Ice Storm 2009

January 2009 saw the largest ice storm in the history of the state of Kentucky. On that note, it was the largest natural disaster in state history as well. The weight of the ice on the trees was more than most of them could endure. The collapsing branches and trees resulted in massive power outages throughout the state. In the immediate wake of the storm, more than 700,000 homes were without power in Kentucky alone.

It all started on Tuesday morning, January 27th. I woke up and started making my coffee. As I looked out the window, I thought I could see the glimmer of ice in the grass and trees as the street light as the street light shined in our yard. As the sun gradually came up, I was amazed at the sight. The tree limbs were entirely imprisoned in ice. The sunrise was quite beautiful. If ice could be on fire, it would look something like the sight I saw that morning. The freezing rain was still falling, and I noticed that many of the trees in our yard were starting to droop. I wondered then if we might start having a problem with breaking trees. And by 9:00am, power was out at the Claunch's. As the day wore on, the freezing rain continued. By midday, the sound of breaking trees became commonplace. It sounded like cannons firing about every 15 seconds. About midday, the power came back on at my house. Our friends, Kris and Andrea (and their newborn baby, Isaac) came over to stay with us because their power was out, and they had no source of heat other than electric. Thankfully, our house has gas logs which go a long way to heat the house. We got a weather report early Tuesday evening, only to learn that another heavy band of freezing rain was going to be on us all through the night and into Wednesday morning. Sometime during the night on Tuesday, the power went out again, and it stayed off this time for over six days. By Wednesday morning, the freezing rain had turned to snow, and we got about 3 1/2 inches of snow in two hours. With this, the perfect winter wonderland was complete.

Ashley, Josiah, and Micah went south to stay with Nonni and Papa during the power outage (Andrea and baby Isaac left too). But Kris and I remained to work and help out. In the end, I was very thankful for the heat in our home and for the safety of my family, Kris's family, and the congregation at Bethlehem.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. As you look at them, stand in awe of the ONE whose womb brings forth the ice, who hardens the water like stone, who imprisons the deep (Job 38:29-30)!

**Click on any picture to see it in full size**

Round 1: The Ice...

The ice actually got thicker than this picture shows!

This is a blade of grass I broke out of the yard early in the storm. The whole yard was like this!

Like a Yard Chandelier!

The playground in the back yard had the best icicles!

Round 2: The Snow...

View from the back window of my house.

Micah's Poor Swing!

Can I swing on that?

Who's that peeking through the trees?

Round 3: The Fun!

The boys loved sledding, especially Micah!

Josiah is going to push Daddy down the hill.

Micah wanted the fun to never end!

The sledding hill was fun and fast, but the walk back up was tough!

Round 4: The Carnage...

This shows the trees hanging ominously close to the power lines in my yard.

The branch on my house broke right outside the boys window. They were scared to death that night!

Looks so sad, doesn't it?

The beloved old chestnut tree in the back yard

The bowl swing... we believe it can be repaired before Spring!

We're having a boy!

Yep, we are going to have 3 crazy, energetic, dirty, precious little boys. We found out two weeks ago that it may be a boy, and it was confirmed Tuesday that it is definately a boy. We are thinking about the name Samuel, but we don't have middle name picked out yet. Possibly Samuel James. We will have a prophet, priest, and king name. Micah, Samuel, and Josiah. He he! We used to joke about doing this with our kids names, but we never imagined having 3 boys, especially so close together! It was really funny how we found out. I had a doctor appointment with my regular OB doctor and he does a routine ultrasound everytime I go. I asked him not to tell me if he could tell the sex of the baby because Kyle was not with me this time because he was watching the boys. I then asked him if he could tell me if he could tell if it was a boy or girl, but not tell me. He laughed so hard and said with his Arab accent, "Oh, you cheating." He told me right away that he could tell. Well, if you know anything about me, I'm awful at surprises. Kyle has to work really hard at surprising me. So I call Kyle and ask him if he wants me to find out. We decided we wanted to wait until the next appointment when he's with me. Twenty minutes later, I called him and ask him if he wants to know because it's driving me crazy. He said he did want to know so I called and they told me , "BOY!" I smiled the whole way home and when I told Kyle and the kids at home, they were very happy. Kyle did say, "Wow". Our home is already very loud and crazy sometimes, so we're picturing that multiplied. It will be lots of fun. Kyle will have to do a lot of wrestling with the 3 boys. I am still getting good reports about the blood issue and the antibody levels are staying at 1:4, which is really good. Praise the Lord! The ultrasounds are from the 17th week of pregnancy. Our specialist OB does 3D ultrasounds (at the top) and Samuel looks like he's going to be a thinker, like his daddy, with his hand on his chin. We laughed so hard!

Good Dr. Report!

14 weeks

We had a good Dr. report on the Big E pregnancy issue. My antibody level dropped from 1:8 to 1:4. This is great for now because 1:16 is a danger and we got further from that number. We are praising the Lord! The boys are so excited about having a baby brother or sister. Micah thinks everyone in the family is having a baby. He points to each of our tummies and says, "mommy's baby, daddy's baby, bubby's baby" He points to his tummy and says "baby". Josiah is very excited about having a new baby in the house. He just wants to hold him/her. He changes his mind daily between rather he wants a boy or girl. So cute!

Big E Pregnancy

12 Weeks

Hi friends and family. I know it's been a while. I have just gotten over the 1st trimester nausea. I've had it for about 6 weeks and feeling much better. I want to let you know that everything is going well with the pregnancy. But, we would like to ask for your prayers for one aspect of it. I found out at around 7 weeks pregnant that I have something called the Big E antibody in my blood which makes my pregnancy considered "at-risk". I'll try to explain what this is, and why we are dealing with it. It did not effect the pregnancy with Josiah or Micah, but that's typical with the antibody. Basically, Kyle and I have different blood types. You have antigens on your blood, like Rh, e, c, etc. I have little e and Kyle has big E. Micah got Kyle's blood, Big E, and during my pregnancy or delivery with Micah our blood mixed. My body saw the Big E antigen as foreign and produced the Big E antibody on my blood to fight it. So... If this baby has my blood, the baby is not at risk, that's what we're praying for. But, if this baby has Kyle's blood, my body will fight the baby's blood and give the baby water instead of blood. I know it sounds awful, but my specialist can give the baby great prenatal care if this is the case. I'm getting blood tests every month that tests how much of the antibody is in my blood. They measure it in a ratio and they call it a titer level. My titer levels are at 1:8 right now. If the levels get to 1:16- 1:32 he starts monitoring me even closer and can do a blood transfusion on the baby in the womb. We are really trusting the Lord with all of this and know that His plan is what's best for us and the baby. We are praying also that He'd delight to protect the baby's health and he/she would be healthy. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts.

We got a great ultrasound yesterday. I thought I was 11 weeks, but the baby measured 11 weeks 6 days, yea!

We will be a family of 5!

We are very excited to tell you that we are having our third child! We found out right before thanksgiving that we were expecting. I took a test early in the morning and when I told Kyle, he had to sit down and he said, "Wow". He had the most shocked face. Then he was really excited and had a huge smile on his face. We are really excited about this new adventure. It's crazy that we'll have 3 kids 3 and under for a few months when the baby is born. The due date is July 24, 2009. We should find out if it's a boy or girl around February or March. We'll keep you updated! Thanks for your prayers!

Josiah's 3rd Birthday

Josiah is now 3 years old and he had a great birthday! His birthday was October 17th and he had a party at a place called Jungle Jump. The kids from church came and jumped on big inflatables and had cake and ice cream. The kids were so fun to watch and we got some really neat pictures. He had a jungle themed cake. He loved this
since he's been watching Lion King lately, his personal favorite at the moment. Nonni and Pappa came for the weekend with their dog, Harley. Josiah thinks that Harley is actually his dog, Nonni and Papa just take care of it. They gave him an easel with paints and some other really cool gifts. He's turning into a real artist. He can now draw a complete circle with the ends connected. He calls it a rock when he does this. KK came last month to visit and we had a great time with her. She and Pappy gave Josiah his own camera, to be a photographer with mommy, and a Bible that he brings to church. We really look forward to seeing Pappy in December for Christmas. Thanks everyone for making Josiah's birthday special!

The whole party gang. Isaiah, MaKenzie, Victoria, Micah, Caleb, Gracie, Grahm(in the back), and Josiah.

The Claunch family

Yummy! Birthday cake.

Our family in the bouncer.

Papa, Nonni, Josiah, and Micah

Nonni and Micah

Josiah blowing out his candles, with a little help from his buddy, Gracie. He spit ALL over the cake.

Jo was so excited about his jungle cake.

Ashley and Josiah going down the slide. This one's funny because we're laughing so hard and I'm accidentally smashing his face.

Kyle being a monkey.

Micah and Ashley jumping together. You can't see his face that well, but he is cracking up laughing.

Tim being funny with the little kids.

MaKenzie and Gracie slidding.

Josiah having a blast! Wee!

Kyle and Micah having fun.

KK and thee boys at the park during her visit.

KK and Micah laughing.

KK took this one

Josiah opening his Bible from KK and Pappy

Jo and his KK birthday cake

Some Summer Photos

Above, are a few summer photos from the month of June. I will add photos to this slideshow and let you know what we did this summer. We had a lot of fun!