A Week In...

John's School :)

Our Apartment (Red Brick Building w/bay window@ top of pic)

Kathy and Sofia

Sofia and Irie Ann

So we have been in PA for one week. We have had alot of fun, but it as been a little tiring as well for both Sofia and I. We have been able to drive around Downtown which is my favorite part of the Poconos. THEY HAVE A STARBUCKS HERE NOW! Feels a little like home. Ofcourse I have taken alot of pictures of what looks like nothing to the normal eye but it is something special to me.

We have gotten to see a few friends. I have gotten to see Colleen a few times and that does my heart good. She is SUCH a good friend. I miss her to pieces. I have gotten to see Kathy and that makes me waaaayhappy. She is seriously like another Mom to me, and has always been so good to our whole family. We have also gotten to see my friend, Pat and Sofia's very first friend...Irie. They are so cute together and just had this instant bond as if they knew that they have known eachother their whole lives, and they have. Sofia told me today..Irie is not a baby anymore. She was tomorrow, but not this year.

Hurricane Ike hit Friday night and it has pretty much dominated my trip since. I came up here to relax but that is hard to do when I know my family is such a wreck. My Dad got hit front and center with the storm, to the point that the eye actually went OVER his house. He got somewhere between two and three feet of water in his house. So ever since I have been on the phone with insurance agencies, FEMA, hotels, etc...My Dad has been sleeping at the shop where he works on just a mattress and no pillow or covers, and my step mom has been staying in a hotel room with my sister in Austin. They have pretty much been going day to day to day. So I FINALLY got them a hotel room today where they will be for atleast two weeks. John has been trying to get down to Houston but it is hard. He has no truck, no excess gas, no trailor, generator, fans...NOTHING to take down there. And obviously, everything in Houston is unavailable. Needless to say it has been a little stressful. My Dad and Debbie never real call me, and we have all been talking about ten times day. It is crazy....

Sofia misses Daddy and Mia like crazy and cries for like an hour every night for them both. She has been having a hard time going to sleep, and won't sleep if I am not in the room. That has been a little tough on me because as a result I have her up late with me. She is sleeping right next to me and holding my hand as she sleeps. She also holds my hand all day, and won't let me leave the room without crying. Needless to say she is feeling a little insecure and probably feeling my stress.

So we are here for one more week and anxious to visit with more friends. We really created an entire life up here for ourselves, if not entirely on accident. We both made some life long friendships and we are thankful for them. I, not John so much, was in such a hurry to move back to Texas and leave all that we had created. I guess you really don't know what ya got...because I really miss so much about up here. It was so peaceful, quiet, and so much calmer up here. Just breating the air up here makes me feel calmer. I have been running a rat race since moving back to Texas and it just seems to be the way everyone lives there. I do much better at a slower pace. Do I uproot us all again and come back? How much sense would that make? Doesn't seem too logical to me. At any rate...we'll be home next Tuesday. For better or worse...