BUSY, DIFFERENT WEEK-END WRAP UP!

I have said it before but it does bear repeating....You just NEVER know what lies ahead.  We can make our plans, and go about them the best we can, but at the end of the day the Lord holds it all in His hands and He directs this life and all around us.  This week-end was definitely one of those times it was hammered home. The earthquake we experienced Friday night was really only considered a "moderate" quake and for most was just a reminder of where we live and what we can certainly expect from time to time.  But for those of us near the epicenter let me tell you a 5.3 quake SEEMED pretty big.  As did some of the literally hundreds of aftershocks.  As it turned out the epicenter was ONLY a short half of mile from us!  Now it was 5 miles deep, but still!  It might as well have been DIRECTLY under our bed, haha, as it certainly felt that way every time one of those aftershocks hit. Friday night I barely slept it seemed as the aftershocks were FREQUENT and my mind was racing about my niece, and honestly at any minute I didn't know if I would need to spring into action and race to a safe place (and with these knees I don't spring or race anywhere very well, so you know where that might have left me, lol) And then there was another fairly decent one Saturday afternoon, a 4. 2 I think it was, but we were at the hospital in Irvine on the third floor and only felt a slight swaying.  Our neighbors described it later as feeling MUCH bigger than a 4.  So I actually managed to miss BOTH of the biggest ones by not being at home.  Have to tell you I was really pretty grateful.  Nothing was even slightly amiss from the second one, so guess you have to get up into the 5 category quake to get that.  Really considering what it could have been, a few broken dishes is not bad at all.  I did notice later that several of my things in my china cabinet were tipped over, but NOT A THING was broken.  Soo grateful as a few of those things belonged to my grandmothers.  Saturday night we were both soo tired from the night before that we toppled into bed pretty early.  However we were awakened 3 times from significant aftershocks!  Let me tell you, it was getting pretty old.  But all 3 times I woke up only long enough to grumble to my hubby, "I am getting a little tired of this." and then dozed right back off, haha. Guess you can get used to almost anything (kidding of course!).  For an added bonus we have a device here in this mobile home park we live in that automatically shuts off the main gas line to all of the homes in the event of a significant quake.  You will be happy to know, it worked wonderfully.  However that meant of course we were without gas until late Sunday afternoon. Now Sat. morning I still managed to get a hot shower and thankfully washed my hair, as by Sunday morning there was none at all of course.  We can cook easy with our microwave and our barbecue, and I haven't turned our heat on in weeks, so honestly for us it wasn't that bad.  But lots of these older folks who live in this park were definitely complaining of the cold in the early mornings.  Last night I am happy to report that we never felt a thing IF there were any aftershocks so hopefully that is the end of that, and took a nice hot shower this morning grateful for something that I guess is easy to take for granted.  And that is my "earthquake story" lol.  Trust me it seemed almost everywhere we were this week-end, everyone was telling theirs.  So now let me tell about the rest of the week-end.  Sat. we arrived at the hospital around 10 am and by 12:20 she was giving birth. It was really such an exciting day.  Weston weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 and 3/4 inches long.  Mom did wonderfully and the baby couldn't be better.  He is sooo cute.  Let me show you a couple of quick pics.

HELLO GREAT AUNT DEBBIE

SOO SWEET!

LOOK AT ALL THAT HAIR!

LOOKING A LOT LIKE HIS MAMA AS A NEWBORN!

SOO DARLING!

AND YES, ALREADY HOME

So this morning I am just so grateful.  Grateful that no one was hurt in the earthquake, and damage was really pretty minimal.  Grateful for the healthy arrival of the newest memory in our HUGE extended family, and grateful that God is in heaven and firmly on His throne and all is in His hands.  I have a busy week ahead of me, but so far it is looking like a REALLY good one.  Blessings to you all! Debbie

LITTLE VINNY ENJOYING SOME POWDERED SUGAR DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST ON SUNDAY MORNING.  LOOKED LIKE HE ENJOYED THEM, LOL