There have been quite a few little things going on around the Bee House that I've failed to mention.
1. Xander fell in love with the baby chicks. It has been several days since we saw the chicks at the Tractor Supply Store but he still asks if we will buy him a "shicken." I think a baby chick would last about 15 minutes max in Xander's hands because I think he would literally love the chicken to death. And that would make everyone cry. So no chickens.
2. We've loved the spring weather. Anytime Brandon gets off work at 3pm we are headed out the door shortly after. Brandon and I have begun wandering around the county. One day, while wandering down a winding country road, a herd of about 12 does ran across the road into a large field. They were beautiful.
3. Brandon and I are hoping at most, to only need to sign another year lease here. That would bring us to October 2013. We are kind of hoping that our landlord allows us a shorter lease period for the second lease or the ability to move to month to month renting. We have been exploring neighborhoods and looking for a new casa. In the meantime, we will aggressively be saving a down payment. Brandon and I do not desire a huge house (our current space is about 1600 sq feet and that feels good to us with a few tweaks here and there.) We are also not interested in having a large price tag attached to the house- so it could take some time for us to find the best casa for us. More as that starts to unfold.
4. Isaiah's arrival will leave us one open seat in our van. While we make it work for short trips around town, it is quite crowded for a longer trip. Brandon and I will be looking at those options and saving for that as well. We aren't interested in carrying a car payment (Dave Ramsey folks here!) so this may get pushed off for a bit longer still. But we will need to start looking, eventually.
5. Brandon is thriving at his new company. I expected nothing less, but he has started to receive a few comments here and there about his performance. (Good comments.) So he is keeping his head down and continuing to do his very best. We are hoping that he is accepted into the general manager in training program later this fall.
Chugging along nicely,
Stephanie
Showing posts with label Day to Day Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Day to Day Life. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Monday, August 29, 2011
Disaster and the Blessings...
In my last post, I talked about one type of natural disaster. But today, we are talking about another: Hurricane Irene.
Brandon and I grew up in Augusta, Georgia. And one little quirk about our hometown is that if you are traveling and "lost" you just follow the evacuation signs to find your way. I happen to know that it REALLY works because I got turned around on the way home from Charleston, South Carolina, in my pre-GPS days, and tested my theory.
So we've never really dealt with hurricanes. Rain and storms, but never this. So we were naive. But we did the best we could with our (limited) knowledge. We bought charcoal, lighters, flashlights, batteries, and some food that didn't need refrigeration. I made sure we had plenty of diapers, wipes and toilet paper. I bought shelf stable milk for the boys. We filled our bathtub and large pots with water. We put our important papers in a Rubbermaid container with the diaper bags. We set that by the door in case we needed to make a quick exit from our place. We filled our van's gas tank. Brandon and I prayed that Richmond would be spared.
And then we went to bed. To be honest, we thought we over-reacted but locals kept telling us about when Isabel hit in 2003. Several people told us that they were without power for 12 or more days.
Saturday, Brandon went to work as usual. It was overcast and windy. At home, the power flickered on and off. But it always came back on.
Brandon's office shut down right before his lunch break. I was relieved that Brandon was home. I always feel safer with him by my side. We went about our business. The rain started and I laid all the kids down for a nap. Shortly after, around 5, our power went off. I held my breath for a bit, willing it to come back on. But nothing happened.
I was reading in bed, when a high pitch squeal started sounding. I woke Brandon and asked him what it was. He asked me what it was. It was so loud, I couldn't think. It was in our room, but no where else. I asked on facebook. Eventually I realized that it was coming from the floor in our closet. Finally we got through to our maintenance hotline. They had been inundated with people calling because they had no ac. (Dear fellow Richmonders, if you have no power, calling the apartment complex hotline for your ac not working is fruitless.)
Turns out, since our apartment is technically a basement apartment, we have a sump pump. (I had no idea what a sump pump is. Have a mentioned in Georgia we have attics, not basements?) Well when the power went out, the sump pump quit working and the water level was rising, so the water level alarm sounded. Lesson learned. We also learned from the maintenance worker that we had no way out of our apartment complex because there were trees and power lines down. He happened to be on property, which is how he got to us so quickly.
We hunkered down. The worst was yet to come. We opened our blinds for some light until the sun went down, reserving our batteries. Then at dark, we put the boys to bed, and let the girls play cards in the same room we were in so we would only have to use one flashlight.
We all eventually went to bed. Hoping we'd have power the next morning.
The next morning came and we woke up sweaty. Brandon and I had slept on top of the covers and the children had minimal pajamas on. We were all hot and it was getting hotter as the morning went on.
We only have large windows on one side of the apartment and the breeze wasn't going the right direction to come in. We had no cell service. Having to think on our feet, we packed just a few days worth of clothes, the milks (coconut and whole) from our fridge, grabbed some food
supplies and headed out.
We had no idea where to go really. We did get out of our neighborhood and saw that we had no street lights or traffic lights. There were entire power poles down. Trees had smashed fences, lines, etc. Gas stations were closed.
I finally got a little cell service on my phone and saw that most of the Richmond hotels were full from other evacuees coming into the capital, so we headed west, reasoning that the east would be worse off than we were. (We are on the west side of Richmond.)
We drove until we saw a decent looking hotel and stopped to see if they had any available rooms. We took the room.
And this is where we've been since. We did venture back into Richmond today to look for Brandon's phone that got lost in the hustle and bustle of trying to pack with four very scared and one absolutely hysterical child. (Xander does not take well to his routine being changed.. ever!) We did find the phone. The power was not restored and since then the outage line has backtracked and taken away our predicted time (that has since passed.) The food in our freezer and fridge will be a total loss. The line at the gas station was VERY long. Some intersections were manned by police officers. Every now and then we'd find one that worked. Some had no one manning the intersection.
Among all of this craziness, there are many blessings we've seen.
1. We received an email from the K's letting us know that they were praying for us and telling us of the preparations they had made for Annalise before the storm had even gotten to us.
2. We are safe. Some of us are frazzled, some of us are scared. But we are together and unharmed.
3. Our apartment did not sustain any damage from flooding. When the maintenance worker arrived, he pretty much told us to prepare for our master bedroom closet to flood. He even helped us move everything out and then he advised us to shut the closet door and lay a towel down. This was to help prevent our bedroom/entire apartment from flooding.
4. We had used a lot of our frozen/refrigerated food stores in preparation for the end of our lease. So we didn't lose as much as we could have.
5. We have an emergency fund (Thank you Dave Ramsey) that is taking a hit, but serving it's purpose.
6. My girls think this is a vacation. When we went back to check our power this afternoon, we thought to grab the swim suits. So we enjoyed our hotel's pool this afternoon. And we grabbed laundry soap, so we used their laundry facilities as well. The swimming helped burn a good bit of energy and that is helping my children fall asleep tonight.
7. Brandon and I have been able to rest in the Lord's plans for us. We believe that THIS is the reason that Annalise hasn't been able to come home to us yet.
8. We've learned a ton. We've learned about God's goodness and how to prepare better if there is a next time.
Thank you Jesus, for keeping our family safe. Thank you for these life lessons. We love You and praise You!
~Stephanie
Brandon and I grew up in Augusta, Georgia. And one little quirk about our hometown is that if you are traveling and "lost" you just follow the evacuation signs to find your way. I happen to know that it REALLY works because I got turned around on the way home from Charleston, South Carolina, in my pre-GPS days, and tested my theory.
So we've never really dealt with hurricanes. Rain and storms, but never this. So we were naive. But we did the best we could with our (limited) knowledge. We bought charcoal, lighters, flashlights, batteries, and some food that didn't need refrigeration. I made sure we had plenty of diapers, wipes and toilet paper. I bought shelf stable milk for the boys. We filled our bathtub and large pots with water. We put our important papers in a Rubbermaid container with the diaper bags. We set that by the door in case we needed to make a quick exit from our place. We filled our van's gas tank. Brandon and I prayed that Richmond would be spared.
And then we went to bed. To be honest, we thought we over-reacted but locals kept telling us about when Isabel hit in 2003. Several people told us that they were without power for 12 or more days.
Saturday, Brandon went to work as usual. It was overcast and windy. At home, the power flickered on and off. But it always came back on.
Brandon's office shut down right before his lunch break. I was relieved that Brandon was home. I always feel safer with him by my side. We went about our business. The rain started and I laid all the kids down for a nap. Shortly after, around 5, our power went off. I held my breath for a bit, willing it to come back on. But nothing happened.
I was reading in bed, when a high pitch squeal started sounding. I woke Brandon and asked him what it was. He asked me what it was. It was so loud, I couldn't think. It was in our room, but no where else. I asked on facebook. Eventually I realized that it was coming from the floor in our closet. Finally we got through to our maintenance hotline. They had been inundated with people calling because they had no ac. (Dear fellow Richmonders, if you have no power, calling the apartment complex hotline for your ac not working is fruitless.)
Turns out, since our apartment is technically a basement apartment, we have a sump pump. (I had no idea what a sump pump is. Have a mentioned in Georgia we have attics, not basements?) Well when the power went out, the sump pump quit working and the water level was rising, so the water level alarm sounded. Lesson learned. We also learned from the maintenance worker that we had no way out of our apartment complex because there were trees and power lines down. He happened to be on property, which is how he got to us so quickly.
We hunkered down. The worst was yet to come. We opened our blinds for some light until the sun went down, reserving our batteries. Then at dark, we put the boys to bed, and let the girls play cards in the same room we were in so we would only have to use one flashlight.
We all eventually went to bed. Hoping we'd have power the next morning.
The next morning came and we woke up sweaty. Brandon and I had slept on top of the covers and the children had minimal pajamas on. We were all hot and it was getting hotter as the morning went on.
We only have large windows on one side of the apartment and the breeze wasn't going the right direction to come in. We had no cell service. Having to think on our feet, we packed just a few days worth of clothes, the milks (coconut and whole) from our fridge, grabbed some food
supplies and headed out.
We had no idea where to go really. We did get out of our neighborhood and saw that we had no street lights or traffic lights. There were entire power poles down. Trees had smashed fences, lines, etc. Gas stations were closed.
I finally got a little cell service on my phone and saw that most of the Richmond hotels were full from other evacuees coming into the capital, so we headed west, reasoning that the east would be worse off than we were. (We are on the west side of Richmond.)
We drove until we saw a decent looking hotel and stopped to see if they had any available rooms. We took the room.
And this is where we've been since. We did venture back into Richmond today to look for Brandon's phone that got lost in the hustle and bustle of trying to pack with four very scared and one absolutely hysterical child. (Xander does not take well to his routine being changed.. ever!) We did find the phone. The power was not restored and since then the outage line has backtracked and taken away our predicted time (that has since passed.) The food in our freezer and fridge will be a total loss. The line at the gas station was VERY long. Some intersections were manned by police officers. Every now and then we'd find one that worked. Some had no one manning the intersection.
Among all of this craziness, there are many blessings we've seen.
1. We received an email from the K's letting us know that they were praying for us and telling us of the preparations they had made for Annalise before the storm had even gotten to us.
2. We are safe. Some of us are frazzled, some of us are scared. But we are together and unharmed.
3. Our apartment did not sustain any damage from flooding. When the maintenance worker arrived, he pretty much told us to prepare for our master bedroom closet to flood. He even helped us move everything out and then he advised us to shut the closet door and lay a towel down. This was to help prevent our bedroom/entire apartment from flooding.
4. We had used a lot of our frozen/refrigerated food stores in preparation for the end of our lease. So we didn't lose as much as we could have.
5. We have an emergency fund (Thank you Dave Ramsey) that is taking a hit, but serving it's purpose.
6. My girls think this is a vacation. When we went back to check our power this afternoon, we thought to grab the swim suits. So we enjoyed our hotel's pool this afternoon. And we grabbed laundry soap, so we used their laundry facilities as well. The swimming helped burn a good bit of energy and that is helping my children fall asleep tonight.
7. Brandon and I have been able to rest in the Lord's plans for us. We believe that THIS is the reason that Annalise hasn't been able to come home to us yet.
8. We've learned a ton. We've learned about God's goodness and how to prepare better if there is a next time.
Thank you Jesus, for keeping our family safe. Thank you for these life lessons. We love You and praise You!
~Stephanie
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Earthquakes!!
Tuesday, we experienced our first earthquake. We had no idea what it was, though.
Brandon had come home for lunch. We enjoyed a family lunch and as Brandon and I started to get up to pack his dinner, everything started shaking. I ran to look out of the window sure that something had exploded.
Instead I saw a beautiful, sunny day!
Brandon and I walked outside. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
We walked around our building (we are on the backside by ourselves) and saw some neighbors outside. We asked what happened and they told us it was an earthquake.
I wasn't aware that Virginia had earthquakes so I hopped online to confirm, and sure enough, we had an earthquake!
Not exactly something on my bucket list.
~Steph
Brandon had come home for lunch. We enjoyed a family lunch and as Brandon and I started to get up to pack his dinner, everything started shaking. I ran to look out of the window sure that something had exploded.
Instead I saw a beautiful, sunny day!
Brandon and I walked outside. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
We walked around our building (we are on the backside by ourselves) and saw some neighbors outside. We asked what happened and they told us it was an earthquake.
I wasn't aware that Virginia had earthquakes so I hopped online to confirm, and sure enough, we had an earthquake!
Not exactly something on my bucket list.
~Steph
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Property on Mars
So today I laughed until I cried. And then I laughed some more.
It happens a lot. If I'm 100% honest, one of the first qualities I loved about Brandon was his sense of humor. I usually have a really dry, sarcastic sense of humor and Brandon has a haha sense of humor. I do my fair share of rolling my eyes at his jokes, but he is one of the few people that can make me laugh until I cry.
This afternoon we were out exploring the areas around our new church (not the one I blogged about before.) We really like the area and we've started looking at the rental and real estate market.
Anyway, so a friend at church told us about a house in his neighborhood that had been listed for rent that was now listed as for sale by owner. He said we should call and see if they would consider renting.
So we drove by. We couldn't tell much about the house from the outside so Brandon called the number on the sign.
He chuckled to himself but I was oblivious. (A porch down the street caught my eye. Porches=Heaven in my book!)
I could hear the phone ringing and could tell that he was about to leave a message on the voicemail/answering machine.
And this is what I heard next:
"Hi, my name is Brandon ______, and I was calling about your property on...
And at that point I choked on my Pepsi and started laughing hysterically. So did he. But he still had to give his phone number! So the numbers were broken up by our poor attempts at stifling our laughter.
We didn't do so good. He held the phone down and we laughed some more. I tried to get him to repeat his phone number. But he couldn't. He hung up.
And then we really died with laughter.
He called back and left a message saying that he had been disconnected
Off and on, we've giggled about it. It just sounded so ridiculous.
Property on Mars.
Bwahahahaahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Welcome to our life!
~Steph
PS: I've had a really tough day today. Brandon's wedding ring has been missing, our van's ac isn't working properly, I got bad news from Georgia, and we are still patiently waiting to hear about Baby Girl. If you think about it, would you pray for us?
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