The Calm Before the Storm, Evacuating for a Hurricane, and Life Goes On (Oct 2018)

October turned out to be a very turbulent month for us.  Just two weeks prior, on September 16th,  the stake came in and rearranged the ward boundaries, moving 15 families, including our own, from the Niceville 2nd ward to the Niceville 1st ward.  As you can imagine, this caused quite the upheaval amongst my four daughters - and, to be honest, myself.  I felt like I was just getting settled into my routine for the year with Chris being gone, callings, volunteering, the kids' friends and activities, etc.  Now we were seeing new faces on Sundays and Wednesdays and I had no calling and no idea what call was coming.  I felt like my foundation and support had been ripped out from under me and like we had moved, without really moving.  Luckily our military background and experience of multiple moves and new wards kicked in to help me and most of the girls adapt fairly quickly, but there were still quite a few tears shed and a few weeks of kids not wanting to go to church.  

So, as you can imagine, when Conference weekend rolled around I was really looking forward to some calm, peaceful time to reflect and be spiritually nourished by the words of our living prophets.  Thankfully I got it, received answers to some prayers and struggles I was dealing with and was just able to "be still, and know that the Lord is God".  Saturday night I heard that a storm had formed out in the gulf and we were under a tropical storm warning, but I didn't worry about it.  We've had lots of tropical storms hit and it's no big deal . . . right?

By Sunday night the word was that we were in line for a direct hit from Michael (still only a tropical storm) and it was predicted to hit us as a Cat 1 or Cat 2 storm.  I determined that I needed to get to the grocery store early Monday morning before the crowds to stock up on some non-perishables in case we lost power for a few hours . . . 

As you can see, my plan was for us to live off of granola bars, cereal, soup, and Gatorade. ;)

I went home to start boarding up the house and filling water containers, periodically checking the weather.  I must say that I had so many offers for help.  It was amazing and I felt so blessed to have so many people looking out for me and my family.  When it was predicted that Michael would hit as a Cat 3 hurricane and we were still in the direct path, the focus shifted from hunkering down to evacuation.  Once I finished boarding up the house and the kids got home from school I told everybody to start packing because we were leaving ASAP.  We ended up leaving at about 7pm and arrived at my Sister-in-law's house in Tennessee around 1 am.  I was exhausted, but grateful to be there and grateful for her hospitality.  Then, all there was to do was wait . . .

It's kind of weird, staying at someone's house last minute while wondering if your own house is about to be destroyed.  But I can't tell you how grateful I was that Carolyn would allow us to last minute come crash at her house - a place my children felt very comfortable - so that we weren't all crammed into some hotel room for 3 days getting on each other's nerves (although there was still a little of that.)

So, there was lots of reading, playing, movie watching, homework doing (poor Lise!), going to a movie, and even some Yoga!  Also, I was able to go to the temple, which was one of those tender mercies during the storm (literally!)

We didn't know how many days we would have off of school, so we just kept watching the weather and waiting for the daily phone call to find out if we had school the next day.  On Thursday Carolyn had the great idea of taking us all to a corn maze/farm, which was perfect because I had been wanting to get a taste of Autumn for me and my kids and this was the perfect opportunity.

Lots of little goats and llamas to feed and pet.

Kate did a magnificent job navigating the map in the corn maze.

This farm had tons of fun games and activities for the kids.  Loved it!

Riding the bull was a special treat . . . 

We were even able to pick out some pumpkins to take home with us.  What a fun day at the farm!  Totally brought back Kentucky memories for me too!  After 3 days at Carolyn's house, we headed home Thursday afternoon for the girls to go back to school on Friday.

Meanwhile, this is what had been going on at home . . . Hurricane Michael had hit as a strong Cat 4 hurricane (2 mph less than a Cat 5, and some predict that it actually was a Cat 5, just not in the spot the measurements were taken.)  The pictures and reports on the news looked devastating, but my friends back in Niceville said that we had minimal damage and power outages.  The center of the storm had shifted just East of us, which pretty much saved us.  

So this is what we came home to.  Our house looked like a tank with all the hurricane shutters down, but other than that, completely untouched.

Meanwhile, just a couple of hours East of us, the full-on brunt of the storm could be seen and felt.  Our ward had the opportunity to volunteer with Mormon Helping Hands over the next few weeks,  to help with removing trees and tarping roofs.  It really gave me respect for mother nature, a sense of how close this disaster was to me and how easily it could have been me needing the help, and an appreciation for what I have.

And then, as it does, life moved on.  We started hanging out with friends again . . .

. . . participating in school plays (Kylie got the part of Pluto in her "School House Rock" play) . . . 

. . . doing homework (sometimes in the car) . . .

. . . reading scriptures and building Lehi's "Tree of Life" dream out of Legos . . . 

. . . practicing for the Christmas parade . . .

Young Women in Excellence, 2018

. . . and yes, we even started integrating into our new ward.  Life's storms and upheavals can be very difficult, but as we move forward we will often find blessings in the midst of destruction - a chance to go to the temple or new friendships, new things to learn or good people who reach out to help you.  

Young Women in Excellence, 2018