Carnival -- My Favorite Things

My family does not live a simple life. We love our toys, gadgets and electronic devices. For instance, we had one laptop but since we could not both be on it at the same time, we bought another. A desktop pc just would not do after being afforded the luxury of a laptop for so long.

To go with the laptops we bought a microsoft gps system (much cheaper than the handhelds). The map is as big as your laptop screen rather than a 4 x 4 screen on the handheld ones. It talks to you, tells you where to turn and shows a map of the vehicle moving. We can now navigate our way through any city without getting lost and it automatically gives you the shortest destination from point a to point b. The only advantage I see to the handheld ones is that you can put them in your pocket while walking.

Of course, now that we have the laptop in the car and the gps system going all the time while driving (we have been travelling a lot) we had to buy a power inverter to plug the laptop into the lighter outlet in the car. We got this item on clearance at Kmart for $17.00.

We also use the other laptop in the car as a dvd player in the van. No sense buying an expensive portable dvd player when we can use a laptop. Again we just bought another power inverter to plug into the other lighter outlet so our children can watch the dvd of their choice. It was a dramatic tradgedy when the battery went dead in the middle of movie Ice Age. And the oscar for best performance in a drama goes toooooo..................................My oldest daughter, Monica, of course.

I love the E-Sword program on my laptop. There is no other Bible Study program better than this one, in my opinion of course, and best of all it's FREE.

Now that you know what our favorite things are I will get to the story. The week before July 4th my husband was away on business. I decided to go camping in a state park located approximately 30 miles away from home with the three girls. I love camping and it was a great experience. Problem. It rained every single day. My oldest daughter and I refused to give up and the two yr old had a blast in mud. By the end of the trip, I had learned how to build a completely leak proof compound out of tarps, some poles and rope. We went to a local laundermat to dry the bedding if it got damp. The river was up but the rangers were constantly checking on everyone and I knew they would tell me to leave if it got dangerous.

What I did not know. It was completely and dangerously flooded back home and there were evacuations in the area. Why did I not know? This family of gadgets, toys and electronic devices only had one cell phone and it is my husbands business phone. We were camping cluelessly and completely disconnected from the outer world.

Now I had asked for, gave hints that I wanted and even tried to guilt trip my husband into getting me a cellphone. I said things like, "Don't you think I should have a cellphone for safety when I'm out, alone with 3 children most of the time?"

I still didn't know what was going on, but on the way home with all the roadblocks and officers I did think there was an escaped convict on the loose. After several detoured routes, the kids and I got home safely. There was only one passable route to and from my house when I came home but they closed that later because it started raining and flooding more. We could not go anywhere for 1 1/2 days.

My husband was very glad to finally hear from us and know that we were okay. He had called the park office where we were camping and they didn't want to give him any information as to whether we were still there or not. After a few conversations of talking nicely, asking because he was concerned, yelling, screaming, cajoling, and coercing they finally told him that we were still there the morning we were supposed to leave.

We were completely blessed in that our house was dry but people 1 block away from us lost everything they owned. My neighbors basement was flooded. My father in law, one town over, lost everything in his basement including the furnace, hot water heater, washer, dryer and what seemed like endless boxes of memories. I personally have never seen such devastation in our area as this. I was very sad. Interested in seeing photo and news coverage of the area during the flood?

Skip three weeks later to my birthday. I get a purse that I wanted which eliminates the need for a diaper bag because it is big enough to put all the essentials in it. In the purse, lo and behold, my very own, brand new cell phone. Now my husband can go on his business trips without having to worry and I have yet another fun toy and favorite thing.