Update

      I've seen many recovery efforts in the Valley lately. People are steady working and building. And if you look past all the broken trees, limbs and remaining piles of ruble, you can see that things are beginning to look new again. A few places even have whole walls up.
   When we were at the meeting at Alpha Ranch this past weekend, the forester who came down said that in 2 to 3 years, everything will look fairly normal again. And of course we will never forget what happened, or the lives lost in the storm. But I can't help but be excited about the future now. Ever since the storm, things have all been kind of one big blur. It's not as bad now as it was in the weeks just after the storm. But still it doesn't seem like it should be early June already. Before we know it we'll all be enjoying the cool weather again and celebrating the holidays (which is my favorite time of year), thanking God that He has brought us to where we are.


    Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of the progress going on in the Valley yet. But as soon as I do they'll be posted. However I did come across a few things in the Valley that I thought were worth talking about.....

We saw this cross as we were coming home one day, it was no where near any ones house.....

.......so I have no idea who put it there, but I'm glad they did.

These are just a few pictures of some of the damage. This particular house is right across the road from us, it had a huge tree fallen on it.

This was a metal building which I believe was used to store donations that would be given away to those in need. This was an outreach that one of the churches was working on building up.

A stretch of road that is now unrecognizable, I still can't remember what used to be here.

This is the place where some of the Isbells lost their lives.

It was hard to make out the names from so far away but I believe the names from left to right are : Ronnie, Tammi and Leah Isbell.

This is the Boyd's house, the one we stayed in the night of the storm. Thankfully they did not receive much damage, a tree fell on the back of their house. I remember sitting on the front porch the morning after and, for a short time before they cut it all off, we almost had to sit under the branches on one side of the porch.

The Retreat Center. The only building left standing on the Lee's property, and it is in the process of being restored right now, so that they have somewhere to live temporarily while a house is being built. This is also the building all the Lee's went to when they were pulled or climbed out of the rubble. It protected the injured and unharmed while the rain fell outside and the cold wind swept through until 2:00 a.m. when medical help was finally able to get to them.

These are the trucks that are hauling tree limbs, branches, trunks and whatever else needs to be taken away. On the side of the truck in big letters it says Disaster Relief. These trucks have been down our road a few times, they've taken just about all of our debris.

This is the Debris Site, where they take all the debris after they pick it up and then burn it. Earlier today my Father was called out to this sight with the rest of the fire department. The flames had gotten out of hand and they could no longer control it. We are under an "Outdoor Burning Ban" but the people doing this are an exception. However, if it gets out of hand too much and catches the forest behind it on fire it could spread fast. Pray that doesn't happen.

One of the many officials at the meeting showing us a map of the Valley.

               Now that you have seen everything going on in the Valley, let me show a little bit of what we've been doing here at home. We've been unusually busy here, baking, cooking, gardening and so much more.....

Cinnamon Rolls   c ;

Steven called these Mom's Gone Mad desert....why? I have no idea.........

......but they were delicious.  c :

and Charlie....mostly watched.....

......that is until he was captured......

.....and dressed like a baby....

......and put in a stroller. But he enjoyed being "babied" and after a long day of watching......and being babied..........

......he fell asleep in Charlene's room, where he willingly slept all night long.

The makings of Rosewater. They all thought I was crazy when they saw me "cooking a rock",

 but the result was delicious.

Blackberries, which, soon, we'll be picking and jamming. You'll get to see plenty pictures of that. c ;

 Mine and Charlene's creations....

Fruit Salad, which was gone about five seconds after I took the picture.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Two of the cookies have graduation decorations on them, Charlene had the idea of putting them on my cookies. One day she came up to me and gave me a big hug and said "Chelsey, I don't want you to leave." I was getting ready to go somewhere at the time and I said. "I won't be gone for long."  She then informed me that she meant she didn't want me to leave for college, and I told her that I didn't know if I was going to college. She then said "If you do go, how long will you be gone?" "Two to three years." I replied. And she said " Two or three years? That's too long! Couldn't you just do college at home?"

We had a bit of a scare while we were baking, a snake crawled up in the yard. But luckily the dogs didn't even see it and it just slithered away.

They decided to sing to me.  c :

This is Charlene's tent.....

...complete with popcorn, a lantern......

....and a campfire.

By the way, this tripod flashlight is the same one we used the night of the storm. Since the men had to take all the flashlights to assist search and rescue efforts, this is the only one we were left with in the basement. And I think Steven found it in his bag after the men left.

The ingredients for Bread and Butter pickles.

Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles. Their really good. And the Cucumbers came right out of Jesse's garden c ;

Charlene, trying to catch chickens.

Why? You ask........

....just for the fun of it!

Over the weekend, a friend of mine gave me her fish tank, something I've been wanting for a long time. ( Not hers, just a fish tank c ; ) Complete with a filter, foliage, rocks, decorations and 5 live fish. Thanks Katy. c ;

It lights up the room at night and with the sound of the water swishing out of the filter and the blue reflections on the wall, it makes you feel like your under the ocean. c :

         Before I end this post, there is something I realized in my story about the storm that I was wrong about. I know I got some of the details mixed up, it was hard to remember what order things happened in. But when I said that Mr. Smith came and brought blankets the night of the storm, I meant Mr. Beason. The Beason's are another family that we met through the Cedar House.



   Because of problems with our computer, I don't have my other blog ready just yet. I'm lucky I was even able to post this. But I will have it ready in a few more days hopefully. And just to give you a heads up as to what I'll be posting about first, I'm starting off in Italy. c ;