December happenings

Hola!

Somehow it became December without me even thinking about it.  Then I looked closer at the calendar, and ...we're already a WEEK into it!  Aaaauuugghh!

December is a "short month" anyway, it seems...we only have 3 weeks to cram all the fun stuff and holiday activities and baking in, then school is out for 10 days.

CHRISTMAS PARTY.  We spent last Saturday decorating for the church Christmas party.  It was a nice dinner and program, including the Nativity play with all the primary children.  They had the littlest ones dress up as animals, and I think the parents were told not to buy anything new, just have them wear costumes they already had.  In the stable we had a pig, a tiger, a lion, and yes, a sheep!  Very cute.

Kara also sang a duet with her friend, a capella.  It was half in Ulru (African language) and half in English.  They were pretty brave to do it without a piano!   Nice work, girls.

DECORATIONS. Our Christmas tree is up, as is our advent calendar.  Many of our ornaments make music, and  it's fun to push the buttons and listen to short clips of Christmas carols.

WARM TEMPS.We will head south for the holidays.  (I'm always in search of "warm," so my request is always south!  Someday I will not live in the Arctic Zone anymore.)  Our family is taking a cruise to 5 Caribbean islands, that starts and ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  That will be the week from Christmas Day to New Year's Day.  The kids look forward to the island activities, and of course the endless and nonstop food on a cruise.  I'll be happy not to cook it. :)

PEOPLE. I like listening to the talks in church about making Christmas meaningful.  Spending time with people you love, maybe picking up the telephone instead of texting once in awhile.  That relationships are more important than your to-do lists.

TIME with SISTERS.  Frank got to go visit with his sisters the day after Thanksgiving, and they rarely get together.  I wish we all could have gone, but I'm glad at least he could go.  The D.C. weather even cooperated with them, and he did NOT have any delayed flights.  Yippee!  Distance is definitely challenging sometimes, in keeping track of the activities and events of our family members.  But it's SOOOOO worth it!  We have absolutely the BESTEST families, scattered all over the continental U.S.

Nothing earth-shattering this time.  I just wanted to get in a post before I blinked too many times, and this awesome holiday month was gone.  Here are a couple of fun favorites so far this month:

1) chocolate-chip pumpkin bread
2) putting up musical ornaments on the tree
3) David's annual fundraiser for Robotics: Krispy Kreme donuts :)
4) Frank & Kari going on a SUCCESSFUL one-evening gift shopping trip
5) Our long-distance gift-wrapping and packaging is half-done already!

Have a fantastic week!  Kari

Hurricane Sandy

Hello, World!

(These photos are also on facebook, but not the stories.  Since all of our family is not on facebook, I put them on the blog.)

I tried to get these photos moved around some, but the website was being tricky.  These were all taken last Saturday, when Frank and I and David went to New York to help with storm damage.  I typed in the stories, but they are AFTER all the photos, at the bottom of the blog post.

If you click on the photos you can see them a lot bigger, too.

Police were everywhere, sadly in case of looting

Toboggans to drag the debris to the street

Interviewing a resident trying to clean up

Supplies provided for volunteers

David models the 'Helping Hands' pinny

Frank adds more SLUDGE to the pile: wet insulation, drywall & wood

Binoculars full of sea water

David helps clear debris.  The mask is because it was so dusty.

The basement window was a portal for trash, to be loaded onto the toboggan

ready to drag the next load of muck

Collection of player piano rolls of music

Storybook that was floating for days

Now THIS is an old album!

Blurry, yes, but I'm holding one of the ceiling panels we were tearing out.

My boot.

Thank you, Rustic Crust, for free pizza & water for the volunteers.

Frank & David take a pizza and water break

more damaged ocean-front homes

houses and restaurants being renovated

More boardwalk splinters.

picture of Grandpa: submersed in seawater for days

Here is the boardwalk, even that lamppost and railing, lifted up and slammed against the restaurant.

Our Demolition Crew! Fran, whose dad lived here, is in the red jacket.

Just wanted to give a synopsis of our Saturday.

HURRICANE DAMAGE HELP.  Our church has been organizing groups of people to go down to New York, helping clean up the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy 3 weeks ago.  It's a long drive anyway (4 hours), but "things being as they are" we were warned it might take 5 hours to get down there.

Frank and me.  My pinny is on backwards.  Don't worry I changed it! :)

So anyway, this past Saturday, Frank, David and myself drove down past Long Island, to Breezy Point where the storm caused huge amounts of destruction.  It was a little overwhelming to just absorb it all.  (And I've HAD electricity and the comforts of home for the past 3 weeks.)

PINPOINT THE SPOT.  Breezy Point is at the south end of Long Island, NYC.  (go ahead, mapquest "Breezy Point, NY" and zoom in once or twice...it helps to get a visual...)  It's kind of this long stretch of sand.  On one side is the bay, and on the other side is the Atlantic Ocean.  It has a grid of streets, including thousands of homes and dozens of businesses, in quite a few neighborhoods.

SO. MUCH. WATER.  3 weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy caused the bay on one side, and the ocean on the other side, to come together.  The entire stretch of sand of Breezy Point was covered, 5 feet deep in sea water.  Imagine walking down your street with water up to your chest or chin.  This meant that EVERYBODY's basement windows broke and the water filled their basements up to the ceiling.  Some homes had water just up to their front door, while others' homes ("luck of the draw"), 3 or 4 feet lower on the other side of the street, also had a couple of feet of water on their MAIN floor, so TWO levels of their homes were destroyed instead of just one.  All cars parked on the streets were under water.  Just barely.  But 5 feet of water just about covers most normal sized sedans.

DEBRIS REMOVAL.  We went to the sidewalk in front of a public school, where our missionaries had equipment for us to use.  Shovels, buckets, gloves, masks (for dust), and toboggans.  Debris would be loaded onto toboggans, then hauled out to the street.  Every night the city would send dump trucks around all the neighborhoods, to collect all the debris on the streets, and haul it away.  A few vacant fields away, there are MOUNTAINS of destroyed furniture, drenched drywall and soggy insulation, tons of household items that couldn't handle being submersed in sea water for days.

Once there were 10 people in a group ready to work, they had 2 missionaries go with us to a house on their list, to work.  (Residents had been given a phone number to call and request help, free of charge, with their homes.  So far there were 200 homes on "the list," and it the list was growing daily.)

LIVING ALONE.  That gives you a background.  We got there and were assigned to Fran's house.  Fran's 96-year-old father "Steven" actually lived in the house by himself.  He built it in 1960, and like everyone else, he ignored the evacuation warnings because it was "just a big storm."  So when the water rose, this little old man's neighbor "Jeff" watched with horror as water filled the streets, the basements, and kept rising.  He waited until the water stopped rising, and swam/waded next door to Steven's house, to let him know what was happening.  Jeff described the water level to him. Steven said "I don't believe you."  So the Jeff urged him to come to the front door and look for himself.  He did, and his eyes got big and he still couldn't believe it.

Frank adds more to the pile

DEMOLITION.  Our job was tearing down wall panels, soggy insulation, ceiling panels, and taking all the unsalvageable objects from the basement to the street.  We pretty much gutted the basement.  Other assignments were not as big.  One woman needed help tearing out linoleum in her kitchen.  Another family drew a line on the wall and had helpers remove the soppy drywall underneath that line, as high as the water went.  Many scrubbed mold off of walls. (so. much. mold. eeeewwwww.)  Whatever people need help with, they can call to place their order, and volunteers come to their address.

Our stack.  The city's dump trucks drive through every night to collect people's debris from the neighborhood curbs.

Boardwalk again, with the pilings in the background, where the boardwalk was before.

They were getting responses from all along the East Coast, of people who wanted to help.  It's such a neat thing to see.  But afterwards, we were able to come home and sleep in our comfortable houses.  Those people couldn't get away from the mess.

I'm standing on the piling taking the picture, see my shadow?

This is where the boardwalk USED to be.

So, without making this volumes long, I'll post photos and let you see the area.  We walked to the beach at the end, to see damage along the shore.

BOARDWALK SPLINTERS. The storm surge literally lifted the boardwalk up and over about 30 feet, slamming it into the row of houses/hotels/restaurants there.  It was pretty overwhelming.  Here are photos of those nice houses/hotels/restaurants along the shore, that got hit so hard.  And the cement pilings (supports for the boardwalk) where the boardwalk USED to be.  The waves lifted it up and over, no problem.

I'm glad we could go help, even a tiny bit.  I'm still a little overwhelmed when I look at the photos again.

Kari

Halloween 2012

Hola!

This week has been a wild one, and we weren't even hit very hard by the megastorm Sandy.  I'll do another post on storm things, maybe, but I did want to count my blessings that even though about half the town lost power and lots of trees and branches came down in that horrifically intense wind, we could hold some "normal" things in our town.  Like Halloween.

SENIORS DRESS UP.  Traditionally at our high school, on Halloween Day the seniors are allowed to wear costumes to school.  They get pretty creative, actually--it's fun that they have a chance to showcase their talents and look silly for the day.

David is a senior this year (I'm still allowing that to sink into my brain...it should take a full year, or 5).  He and a group of friends each dressed up like different characters in the Super Mario game.  It was very fun.  David was "Shy Guy." 


I put a picture of the actual character in the corner so you can see the resemblance.  :)

He even spray-painted his worst pair of sneakers.






Here is me helping him with makeup before seminary, getting all dressed up Halloween morning.

Here is the Mario group, and I can't name all the characters except probably Mario himself, and Luigi, and Princess Peach.

His other friends were Calvin and Hobbes, Zorro and other super heroes, etc.  There were 13 kids who came over.

iTUNES GIFT CARDS.  Kara and a few friends made up their costumes to be iTunes gift cards.  Those gift cards USED to have the bright card with the silhouette dancing.  They dressed in black and put bright cards behind them.

(Apple has since changed the cards, of course!  I thought it was a fun idea.)

OVERLAPPING PARTIES. Kara's friends came over to eat and get costumes ready around 5.  The plan was to leave to trick-or-treat around 6.

David had his friends come over around 6, to socialize and then to go out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

TRICK-OR-TREATING PHILOSOPHY.  My philosophy on trick-or-treating has evolved, over time.  I think, if the kids make the effort to dress up and wear actual costumes, I don't mind teenagers trick-or-treating.

The ones I roll my eyes at are the ones who ring the doorbell at 8:45 p.m., when all the little kids have gone home, and there stand 2 teens in regular clothes, holding pillow cases.  Please.

But if they make an effort, no problem.  And most of the neighbors were good sports about it.  One said "You're too tall to trick-or-treat," then they crouched down, and she gave them candy.

Another neighbor looked at the group of 13 teens and asked, "Okay, which one of you is from this neighborhood?" Then David and Princess Peach spoke up.  They all got candy.  Overall, it was a fun evening for them!

More later, love, Kari

Oh, P.S.  Here is when David tried to take OFF the face-paint... The white and black mixed together, and he got this great ZOMBIE effect!  We'll have to use that one another year.