Impromtu Vacation

Well, the girls and I (Flavio had to go out of town on business) ended up have a little, impromptu vacation this week. If you haven't already heard, southern California seems to be on fire!! Because of the fires in the Santa Clarita Valley we were evacuated! It was a bit of excitement for us - when you have two little ones looking to you for comfort you can't really flip out, so . . . we took the ADVENTURE approach. We were planning to go to my grandma's house for dinner Sunday night and as the girls were getting up from their naps I was realizing that the house was really smelling smoky - I called my parents and they said they had noticed the smoke, there were a few fires, but by the time they got out of the SCV the smoke seemed to disapate - well about 10 minutes later there was a police car strolling through our neighborhood telling us we had to evacuate! So . . . I instructed Ellie to get a few things together - I grabbed the pictures and scrapbooks and my computer (all of my pictures are stored there) along with the cat and a few other things and off we went to Grandmother's house. I, fortunately, had thrown the video camera on the front seat and was able to video some of the flames that were across the street from us!!!! How crazy is that?!?!?!? To see the hill across the street from you on fire!!!!!!! It was a great opportunity to tell Ellie and Lily about God's power. He is in control of ALL things and nothing escapes His notice. Ellie was a little anxious and what better to do than leave all things at the feet of Our Lord? It was a good time to remind her, and myself, that we are to not worry about anything, but pray about everything (Philippians 4:6). It is amazing to me how God puts opportunities in front of me each and every day to teach my precious girls about the mercy and goodness and power of the Almighty Creator - I just need to be aware of those opportunities and take full advantage of them! God is good and most of the homes in our area were spared. I think there were only a couple of homes really affected by the fire.

All that to say - Ellie had the best 48 hours of her life! You see, my cousin and her family live across the street from my grandma. Ellie lived with them for the past 2 days!!! She played with her two 12 year old cousins, Laura and Megan, Caleb (9), and Brett (6). Did she miss me? The better question is - Did she know I was even around? The answer to both - a resounding NO!!!! The saddest part of our "vacation" - 12pm today when I had to break the news to her that we were going to go home! We managed to survive . . . barely!

We are home and happy to be amongst our own things! We are so grateful to the Lord for a spared home, a fun vacation, and an amazing family!