Unwelcome Visitor

Thanks to Fay, it has been quite an interesting week! We started feeling the effects of the storm on Tuesday, but it didn't seem to bad: a little wind and rain is no big deal. However, darn if that storm didn't stop and sit on top of us that night! The thing literally stalled right over us - we were even in the eye for a little bit. All we could do was sit and watch the water level in the street begin to rise... and rise... and rise. Finally, Wednesday afternoon we packed up and walked (swam?) around the corner to our friends' house, as the water was literally inches from coming in our house and theirs was on higher ground. I couldn't believe it - as we walked down the sidewalk, the water was halfway up my thigh! But, praise the Lord! Right after we got to their house the rain finally stopped. We spent the night there, and then first thing the next morning we came home to find that though the water was still high, it had begun to receed.
After several days of being cooped up, Chris was about to go crazy! So, we figured we'd let him play in the garage... good grief, what were we thinking?? It took all of about 2 minutes for him to start inching into the water... and about 2 more for him to trip and fall which resulted in a full soaking! At that point, I couldn't keep him out of it. But we really don't want him to get in that nasty water again, so we made the decision to have him go stay at Mark's parents' for a couple of days! This is the first time we've been here without him since he was born - it feels really strange! I miss my baby! But, I am SO grateful for the chance to get things in order here without having to entertain him. I have so many projects, and finally the chance to get some of them done! Thank you so much Mom and Dad for being willing to help out!
Here are some pictures from the past few days. Some of them have really poor quality, as I used my camera phone...

This was at 8:30 Wednesday morning. Mark tried to leave to go get sandbags, but it was already too deep to get out of the neighborhood.


Entertaining Chris quickly became a challenge! He did play for about 10 minutes with a bunch of buttons and random containers..
This was right before we left for our friends' at around 3:00 Wednesday. See how the water is coming up the front walk!

This was our backyard at about the same time. The gray area behind our neighbors' screened area is supposed to be a pond... but it came into our backyard!
Here's the water coming up our front walk.
OK, another random Chris shot. His newest word is "cereal" (it is SO CUTE to hear him say and sign it!) so I decided to let him try his first bowl... it was a success!

This is Mark carrying Chris to our friends' house...

This was the street right around the corner; the mailbox in the middle is our friends'.
When we came back the next day, this was how far the water had come up. Only a few feet from our front door!
Once he put his feet in, the rest quickly followed. He pushed an old stroller out to the sidewalk and then climbed in! In this picture he is saying "more"; he wanted me to take him for a walk! (and I did!)
This is him pushing the stroller a few streets over from our house. He definitely got a bath after this excursion!


We are so thankful that we did not have any damage. It literally stopped just in time, as our house was minutes away from being flooded. Our God is so good!