Ice storm 2009

Tuesday January 27 ...

We woke up to absolutely chaos.  The electricity was off and everything was icy! 

The last time we had a severe ice storm was in 2000. I didn't loose electricity during that storm and it was nothing compared to what we were in store for! Over the next couple days we experienced spotty electricity, loss of heat ( when we did have electricity), loss of phone service, and sadly loss of Internet!! 

Thankfully the apartment we live in has a gas stove and oven so that even when the electricity was off we were still able to cook hot food and keep the apartment rather warm! 

I did venture out a few times to take pictures and 

This is a picture of some of the limbs that broke off right beside our bedroom window!

This is a picture at the Asbell... The pine tree bent completely over.

I thought the ice was very pretty... It was absolutely beautiful!

You can actually see how much ice is on the branches.... 

These branches were actually rather thick!

All that Imanni did during her week long furlough was read the twilight series!

Kiannah wanted so bad to go outside, but once she was outside she didn't like it so much!

Asbell school driveway... Lots of cleaning to do after the storm!

Johnathan ventured out also.... More limbs that broke off trees littered the playground

I thought the Pine trees were absolutely beautiful !!

Straight forward and to the point!

Recently I was reading something and came upon this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley:

"In my 90+ years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out!"

I love how President Hinckley was straight forward and to the point about everything. He knew exactly how to speak to people and make them understand the importance of everything. I figured that a lot of people that I know could use this quote. It is a real testament to not stressing about things you have no control over and allowing Our Father in Heaven to be in charge of our lives. 

A lot of times our negative outlook and our stresses affect how things turn out... It is hard to always remain happy and content but Our Father in Heaven will always take care of things if we let him. I guess we can look at it as  Maybe Heavenly Father wants to do for us to just because he can... and if we don't whine and cry about it, it will get done but if we whine and cry about it... then we can do it ourselves ...I know I do that with my kids ... Maybe Father does that with his kids sometimes!

Becoming Self Reliant

Okay so maybe this is not what our Prophet was talking about when he teaches about this topic, Anyone who KNOWS me knows I tend to read stuff into what people say. 

Well so I was thinking... We need to be able to rely on our government LESS and on Oil LESS and on Stores LESS. Yeah umm... I gotta go to the store... I am not yet at the point of making butter and gathering eggs ( even though I would love to be at that point some day! ). 

There are lots of ways to use less oil so that will be the one we focus on first. We haven't had a car for a while now, but we have been blessed to have the chance to use my mother's van whenever we need!

While Davone and I have talked we have decided our goal is to become self reliant. We want to get to the point where we are able to do for our selves and not be concerned when there is no one to catch us when we fall!!

So with all the running around usually done by one to two people we figured this year we would invest in a scooter. NO not one of the little ones you see around town that goes 25 to 30 Mph this one goes 60 or 65 Mph. 80 miles per gallon. So when gas gets back up to $4 a gallon it will cost us $16 a month for gas as opposed to $240 and up. So we figured after about 5 months... the scooter will pay for itself. The extra money we save will be used to help pay off debt and invest in camping supplies  ( you know just in case we all have to live in the woods )! Camping supplies are another chapter in the "Valentin Family guide to being self sufficient" but that will be a story for later! :)

This is not the color but this is the style of the scooter Davone got!

History is made!

January 20, 2009 is indeed a historic day! 

Where was I the day the first African American was sworn in a President of the United States of America??

I was sitting in my living room with Kiannah and my Visiting Teacher... Linda Connor.

No matter who you voted for you have to have love and respect for this day and all of the people who have sacrificed and fought so that our government can continue the traditions of Democracy! 

I am thankful for the opportunity for the innocent children to finally see and understand that no matter where you came from and no matter who you are that they too can amount to greatness. 

I will never fully understand the joys that my husband's Great-Grandmother feels this day but I am thankful that my children and their children will never have to know the sorrows that she has had to face in her lifetime! 

I did not vote for this President and I will not defend my political views but I will say that I will pray for this President and the other leaders of our nation. 

I am grateful for the chance to experience a historical and beautiful occasion and optimistically look forward to the next four years!!

Kiannah is 3!!

I wanted to do a cake.. Not just a plain cake!

I have NEVER attempted to make a cake that looked like something else and I have no equipment to do so, but I think it turned out decent!!

The best part of Kiannah's day was that her best friend in the whole world ( Aubrey ) was able to come up from Little Rock with her parents and brother!

We hadn't seen Trevor and MaryAnn and Aubrey and Coleman since Thanksgiving....Which is not long but Aubrey used to live across the hall from us and they got to see each other every day and when ever they wanted! 

They enjoyed laughing with each other and playing together! Kiannah got a lot of nice gifts ... Thanks to all who came to the party! Her grandmother Wanda sent a gift from New York since she couldn't make it.

Wanda sent Kiannah a cross necklace. It is so pretty! We don't let her wear it often in fear of her breaking the chain!  

I still can not believe my baby is 3!!!

* 2009 *

Happy New Year!!!

I can not believe it is already 2009!

I remember when I was a kid thinking about what it would be like in 2020. With flying cars and robots that do everything for you. I thought that time period was so far away! 

2008 in review....

January: Kiannah turned 2

February: Valentines day.... #11 for Davone and I!! 

March: Participated in the IDA program 

April: Spent a lot of time outside and making memories with the neighbors ( since they were planning on moving to either Helena or Little Rock! )

May:  Wanda ( my mother-in-law ) came to visit. Trevor finally graduated from college and took his family to the Philippines to visit Johnathan turned 9

June: The Government Finally did something nice and gave us free money!! I love Rebate checks!!

July: I turned 20 something and Davone and I celebrated 4 years of marriage!

August: Davone was able to return to New York for 10 days to visit his family and friends! Kiannah's best friend moved away! :(

September: We were able to spend a lot of time with my brother while he was home on leave and we even went to a renaissance festival with him.

October: Kiannah and I were able to travel to Ohio with Angel and Aubrey to welcome Travis home from his mission and to party!!

November: Participated in a history making election!!

December: Imanni turned 11 and we had a wonderful Christmas!

I hope that 2009 will be filled with even more love and lots more adventures!!