From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

Actually, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) aren’t bad at all. Not that I’d ever have known this if it weren’t for Hurricane Ike.

They began handing out water, ice, and MREs pretty much right away after Ike blasted Baytown, and we got a case. We ended up not having to eat them all and now I’m finding they’re great meals to take to work instead of the frozen dinners I’d been carrying for the past several weeks. Today I had meatloaf and mashed potatoes, a cracker, a cookie, and two tootsie rolls. My boss had never actually seen one, so I showed her how you just add water to the heater packet and it heats your meal pouch for you in ten minutes or so. Very cool. A friend who is a Vietnam era vet says MREs have come a loooooooooooooooooooooong way since he ate them in the army. LOL!

I don’t plan on buying MREs as standard fare, of course, but I definitely plan to put these to good use. Thanks to Ike, I get to save money on lunches for the next few days, which I suppose is only fair considering how much the evacuation cost us. (Hey, you gotta be grateful for every positive thing!)

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

There’s no way I could share enough to catch you up on happenings in my life. As Bev Krueger (My SE at the Eclectic Homeschool Online and also my webmaster here) explained, we were under mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Ike, and I am VERY glad we left even if this evacuation was one of the most stressful times I’ve had in ages. There is NO way I’d want to have stayed in our house for this. I understand that all anyone really hears about is Galveston, but let me tell you; Baytown and the surrounding areas got SLAMMED. As one friend shared with me today, when she was headed back to her home it was like entering a war zone. On one bridge, they were driving over several feet of cane and driving by animals that had sought safety.

We stayed with my father (In the Boonies…actually Hemphill, TX) and when we returned we were continually amazed by what we saw. Some places were completely devastated, others were only somewhat hurt, and in several areas we saw trees scattered around like pick-up-sticks while none had fallen on the house or church or whatever they surrounded. Coming back to town would have been extremely painful if my oldest son hadn’t stayed in town and gone to check on our houses for us once it was safe to go back into town.

Ah, and to answer that question. Thomas, Sheree, and Connor stayed in town, yes, but they weren’t idiots. Thomas was responsible for maintaining the pumps at the church and they all stayed in the sanctuary. Being a concrete dome, it was as if they were in a bomb shelter; nothing was going to hurt them. Their biggest challenge was going without electricity, water, or gas in those first days. When gas was available, it was expensive, rationed, only available for cash payments, and required a HUGE wait in line. But, all things considered, they were fine.

Our house wasn’t. Thomas thought it was, but when we got home we found otherwise. We lost more roof, a lot more, and the water had so permeated that the mold was terrible. We actually spent two nights in it and by 9 PM the second night I was running such a high fever that I felt like I was freezing even though it was nearly 90 degrees outside.

God had already made preparations for us, though. That very first day, friends of ours told us they were working on getting a bedroom for us, that we had no business moving back into that house. So we’re here. We’ve got Internet, which means I’ll hopefully be more active online again. We’re eating better than we ever have, because our hostess is a PHENOMINAL cook. Jack is working with our host and my store is now open again, which means we’re working back in an upward direction.

The new house wasn’t touched. Seriously! For all that we lost trees and lost roof on the old house and everything else, we have the new house sitting there just as nice as you please, only hosting a bunch of leaves that blew in. I’m hoping that we’ll somehow manage to get it finished before too very very very long (How long have I been saying this? <WryGrin>) and be able to relieve our fabulous hosts of our obviously inconvenient presence.

Yes, life is still a challenge, but we have more reasons than ever to rejoice and praise God now. He is good!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Yep, I’m back, but more on me and mine in a bit. In this post I have to share about a horse I just met - well, virtually speaking.

Molly’s Story

Molly is a horse who survived hurricane Katrina and an attack that by all rights should have killed her. But she didn’t merely survive; she prospers, and she regularly encourages others who face the same disabilities and seeming lack of hope that she has. Molly rocks.

The prosthetic has given Molly a whole new life, Allison Barca DVM, Molly’s regular vet, reports, and she asks for it! She will put her little limb out, and come to you and let you know that she wants you to put it on. Sometimes she wants you to take it off too. And sometimes Molly gets away from Barca. ‘It can be pretty bad when you can’t catch a three-legged horse,’ she laughs. Most important of all, Molly has a job now. Kay, the rescue farm owner, started taking Molly to shelters, hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers: anywhere she thought people needed hope.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

This is Bev Krueger. Tammy asked me to let the folks that regularly read her blog know that she is OK. She and Jack are staying with Tammy’s father until they get the all clear to go home. Their son has visited their home, and it looks like everything is in pretty good shape there. The city has asked that residents not return for two weeks if at all possible. They’re clearing roads, getting the electricity back on, and dealing with the drinking water issue. Of course Tammy would like to get back as soon as possible and probably will go back once she confirms they have power and they will have access to food, water, and gas.

She’s in the boondocks (her description), so she won’t be able to post here or respond by email for the forseeable future.

Bev Krueger

The Access’ first album, The Time Has Come is officially OUT and it totally ROCKS. (Cindy Rushton is rubbing off on me; I’m starting to type in caps. LOL!) My favorite song is definitely "This Generation;" it gives me chills every time I hear it.

We went to the release concert on Saturday night and had a great time listening to some of my favorite artists. (No surprise there, right?) You can order the album through The Access’ MySpace page, ask for it at Family Christian Bookstores and Lifeway Christian Stores, or (As of tomorrow) download it on iTunes. Word is it will eventually be available at Walmart and Sam Goody as well, but I don’t know how soon that will happen since the CD I got was the first of the first of the first (Mother has priority; gotta love that).

Two of their songs, "Pressing On" and "I Remember When," have also been released to radio, so it’s entirely possible that your local Christian station has them on hand if you want to call and make the request.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

PS: Yep, still offline. I’m actually beginning to get used to it….scarey.