Unfortunate times.

~This sign may not mean anything to most of you but when you have to evacuate your home and there are so many unknowns and then you come back and know everything is ok it brings so much joy in your heart~

I can't even begin to explain where I have been these past couple weeks and how blessed we have been as there could have been so many bad situations. We have been evacuating friends and co-workers and even ourselves from flooding, we also found out Matt's grandpa had passed away, we took a 22 hr road trip out to Washington with Matt's sister and brother-in-law, spending time with family and driving back and then unpacking everything up it has been a non stop whirl wind. So in the craziness of finding out Matt's grandpa had passed away and having a little over a day to mandatory evacuate from our home and leave on a road trip with Matt's sister and brother-in-law to drive out to Washington it has been mind boggling and very hectic.

Even though there has been a lot of hectic and stressful times we have been so blessed in so many ways. For one our house was safe from the flood and we were able to move back when we returned home.  Even in the unfortunate times of Matt's grandpa passing we were able to spend some very much needed time with family. It was so much fun and such a learning experience to road trip out to Washington with Matt's sister and brother-in-law. Its amazing the things you talk about and learn when you are locked up in a car with them for hours upon hours. I was also able to meet some more of Matt's family. We went a couple times to our favorite restaurant out in Lynden called Bob's Burgers & Brew and we also went to the infamous Wood's coffee and Dutch bakery. Matt's mom, sister and I spent some time together going to a local quilt shop.

Below are some pictures from our trip.

Tanna with Uncle Matt :)

I love Washington's beauty.

Matt and I.

Most of all I would like to give a big SHOUT out to some very special people:
I can say I have never been more proud to be from North Dakota then ever. We had many family members come and help us pack and even complete strangers who helped lift all of our heavy appliances.  A very special thank you to my cousins Wade and Kristi for helping us pack up our house and letting us use one of their trailers and also for letting us store our stuff out at the farm. Also for my other cousin Michael who drove 180 miles to get a trailer for us to load and also who helped load a lot of our heaving stuff. Even though you didn't have any sleep after getting off night shifts and most of all my parents for helping pack and unpack our things, buying us many totes, letting us store and stay at your house for a few days and most of all taking care of Stella when we needed to leave for Washington.

Even though we were very fortunate not to have any flooding problems there are so many people that are less fortunate. I can't even begin to explain the heartache when you watch the news and see all of these houses sitting in water and worst of all when you see it in person. It make me sick to my stomach. So I ask if you please take a minute out of your day and pray for all of the people who are dealing with the flood and for those that no longer have anything. They need our thoughts and prayers more than anything.