Our visitor

The other night I was cleaning up the kitchen after the kids were in bed and I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a tiny gecko. We've been having a problem with ants, and geckos like ants, so Clint came over to help me shuffle it to where the ants were coming in. I moved the garbage can and it ran away quickly but we couldn't see where it had gone. After a moment or two of hunting, Clint said, "I think it's in my pants." The little thing had climbed up his pant leg. We got it out and caught it with a plastic cup to move it over to the ants. It was gone by morning. I know we have another small lizard that lives inside near the patio door. At least they are helping to keep the ants away. We were playing outside yesterday and Emery came running to me crying because a lizard had tried to get him....I think it ran across his leg. There are certainly lots of new critters to enjoy in Texas.

With my spare moments tonight...

I just sat down and hand wrote a letter. I've forgotten how much I enjoy writing letters. I used to do it almost weekly (weren't we just talking about this, Shanan?), and with e-mail and cell phones, I have gotten out of the habit. I have a friend from Chadron who doesn't use the Internet often, and I'd like to stay in touch, so I just wrote Elaine a letter. She's one of my favorite people, and Emery misses her too. He drew a nice little picture for her to hang up at work. I love expressing information on paper. I love telling a story and having to describe each detail because there are no pictures or videos to attach. Have you written a letter lately? Do you like getting a letter? Send one this week, it will brighten someones day.

Shoe shopping, anyone?

Chani loves shoes. It doesn't matter who they belong to, if they are on the floor, she will pick them up and carry them around. She especially loves to bring her shoes to daddy. He's so sweet to hold her and put them on. Last night I was getting Emery ready for bed (she was already in jammies) and she took her shoes to daddy. Love the video to follow. Please ignore her ragamuffin jammies, as it was the end of the week, and everything else was dirty. This Emery's old tye-dyed pj top.

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Gilmer, TX

**For those unfamiliar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, let me explain. Each local unit is called a ward (keeping it simple here) and several wards make up a Stake. Stakes are overseen by Area Leaders and all pertinent information is reported to the Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. This network of the church allows us to be very efficient. Last Sunday, an announcement was made in our ward that should we need to evacuate and didn't have a place, we should go to the Longview, Texas, Stake Center. Also in our church, we believe that we are all Brothers and Sisters in the Gospel, and that the church works much like a family.**

We left for evacuation at 5:30 AM on Friday. We drove to Longview, and there was steady traffic the entire way. We arrived at the Longview Stake Center to see that there were lots of cars in the parking lot. We went in the front door, and neither Clint or I had a relieved feeling. We both felt anxious and a little bit uncomfortable. We checked in at the table, and were told that all classrooms were full (each family is assigned one room), but that we could have a space in the gym or travel on to Gilmer (20 miles away). We chose to go to Gilmer and when we arrived at the Gilmer Stake Center, we both immediately felt at peace. Sister Hall, found us a room and settled us in, she was so sweet. Not long after that, the Stake President, President Austin, stopped in to check on us. Dinner was provided for us, and throughout the evening we were able to visit with various members of the wards in Gilmer. The people were kind and generous. Several people stopped by with food, games, toys, and other items for us to use. One sweet sister even brought me her pack-n-play, which made the nights better. We had taken an air mattress, but every night Emery thought he should be sleeping on it, and more than once Clint or I went to the floor. We spent the time we were evacuated with 23 other people. Several of the families were Hispanic, and on Saturday, we heard that there was a birthday for Omar, a ten year old. He had also been evacuated on his birthday the year before. A sweet sister named Kym helped me plan a birthday party for Omar, with presents, games, and a pinata. He was pretty impressed and all of the kids enjoyed the games and pinata. Saturday evening, the eye of Hurricane Ike passed over Gilmer, with lots of wind and rain. The storm brought down several trees and the power was put out in several places. While we were walking our dog at about 9:30 PM, the sky lit up with a brilliant blue, it lasted about 20 seconds and while it was bright, the power was out. It did this four times before taking the power out for the night. We were without power for about 12 hours. Sunday church services were cancelled, and several members stopped by with additional food. We took our dog to run in a fenced yard, and Emery had a fantastic time wandering around the beautifully landscaped yard and pool. On Monday, we got word that our home was still standing, not covered with water, and that we had electricity. We were able to go out to President and Sister Austin's home to help them clean up from the storm on Saturday evening. It was so fun to visit and we had the yummiest hamburgers with avocado. Tuesday morning we got up and headed for home. Upon arriving home, we found our house just as we had left it. There was no damage from the storm, and only some leaves to rake.

We were very blessed during our time away. The people we were able to meet treated us like family. We cannot express enough gratitude for the sacrifices they made in our behalf. And, these sacrifices are not over, these same members will be traveling down to Beaumont this weekend to work on clean-up crews. They will sleep outside on the ground, eat little, and work hard to help people they've never met. That's the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Love everyone as your brother, and serve them as such. I only hope that when I have the chance I can serve the way we were served this last week.

Giveaway....something for you to do while I'm gone!

Do you need hairbows for your girls? If so, Christine is having a giveaway. Check it out here.

If I happen to win while we're evacuated, will someone let her know? Thanks!

Evacuation, Round 2

We're headed out again. Ike is huge and even if he's not a direct hit, we're scheduled for a huge storm surge. So, this evening we'll leave town. We're not going this morning because we don't want to have to sit on the road all day in traffic. Everyone have a safe weekend.

A Tupperware Giveaway

Leslie is having a giveaway. And, since Emery would trade his sister for the Backyardigans set, I am doing everything I can to win it for him, because I'd like to keep Chani around. So, go to Leslie's site here.

Another business item

If you have boys who play Lego's or girls who play Polly Pockets, this is the easiest way to clean up. Check it out on my Jill's Crafty Covers blog.

Also, I've created a logo in Publisher. Does anyone know how to make that my header for my blog? If someone would be willing to help me rework my site (because I just can't figure out how to edit blogger), I still have that red hooded towel I would give you. Let me know if you're interested!

By the way, here's the logo. It looks grainy because I saved it as a photo to put it in here.

Catch Up

With all of the hurricane and evacuation stuff, I never got Chani's birthday party posted. I also didn't post the few pictures we took in Austin, so this is just some housekeeping.

Chani had a fun birthday party. It was pretty minor, with just cake and ice cream with a few of our new friends. She got a tutu (which she loves to wear) and matching hair bows, a new baby doll, bottles, and a stroller to push her babies around in. The stroller has been a hit, both Chani and Emery love to push it around. Grandma and Grandpa sent her an outfit and a new book, and Grammy and Papa helped get Chani a new dresser.

Emery enjoyed helping Chani open presents.

Chani sporting her new tutu.

The caterpillar cake Emery wasn't very happy that I gave Chani the face, he really wanted to eat that part. I forgot to take after pictures. Just know that she thoroughly enjoyed the cake, and had to go straight to the tub.

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Austin was really fun while we were there. We went to the Capital building and to Whole Foods. We also had some amazing BBQ at Rudy's. If you're ever in Austin, you've got to go to Rudy's, it was so good.

And, we're keeping an eye on Hurricane Ike. First reports looked like it was headed our way, but now it's turned and is projected to hit farther south on the gulf coast of Texas. We're hoping he fades away into nothing, and that no one is struck with an awful storm.

TaLaisa's Bead Drawer Giveaway

Check out TaLiasa's awesome jewelery skills and maybe win something beautiful too!

See the goods here.

and the winner is......

But first, thank you all for participating. I am open for business today. I will be selling the nursing covers for $20 each. I will also be selling the towels for $20 each. A lot of you said that you'd pay $10-$12 for the towel, but because the towels are such high quality, it costs me about $10 for my supplies. They last for years. Emery will be 3 in November, and his is still in great shape.

Clint tells me that the fabric I used for the nursing covers wasn't very cute. So, I have since purchased cuter fabric (I made him look it over before I bought it) and will be making some samples today.

cms87, You win! E-mail me your information at ohmyhannah@gmail.com, and don't forget to let me know if you want the nursing cover or the towel. I had to draw a second winner, and that is Brittany. You can have whichever cms doesn't choose. I'll let you know.

Thanks again everyone, and if you want to place an order, let me know here.

Oh, and one more thing. Thanks to those of you who offered suggestions and advice, I appreciate that a lot. Brittany, I am not making the car seat covers right now, they are pretty time consuming and I don't think I can make them fast enough to make a profit--sorry! I would love to embroider names on towels and the nursing covers, but my sewing machine is not that fancy. I need to sell products for at least 6 months, pretty regularly, to make an investment like that. Although, I would love to have one and hope my business takes off so I can get a sewing machine like that soon.

We're home

The storm went to the north of us, we just had wind and about 10 inches of rain. We went to Austin and stayed with Shanan and Aaron (thanks so much, guys!). They took great care of us, and we even went to see the state capital.

We sat in traffic both traveling to Austin and returning. We came back today and Clint goes back to work in the morning.

Thanks for all your prayers and kind thoughts, we appreciate you all.