When it Rains, it Pours

Seriously! After my oh-so-graceful ankle injury (just a sprain, ptL!), Nicknack came down with the flu. Then me. Then Penn. Thank heavens not at the same time. We each had a day all to ourselves. :) Despite all three of us getting flu shots this year.

You know what is especially fun? Ralphing, while a small person stands a couple feet away imitating you during the intervals. That is just a special memory to be treasured forever.

Later, when Penn came home he said to Nicknack, "Poor Mommy is sick!" Nicknack agreed, "BLAAAHH!"

Nice, right?

Our week has also been peppered with small annoyances. A flat tire. FOUR insufficient check charges (at $32 a pop) because I accidentally transferred almost all the money from our checking into our savings account, instead of the usual paycheck amount. Our mailbox hanging open and the sopping wet mail inside. Penn's boss calling him into work at the last minute, on the day I was sick. The man literally hasn't had two days off in a row the entire month of November, including the Thanksgiving holiday.

Just irksome stuff, you know?

But it's all small potatoes compared to what a lot of people around here have been dealing with due to our freakish weather. Very stormy all over the Pacific Northwest. Lots of flooding, property damage, and a few lives lost due to falling trees and that sort of thing.

Our little street was featured on NBC Nightly News a couple of evenings ago. Our house sits on a high cliff on the Puget Sound - luckily, pretty far from the edge. Just below our bank lives a little cul-de-sac of 12 houses. Picture two steps with the beach being the floor and our house being the second/top step. They are the first step. The storm caused some of the bank to slide, destroying the steep road down to the cul-de-sac. It even sent one of the neighbors' cars sliding into their home! No one was hurt, thankfully, but all the families were evacuated and work crews have been working around the clock since then, to get them back into their homes.

UPDATED TO ADD: Our street was featured on CNN this morning, although the reporter pronounced our town of Bur-i-en as "Byurn." I guess the image of our neighbors' car in their house is the "symbol" of the storm/damage.

So that is a big thing to deal with. I'm grateful that our little aggravations, uh-ohs, and BLAAAAHs are just that. little. At least for right now. Subject to change at any moment, of course. Into every life a little rain must fall and most lives are devastated by a few storms - of one kind or another - at some point. Who knows what the future holds? Well, God does. He and Only He knows who, when, why, what, and how. I'm grateful that He holds the world in his hands whether the storms rage or the waters are calm.