some friends to the movies. We all pooled our children (and money) together and got one babysitter for all 3 families. The kids had a really good time, or so they say... When we went to pick them up, Bethany (the babysitter) said that Blaine had 'arrested' her and put her in handcuffs. When she asked him, "Why do I have to go to jail," Blaine answered, "Because of your sins."

Maybe he understands the sin concept more than we know!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

It's 2010 and I've not ended 2009 nor started this year off in a good blogging pattern. I could attempt to excuse myself by saying that it's Santa's fault for supplying me with handy-dandy gizmos and gadgets that have kept me completely away from my dusty old PC, but alas, I shall not. I could also promise to be a better blogger in 2010, assuring my one remaining faithful reader that they will have something to read as they check my 'daily' blog. But no, not going there either. I shall be content in catching up with things and start from here.

Christmas was pretty nice. After traveling out of state for Thanksgiving, it was nice to be home and enjoy the quietness of the holiday. (Quietness, in the HAMILTON house?!?! Well, OUR version of Christmas quietness.) Santa was good to the boys and they got more than just the feared lumps of coal they had been threatened with a few times. New Years was pretty fun, too. We did something unusual for us - We stayed up! We decided the kids are now old enough to understand what New Years is and that they could stay up really late if they wanted to. We took them to the drive in movies, a double feature of 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeekwel' and 'The Princess and the Frog.' They sat through and loved both movies - Good choice!! It was freezing cold out there, but worth every minute. By 11 p.m., however, both boys were sacked out and I'm sure they were both asleep as we grown ups were mildly ringing in the new year. After that, it only took about a week to get the Christmas decorations down. Not bad....

One issue we've been dealing with lately is Blaine's health. He had strep the week of Thanksgiving, then again the week of Christmas. And now, for Martin Luther King's Day coming up, he has it again today. I am worried because Valentine's Day is next month and then St. Patrick's Day is not far behind. Don't even get me STARTED on Easter! Seriously, he will go see a specialist on Monday. I anticipate he will need his tonsils removed. He's had strep 6 times in the last 12 months. That is too much!

On a sadder note, over the holidays we got some disappointing news about Brandon's grandmother. Memaw (as we affectionately call her) missed out on spending Christmas morning with us because she was in the hospital having a heart attack and having extensive tests run on her. Bless her heart the poor thing didn't get to eat solid foods for a week, even on Christmas Day! We found out soon after the new year that Memaw has terminal cancer. The family is still working out the details of her future care. It has been really nice to see all the family members from various parts of the country come in, likely to say their goodbyes. Memaw has such a sweet spirit about this and told the doctor that if nothing could be done, she was ready to be with the Lord. Dear God, please let me have that kind of attitude when my day comes, whether I know ahead of time or not! It will now be a waiting game and we are all grateful for every day we get with her. (Please pray for peace that passes all understanding and for minimal pain through the process.)

On a brighter note, which is how I choose to end my entry today, we added a new family member to our mix for Christmas. We adopted a 3 year old dog from the local shelter and have really enjoyed getting to know Biscuit Jeff Hamilton. (Blaine gave him his middle name.) He's a small dog, about the size of a Jack Russell Terrier, but he is more of a Beagle/Britney Spaniel mix. He's very well behaved and very lovable. I'd never thought I'd like a dog over a cat, but.....So far he's a keeper!

I intend to blog more often...Hope you intend to read more often.... :)