A Birthday & a hurricane

Last week Keenan turned 11 on the 11th.

He's been counting down & looking forward to his birthday for months.

The Birthday Boy wasted no time in the morning unwrapping his gifts and trying some.

Here he is wrapped up in his new bathrobe, and sampling some goodies from Rebecca & Ted.

(His favorite "crisps" (chips) from the U.K..  Cheese & onion)

He said he felt "super celebrated" all day, & to wind up the day we let him pick a restaurant for dinner.

Leblon-Delicious as always.

Happy Birthday to this wonderful kiddo.  So thankful for his heart, humor, and generosity.

 Before & after all the celebrating, we kept an eye on the weather....
and the Hurricane headed right for N.C..
This one had everyone concerned, and trying to prepare.
Even in our area we had lines for gas, no bottled water available, generators/chainsaws/batteries flying off the shelves.
Because of how wet our summer has been, flooding was a huge concern.
Like most hurricanes, everyday brought a different forecast & track.
But all of them involved our area.
I've been told that at times I can be a bit of a control freak, and true to form-I wanted to make sure we were as prepared as possible.  But there is nothing like a huge, stalled hurricane to help you realize how little control you actually have.  And that realization can bring anxiety and nerves to a control freak.
Since we're on a well, I wanted to have plenty of extra water available for us if we lost power.
Tubs were filled, bags/bottles of water filled & frozen, and these were cleaned & filled as well:

 These were part of Ray's beer growler collection.
I kinda think he would be amused.
Then we waited, and watched the hurricane pound & soak our coast....
and stall....
and flood towns/communities....
and after four days the rain finally arrived on us.
And today, after almost a week of affecting every area of our state, Florence is finally moving along.
Leaving towns submerged, roads covered, & communities hurting.
But this morning we saw this over our heads:

Beautiful.

****if you want to get involved or make donations for hurricane relief (and much is needed), a wonderful organization is Samaritan's Purse.  I worked with them last spring after a tornado hit our town.  They have already sent crews to begin work, and can use volunteers or donations as well.