Lightning (Bugs)

Welcome back to the Midwest! Yahoo! We've been staying in the country at a HUGE mansion this past month. (I have limited pic's on here because my camera's setup cd to import is packed in the POD so all these photos are from Jeff's iphone which has worked out well.) Here's a cut off shot of 'our house'. We've been here since the end of May, and all those peaks above the garage is the Master Suite which WE GET TO STAY IN! We have the main floor and upstairs and the Arants are staying in the basement. All 7 of them in the basement! No, we're not evil, just the two of us hogging the whole house, but the Arants are actually staying there until their house is finished being built in September. The family that actually lives here and is SO GRACIOUSLY letting all 9 of us 'live' here over the summer are in Haiti for the summer. How cool are they? They have 4 sons and took the whole family to help over there. They'll be back at the end of July, so Mark, Leatha and family are getting used to living in the basement cause that's where they'll be once the family comes home. We're so thankful for the Krobs and for the Arants for taking us homeless people in. (We get to move in the Townshouse we'll be renting for the next 2 years, August 1st...I CAN'T wait! I always think oh I have a "______" (fill in the blank) then remember, oh yeah, it's packed away in the POD)

At the 'mansion' we're in the country which has lead to some fun sites. Here are a couple of Examples:

*Lightning bugs. This was Jeff's accessory while we played a game of bocce ball.

*Storms. Ok, these are not fun. They are honestly the thing that has been my hardest adjustment. There have been MULTIPLE tornado warnings the past couple weeks, and it's fine when you can hear the sirens but here are a few reasons I'm FREAKED out: 1.) we're in the country so you can't hear the sirens well at all. 2.) we're staying on the upper level, so we're the first to go. 3.) we sleep with a sound machine that is loud (that's the point) so we can't hear the sirens for those 'middle of the night storms' at all! 4.) see photo below:

Jeff took this while on a bike ride!! Insane! That day we had 2 HUGE storms where we watched the clouds begin to swirl on storm #1 and with storm #2 there were sirens going off and everyone was gone, when they came running into the house they found me in the basement with our safe (filled with wedding video, birth certificates, passports, etc) and my purse. Whew! That was an exhausting day.

Anytime we have high winds I'm up (in the middle of the night) checking for storms or warnings. I need to chill out, I know that and admitting it is the first step.