Keeping my head above water....

Whoa, Man! It has been quite the week, or few weeks, I'm not sure?! Wednesday the 18th I got food poisoning (yeah, great way to start a story). I have NEVER been that sick!! Trust me, you don’t want me to go into details! I DID NOT get ANY sleep! It was bad news! Then (don’t ask me why) I decided that after a 2 hour nap (without vomiting) I was good to go in to work. Well, that didn’t work! So I ended up back home and had to make the decision as to whether I leave the next morning as planned to surprise my Dad in Billings, an 8 hour drive, all alone, in a rental (I am pretty sure they charge extra if it comes back smelling like vomit).
The whole reason for my going to surprise my dad in Billings was because they were having a large youth event and he was going to be presented (by me) an award for his MANY years of working with the teens of the Nazarene Church. This was something I DID NOT want to miss, so I got my rental car that night and just plain didn’t eat (can’t vomit what isn’t in there), and left early Friday morning for Billings. The drive was actually pretty nice! I was able to SLOWLY eat Taco Bell for lunch (VERY SLOWLY), and I got into Billings with plenty of time before the presentation. My mom and I hung out for a little while and they hid me in a back room of this convention center so that my dad would not accidentally run into me. They also warned me not to speak or laugh, because “everyone would hear me, and Dad would know it was me.” There were a few close calls, but in the end he had NO IDEA I was there, it was awesome! While I was waiting and practicing my “speech” I was just POSITIVE that I would get on stage and just pass out from both nervousness and the after effects food poisoning. For the presentation, they sat dad on stage and pointed out to the right while I snuck up behind him on the left, and when they said my name, he jumped up and we both started crying, it was awesome. The speech wasn’t perfect, but good, and I am SOOO glad that I made it up for it. The rest of the weekend we hung out with the teens, did a little shopping, and I stayed in a hotel room with my mom and 4 teenage girls. I got to watch my little brother (who is NOT little) dominate in a dodge ball competition, I line judged for volleyball, and sat in on services with a GREAT speaker! I also took part in cleaning up an accidental “almost” fire in the prayer path. We didn’t even make it back to the hotel before midnight each night, and do you KNOW how hard it is to get a room full of girls that age to settle down and get some sleep? Not to mention, they had to get up two hours before anything to beautify!
Monday morning came way too fast! Also coming too fast was a nasty storm that almost kept me in Billings for the remainder of the week! I hurried off and drove like crazy and was able to stay just in front of the storm. I did hit a few rough spots, but 10 hours later I was safely at home. While on the drive home, I was on the phone with my husband and friends coordinating for our next adventure, the flood. At that time, it was projected that the river that is practically in my back yard would be at an all-time record high by that following Thursday (that would be in just 3 days). We live in a basement apartment, and are uninsurable.
I came home to the majority of our belongings already boxed up (yay Josh) and ready to be moved into a U-Haul truck. I did actually make it to work on Tuesday and helped Josh pack up that night. We got the U-Haul on Wednesday, and I (again) started getting sick on Wednesday too. This time it was just a cold, no big deal. Thursday I woke up with an elephant on my chest, and he is getting bigger by the day (bronchitis? Chest cold?)! By this time, the crest was projected to not hit til Saturday, but we weren’t taking any chances. I stayed home from work and huffed and puffed and tried to help Josh load all of our belongings up in the truck (I pretty much watched, and was still huffing and puffing). That afternoon, he sent me away to stay with some good friends of ours, the Draxtons, who live in Hatton (well away from the river). I had a good few days with Katy and her two girls, Amy (1.5) and Rachel (11 mo) but was still sick and of little help to Katy or anyone else for that matter! I so hope I didn’t give whatever I have to any of them!! Now, it is Sunday night (I think, not really sure) and I am back at home, in an empty apartment. The river is still high and has the potential to either stay high or get a little higher, so it is not over yet! We will keep all of our things out until it is totally-for-sure safe.
In all this I have to say, I am SOOO thankful for family, friends, and community. It was SOO awesome to go and see my family, and Josh sure saved our bacon and put in a LOT of work (while still working full time) to keep our things (and me) safe, we have GREAT friends that are always willing to come to our aide, and there are thousands of complete strangers sandbagging and working to protect Fargo!!

Pictures will follow…. =) (this was just going to be a quick note to catch up... oops!)