We hired a gardener!

Well, not really. But a few weeks ago, we needed to. Both our front and back yard were massively overgrown. We were awaiting the note from the homeowners association each day that the mail arrived. But now, our yard is beautiful

Our gardener was something called Hurricane Ike. It took out the dying ash tree from our front yard (we just need to get the stump removed). The overhanging banana trees and palm leaves - all gone. The remaining tomato and pepper plants - completely uprooted. Even the fence was taken out! Colin propped it back in place for now (we have two neighbors with pools!), but it will need to be replaced. The big blessing - The huge pine tree that fell did not land on our roof! It landed on our neighbors, but since their roof was fairly new, it held. Amazing, amazing!

It is so surreal to be far away and see national news blaring pictures as a hurricane passes over your stomping grounds. It is even odd to drive home to streets lined with trees and debris about 5-6 feet high. But I imagine that it would have been devastating to come home to buildings missing where there ought to have been houses. At least those seem to be fairly intact.

We are very thankful to God for our good fortune! We stand amazed at his awesome power, and his wonderful mercy!

Not a tool guy...

Colin was taking apart our lawn mower yesterday, and Brennan was interested. So Colin took the opportunity to show Brennan the different tools that he was using. I enjoyed watching the conversation, as it was clear that Brennan was fascinated.

So was Philip. He was standing close by, watching intently. All was well, until Colin needed a screwdriver. The first one that Brennan grabbed was a flat head, so Colin explained to him that there were flat heads and Phillip's heads. And that he needed a Phillip's head to fit in this particular hole inside the lawn mower.

At which (our) Philip burst into tears and ran to me, grabbing my leg. "But I don't want Dad to put my head in the lawn mower!" he cried.

Poor guy. I wonder if this little incident destroyed any chance of him being a "tool guy" in the future!