Power Outage Necessities, Screaming Littles, and Walking a Balance Beam

We lost power a week ago Sunday.  Mountain Man had gone to church while I was worshipping at home with sick little ones.   I decided homemade pizza would be a wonderful treat, and God in His kindness, preserved our power until I had put the last two pizzas in!  They were done enough to make a yummy Sunday meal.

It was nice to have some notice, too, that the power would be out for some time.  The electric company said it might be the next day before the lights came on, so we were able to prepare a bit for the night.

I was thankful to have just finished a big shopping trip.  The freezers and refrigerators were full, which is a good thing, unless you end up without power for DAYS.

However, we would have gotten a D on a preparedness report card if we had been graded on how many of the essentials we had that  you see on a government check list. Water.  Well, yes, but not that many gallons.  Candles.  Yes.  Oil lamp oil.  Umm..we didn't have much of this, but there was enough.

But there are a few things that even those government check lists don't have on them.  REAL NECESSITIES when the power goes out!  Thankfully, we did have those.

While we sat around the table having our strategy meeting, Clairesy was a bit concerned about the implications of life without power.    "What?  I can't turn the lights off and on?  What will I do?"

Then Mountain Man explained that all would be well.  We had oil lamps and flashlights and candles.  And we had even more important things than that.  Like:

sugared strawberries

"Now Daddy, I know I'm cute, but that doesn't mean I'm not sharp as a tack.  Why would sugared strawberries be helpful during a power outage?"

"Because, my little Cutie, we can finally have Scribe's birthday dessert!  Yes, whipped cream and sugared strawberries atop angel food cakes, eaten by oil lamp."

"Oh Daddy, now I understand!"

So we enjoyed dessert as the sun was setting.  It was a bit of a race for time because I didn't delight in the thought of 9 of us eating strawberry shortcake in very little light.  After all, we're still in the life stage where enough food lands on the floor that we might have had squishy surprises as we walked in the dark.  No thanks. :)

There's another necessity when you're without power, though.  This one is sometimes kept a secret.  I don't think anyone else knew I had one of these stashed away.......

Enough said.

Praise God, we didn't have to go through the night without power.  By 10:00 we were  able to open the refrigerator without being in a hurry. :)

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I've never believed in the "terrible twos," but we have something terrible going on around here lately.  Vivaldi has been replaced with the continuous fits of Mommy  the littlest people as we try to take away the binky and determine if Cap'n has any teeth breaking through or if something else is making him cranky. 

I left church early yesterday because he was so miserable.  He cried for 15 minutes straight as I sat out in the car with him.  Then when I went to get Ben so he could take us home, I realized the door was locked.  I kept beeping from the van, but it's the one time none of my people bothered to see what was going on. :)   Finally, Ben came to check on me, and when he tried to go back in, he couldn't get in the church either.  HA! He had to do the dreaded "knock" while service was going on.  

Cap'n still isn't himself, so prayers for healing and better sleep at nights are appreciated. 

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And, finally.....drumroll please.....after about 7 weeks, Mountain Man seems to be free of all dizziness!!!!!  Yay!  I do believe my man could  walk on a balance beam if he wanted to, but really, he's just thankful to get out of bed without falling.  Thank you for all your prayers!  

Much love,