...Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Steven has been in Texas 5 days now. He's ready to stay, and buy a house. He says we can get a 2300 sq ft. house with tons of upgrades in a real nice area right outside Houston for $130,000. Just one problem: IT'S HURRICANE COUNTRY, YA DINGBAT!! Did you forget why you're down there??!! The house across the street from where he's living was completely destroyed by a big old pine tree that fell on it during "Ike." Oh, and let's not forget the humidity levels that equal the temperature of the day - 87 degrees a few days back - the humidity was the same!!! No thanks.

OK, y'all, he doesn't really want to move down there. He's just been marveling at the cheap home prices down there. And he's just trying to get me all hoppin' mad, making me think he wants to settle down over there - you know that joker I'm married to.

Seriously though, Steven's doing fine. He found a great place to live with an LDS couple in a 3 br house. He can pay weekly, and they're very nice (DINKs) The job is starting to pick up as far as getting contracts signed, and receiving badly needed $$. Was pretty slow at first, but getting better. He's in a beautiful place called Spring, just outside of Houston. He misses his babies, but he talks to them almost every day. He's still hoping to get a job with the church as a Facilities Manager, but we're waiting patiently on that one. We'll keep you posted!

Steven has been down to Galveston, and has seen all of the hurrican damage firsthand. The first day he was there, Sunday, he went down there with the ward he attended that day, and helped dig 3 feet of stinky mud out of an older lady's house. Then they ripped muddy, moldy drywall off the walls. It was quite an experience - he went back to his hotel room, muddy, REAL stinky and exhausted. What a way to spend a Sunday!

I miss him so much. It's hard to take care of 5 kids all alone. That same day Steven was in Galveston shoveling mud, I had to take care of one of our beloved kitties that had been run over the night before. He was lying dead in the road, just down from our house. We passed it on our way to church. Sarah and Jacob both looked at me with horrified faces and burst in to tears. By the time I'd taken care of ole Blue, we'd missed Sacrament Meeting, but still went to church for the last two hours. It was a horrible way to start the Sabbath. I wasn't handling things very well, and went out to the van to cry like a baby. I heard a car, looked up, and Mom and Dad were there. I cried even more. They knew I needed them, and they came. Thanks, Mom and Dad. I love you so much!! So later, we all helped dig a grave for Blue in our backyard, and we had a nice little funeral for him, and buried him. That's 3 out of 4 cats now that we've lost. Not too good of odds, eh?

Then of course the garage door opener broke, and we tried to fix it, but there was no way. Luckily our neighbor was home, who's in our ward and is young and strong, so I asked him to help us and he got it fixed finally, but it took a long time! Then the poor guy had to hurry and leave to go home teaching, and he was all hot and sweaty with black, greasy hands!

Such craziness!! Hopefully all the mishaps and tragedies are over, and it will be calm and boring around here for a while. Well, as calm and boring as it CAN be with 5 kids. The picture below is Sam holding Blue. Sam would carry Blue around the yard like that all the time - he was such a tolerant, sweet little kitty.