Snowpocalypse

You might be wondering where we have been the last 3 days, and why I haven't posted cute pictures of Little Sir in the snow like all the other moms I know. We did have a recording breaking amount of snow here in Dallas, which pretty much shut down the city.

One of the ways in which things were shut down was through huge power outages. We happened to be one of the areas affected. You would think since we live less than 5 miles from downtown Dallas (i.e., NOT a rural area in any way), our power would be restored fairly quickly. Add to that the fact that we live behind one of Dallas' premiere Assisted Living facilities, CC Young, and you would think our area would be prioritized. But no.

We did not have power for 46 hours.

WHAT?!

Yes that is correct, almost 2 full days.

Add to that the fact that Little Sir started running a low grade fever the day the snow started, so he wasn't feeling well enough to really appreciate the snow at all. I did take one video of me bringing him outside when the snow started (before the power went out).

Due to the age and (lack of) insulation in our house, when we lost power around 6PM on Thursday (in the middle of my work shift, yay), it started getting cold in the house quickly. We spent the first night with our friends the Mays, who were so kind to let us show up and stay with them even though they are in the process of moving and celebrating their son's first birthday at the same time. I was so thankful that Little Sir was relatively quiet that night and didn't wake his friend Jackson.

Friday morning our power still wasn't on and it turns out that my work was one of the only businesses that had decided they were not closing (why?!). We had gone home to see if the power was on but it was not, so we went to yet another friend's house to use their shower. Since our nanny couldn't make it and we had no power for me to work from home, we packed up Little Sir and brought him up to my office. Christian came along and we took turns taking care of him in my cube for the first 5 hours of my shift.

By 5PM it was clear that our power wasn't going to be on that night either so another couple in our community group introduced us to her parents (who also go to our church) who had a wonderful big room over their garage they let us stay in, and WiFi that allowed me to finish my work shift that evening.

I was so frustrated by then because Little Sir was more than a tad bit freaked out by all the moving around in addition to not feeling well in the first place, and my workload was actually pretty heavy for that evening. Our hosts, the "LC's" were so wonderfully kind, Christian and Little Sir spent time with them having fun while I worked. I was sad because I knew they were having so much fun downstairs while I had to work upstairs.

Oh, and did I mention it was my birthday? Yes, it was also my birthday but I could not enjoy the snow because I had to work, my child was sick, and we could not stay in our own home for the second night.

The LC's were so kind...Christian and our friends got a cake for me and brought me downstairs for a break and everyone sang Happy Birthday and I got to blow out my candles!

 

  

 

It was just the neatest thing to be loved on by our friends and their parents whom I did not even know before that night. There is a phrase that is used in our community: "Be the church". Despite how difficult the last few days have been with all the moving around from place to place, I feel like we really got the opportunity to experience what it is like for others to "be the church" toward us. Every one of the couples in our community group contributed in some way to helping us out when we were in need, and even the LC's, who we had never even known before this weekend. I hope that some day soon we get a chance to "be the church" in the same way toward someone else.

Thank you so much to the Mays, the Suttons, the Momary's, and the "LC's"!

Saturday we had scheduled a date night where (yet another) of our friends had offered to take care of Little Sir while we went out to celebrate my birthday/Valentine's. By this time, neither of us had really any clean, much less nice, clothing left, and we were very tired from all the moving around. But I was determined to keep this date night even if it was only going to be a 2 hour break!!

The best gift ever: on the way to our friends' house for the date night, I read on Facebook that someone else who lived near us got their power back. We called our house and the answering machine picked up - our power was back!!! We were so excited!!!

We did go on our date night regardless, we just made it quick. Which was probably for the best since Little Sir is still a little congested and might not have dealt to well with a longer playdate with his friend Isolé. But he did hold hands with her and they talked to each other!! Our friends took a video, as soon as I get it I will post it - it is so cute!

So that's where we've been. I am so grateful to be back in our warm house and so is Little Sir. We've assembled a new toy for him and we'll have pictures of it tomorrow!