We got home and were so excited to get a new-to-us swing set for the yard! Our neighbors that moved to New Mexico sold their home and the new owners didn't want it, so they gave it to us and we paid to have it moved to our yard. It is so fun and the kids LOVE it despite the blistering August heat.
It got all set up on Tuesday August 15. These pics are from Wednesday Aug. 16--Candy got her cast off just in time to enjoy the new swings!
On Thursday August 17, Megan had ear surgery at TX Children's hospital. This was the culmination of our efforts to understand why she has conductive hearing loss in spite of multiple round of ear tubes. We met with a specialist, Dr. Alex Sweeney, who requested a CT scan of her ears and we discovered that the tiny bones that conduct sound in Megan's ear are not able to move freely. So we scheduled a surgery in which we hoped he would be able to replace her bones with prosthetics to help improve her hearing. Unfortunately, he was unable to do that with this surgery. There was infection behind her ear drum and he was uncomfortable attempting to repair those tiny bones with infection present as it can lead to a complete hearing loss. We were disappointed, but she is recovering well and we are now scheduled to meet with an audiologist and get hearing aids for our girl in the next few months.
The swing set in all it's glory! It is perfect in our yard.
There was a solar eclipse on Monday Aug. 21. We went out in the backyard with our homemade viewers and were able to see the crazy shaped shadows as the eclipse went by!
We went to "Meet the Teacher" on Thursday Aug. 24, where we were all trying to stay optimistic in spite of the looming Hurricane in the gulf that was due to hit Corpus Christi the next day and then turn north to Houston.
On Friday, Aug. 25, it started raining. At first, it was fun. The kids had a blast playing out in the warm rain as it started coming down.
Our chubby little Emily especially enjoyed the deep water in the swale of the yard.
We came in and stayed cozy.
It rained all day Saturday. We woke up a few times Saturday night as the wind howled and would look out the windows at the water level in the yard. We got texts in the middle of the night from Shad, showing us that the water was licking their back door and they moved as much furniture as they could upstairs and were expecting water in their home at any time. They miraculously made it through the night. And on Sunday, it was still raining. Church was cancelled, so we made our way over to Aunt Ali and Uncle Ben's for some home singing time with friends.
The rain continued all day Sunday. And it was raining hard. The swales began to fill up and we began to get nervous. In the late afternoon on Sunday, we had a brief break. It wasn't much but it was enough to allow a little bit of drainage.
We felt so helpless. We kept hearing about more and more people with flooded homes. The water rose so much that we couldn't even leave Piney Point. The water was covering Mesa over the bridge. People were being rescued from deep water all over the city. We tried to keep the kids busy. We did bubble baths and watched movies and gave thanks for power.
It kept raining Monday, but let up enough that we were able to leave Piney Point again. Here is the bridge with the water receded back down a bit. The start of school was postponed.
Tuesday August 29 was our 5th straight day of rain. But again, we were getting breaks that allowed drainage to keep up. The kids enjoyed a lunch in the family room to help change things up.
We knew the storm was past that evening. We went for a walk after dinner. The weather was surprisingly cool and we were all happy to get out of the house. It was crazy to see all the downed trees and water lines on the roadways.
The sun peeked out. It was so good to see it.
Our trusty house made it through. No water inside.
By Wednesday Aug. 30, we were hoping to get some fresh groceries and milk. There was a line to get in. And after waiting in line for 20 min, they closed the store because the fridge and freezer items had spoiled after a power outage.
All of our friends were just as stir crazy as we were, so we biked up to the school to let the kids play and play.
We knew Dan would be headed out with work crews to clean up in the next few days. There were people in need everywhere and it was hard to know how to help. I decided to go donate blood on Aug. 31. As the water receded, this big tree went down near the bridge by our house.
It was a pretty crazy experience. Lots of lessons learned. We were so thankful to come through with a dry house and with power the whole time. We had enough food for the time that stores were closed, but fresh milk was what we missed the most. We decided it was time to buy flood insurance.
