Today is the day after my birthday. It's quiet. One child has left for work, the other has gone skiing  and my husband is catching up on lost sleep. I'm sitting at the computer catching up on Pinterest and Facebook when the doorbell rings. 

Who on earth would it be at my door at 8am on a Saturday?

No one is at the door but there is a package. It's a small but heavy package weighing about 5lbs I'd say. It's addressed to me. I can't think what I have ordered recently. Nothing comes to mind.

I quickly open it to see what it is.  As soon as I open it I laugh out loud. I most certainly didn't order this. I look to see who could have possibly sent it to me. I have my suspicions. There is no other name on the paper except for mine so I have to ask around.

A few months ago I shared some hilarious reviews with someone (who shall remain nameless). They thought it very funny and suggested it would make a good birthday gift for me. I laughed and thought nothing more of it.......until the package arrived at my door this very day.

Well played.

Gummy Bear Reviews (not for the faint of heart)

I come from a large family. I love all my brothers and sisters. We love to laugh...and we do a LOT of that.

My two youngest brothers have Down Syndrome. They have taught me a lot over the years. They are funny. They are loving. They are forgiving. They are stubborn. They are helpful. They are giving. They are helpful.

I remember injuring my foot once and having to get my sister to drive me to the ER. Our younger brother came for the drive. He didn't like to see me in pain. He didn't like the idea of me sitting alone at the hospital (which I had to do because my sister was needed elsewhere). He sat with me for those hours. He was always asking me if I was OK and he was willing to do whatever I asked of him. "Here Wendy. Lean on me."

I just watched a little video that made me cry and made me miss my little brothers even more.

Today I will think of all the wonderful things about my brothers and I will click for each one. It's going to be a wonderful day filled with lots of clicking. 

During the month of November Billionclicks.org has a great deal for you. When you order your Clicker Kit, enter in the code WENDY345 and you'll receive an extra clicker with wristband and sticker that you can use for a gift (HELLO....Christmas is coming), share with a neighbour, keep in the car or many other uses. Just remember the more you order the more you get.

To say the start to my year has been eventful is an understatement. 

It all began with a phone call just days before New Years Eve. The person on the other end was someone I had met once for just a few minutes during 2009. She was calling from Malaysia asking if she could stay with us for a few days and that she'd be arriving in Brisbane Jan 1st. The connection with 'Sue' is that she is the daughter of Mary (read about Mary here: Mary, Me and Thanksgiving). We had just sold our house and were making preparations to move back to Utah in just a matter of weeks. I was sick to my stomach about the idea of a stranger coming to stay in our house of bedlam but I said "Yes".

The short version is that Sue came and stayed for longer and it was a WONDERFUL experience. Sue was accepting our our chaos and cooked for us every night. It was a joy to have her in our home and is now a life long friend.

During Sue's visit Queensland was going through some severe flooding...(Battling the Brisbane Floods and Helping a Hoarder). 

Before our big move from Australia to USA, we decided to have a once in a lifetime family trip up north to show the children where I grew up and do enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. This wonderful trip turned into a nightmare when not one but TWO cyclones were predicted for North Queensland. Thankfully the first one, which was supposed to hit Townsville (where we were at the time) directly, moved further south and all we experienced was a little rain.

We decided to continue on our journey further north because although there was a bigger cyclone forming and heading towards Queensland, we had 'assurance' that it was heading south and we would be fine. We drove from Townsville to Cairns driving through all the little towns in between. We drove through Innisfail and pointed out all the banana plantations that had been wiped out five years earlier due to Cyclone Larry. The children remembered the bananas being $12/kg because of it. But here they were back up and running and full of beautiful bunches of bananas.

Monday evening it became evident that the cyclone that had been forming was now a real threat and was heading straight for us in Cairns and it had a name....Yasi. It was rated catagory 4 and was continuing to pick up speed.

With this in mind we called our airline to change our flights (we were staying in a cabin at a caravan park and had no landline phone access and no internet) from Saturday to Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning my husband drove out to the airport to take care of it. There were no more flights available for the Tuesday and we were booked on the first available flight on the Wednesday. 

Later in the day as my panic was increasing and there was mention of more flights being added, we took another trip out to the airport where I went in to work things out. I asked the girl about extra flights to which she replied there were none. I then asked her for reassurance that our flight for the next morning WOULD happen and without hesitation she assured me the flights would go as scheduled because TC Yasi would be 15 hours later. I then said "IF you were to get extra flights in at midnight you WOULD text me right? You WOULD let me know so we can leave right???" (said with a smile of course) She smiled and nodded. With this reassurance in mind I was comforted and we proceeded to do SOMETHING on this 'experience of a lifetime' and drove up to the beautiful Port Douglas.

Before heading back to our cabin at the caravan park, we stopped and bought some food to prepare for dinner that night. We also bought a couple of packets of chips and treats along with cereal and milk. We bought very little as we would be leaving the next morning and was no need to stock up.

We sat and watched TV and watched the cyclone warnings that would be shown regularly. We were not concerned because we knew we'd be gone before it arrived.

At around 8:30pm I received a text on my mobile phone telling me to call the airline about a cancellation of our flight the next day. As I read it I felt like life turned into slow motion. My breath caught in my throat and breathing became difficult. We had no landline phone to call from and our mobile phones were about to run out of credit. My husband called only to find that indeed our flight had been cancelled and we'd be booked on the first flight on Friday morning. IF we made it out alive.

I began to panic. I couldn't breathe properly. I couldn't think properly. My children wanted to know what was going on but I couldn't tell them. I handed my phone to my husband and left him to deal with it.

We had no land line phone to use and were about out of credit on our mobile phones so couldn't call the airline only to be put on hold for 45 minutes or more. There was no one at the caravan park office now. They had all gone home.  

It was close to this time we started getting a call from a friend of a friend (we had met each other many years ago) who lived in Cairns, telling us to go to her place. I'm not entirely sure of the timing of all these events of the evening because of the panic mode I was in. I think it was around 10pm that I got a phone call from my cousin J down in Brisbane telling me that airlines had put on extra flights and to get to the airport. I told the kids to throw their stuff in the car because we were going to the airport to catch a plane!!!!!

We ran around like madmen to get everything in the car. We drove to the airport but there were no more flights or the ones that were going were already full. So off to our friend's house to wait out the storm.

O and L were wonderful to welcome our family of strangers in.

The following day was spent watching the status of the cyclone on the internet, watching movies (although I put my foot down at my son's suggestion of 2012), sending and receiving messages on my phone from family and friends as well as talking to various members of my family on the phone.

By late afternoon I was scared. One of my brothers called me and shared his concern with me and that he'd be praying for us. I am a firm believer in prayer. I have seen it work in my life many times beyond what some would say is a coincidence or luck. This experience has taken me from a 'firm believer' to 'I have no doubt that there is a God and that praying works'.

Before the storm really got going and while the power was still on, my husband was asked to offer up a prayer asking that we would be safe. It was early evening. By now the winds had picked up and night was falling.

The power lasted till about 9:30 which was just enough time to see the end of a cricket match that was being played down south. We sat in the dark listening to the wind. Every now and again the battery operated radio was turned on so we could learn anything we could about the cyclone. At one point it was heading right for Cairns. This was not a good thing.

The winds blowing all around. We could hear sheet metal being thrown about yet it was pitch black outside and we couldn't see a thing. I don't know which was worse, the sound of the wind or the fact that we couldn't see anything.

During the afternoon...and into the evening....I had been receiving phone calls and text messages on my mobile phone. I had spoken to many of my family members and some dear friends who were also worried about us.

One brother wrote how he and his family had been praying for the angels to attend us.

A sister shared that they had been asked by my father to pray specifically for the house we were staying in. 

Another sister said I had better make it through alive or else.

When I was young, growing up in Townsville, I remember living through a cyclone one Christmas. Cyclone Althea was a big one and the aftermath was dreadful. I remember driving around with my family to see the damage. I was young and remember very little. We lived in a tiny little house at that time. My sister remembers the floor boards rippling as the wind blew.
  Earlier in the day while the power was still working, I looked online to see just how big Althea was. I learned that it was a catagory 4. Knowing that my family had survived this huge storm in a little house that should not have made it through (in fact a neighbour mentioned to mum at a later date, that the reason our street had been spared in that cyclone was because of the prayers being offered in that little house we lived in) then we also would be ok too.

I knew prayers were being offered up on our behalf. I knew friends who had never prayed before were praying for us now.

We continued to listen to the radio. At midnight we learned that the eye of the storm was just hitting land. We waited for the calm of the eye but it never came. The winds continued to blow around us.

Many of those in the house were fast asleep. The ceramic tiles were a popular spot for sleep that night as they were cool and we were all very hot and there would be no fans or open windows for relief from the heat.

Not long after midnight I too went to bed. I was surprised that I could sleep. Earlier in the day I was terrified and never dreamed that I would find sleep that evening.

I woke up through the night because of the heat. I'd have a drink of water then drift back off to sleep. Finally at around 5 I got out of bed and with some daylight I was able to see what was going on outside. Within an hour we were able to open the door and let the fresh air in. Though it was still windy it was obvious it was not damaging winds.

Earlier the day before it was arranged that I would send updates to my cousin who would in turn post the information on my facebook page so everyone could be made aware of how we were doing. The only phone calls I made were to my mother. One at 10pm to let her know we were still safe and then again at 6am to let her know were had made it through without incident and we had even slept.

Here are the miracles:

The cyclone was headed straight towards Cairns yet it turned south (which of course cyclones are known to do....change their direction). It hit between the two biggest cities in North Queensland. If there was to be lives lost (and Premier Bligh kept informing us "There will be lives lost") then it would be minimal compared to if it hit either Townsville or Cairns.

There were NO lives lost!!!!!!! This is a miracle!!!!!!!! There was one death reported due to using a generator indoors. This was so sad and will be contributed to the cyclone but it wasn't due to the winds or damage.

Though the power was out we still had network coverage for our mobile phones. It was right after I made the call to my mother to let her know all was well, that the coverage died.

While the winds were blowing all around us, there was not ONE branch that hit the roof. The 'carnage' that we woke to find in the backyard the following morning was LEAVES. Simply leaves. There was one or two grapefruits from the overhanging tree next door but that was it. While there were large trees uprooted around the corner, fences down all over the place, there had been no damage to the somewhat shoddy  awnings out the front and the back. In fact, they didn't even shake during the storm and nothing hit the house. No branches. No grapefruits. No nothing. This was a direct answer to prayers offered up for the safety of the house. Of this I have no doubt.

I recognize there will be those who read this who will roll their eyes and say it was simply good luck. I have read a news article saying that there is someone from the UN/ISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) who says it wasn't a miracle that no lives were lost but rather it was good planning. I say...I was there. I lived through it. The planning was incredible and I take my hat off to Anna Bligh. Planning could do nothing to move the cyclone south to a less populated area. Planning could not keep the phone network coverage up and running. Planning could not keep items from hitting or damaging the house we were in. Planning could not have stopped the winds from blowing apart...or even shaking the awnings just a little.

God lives. He is a God of miracles.

Today was our 'belated' Thanksgiving. We had waited till our daughter could make it home from uni. We spent the day cooking up a storm...of course. By the time 4:30pm came around I finally had time to sit down and talk to my 17yr old son Michael. It was while we were sitting in the front room that I noticed an elderly Asian lady walking up to the window to look in.

I go to the door and ask if I can help her. She tells me that she's waiting for a bus and wants to talk to me. She takes my arm and walks me towards the sidewalk.
I go with her because if she wants to start any trouble I know I can take her down because she's sooooo tiny. (Of course the thought didn't cross my mind until much later, that she could be a martial arts expert and could make mince meat of me in no time flat.)

She guides me to the front of the neighbour's house where she can sit on the fence and talk to me behind a tree but still keep an eye out for the bus.
The bus that she plans to take to an unknown destination so she can escape her awful family. She tells me they abuse her. She asks if she can sleep in my house for the night. RED FLAG!!

I told her all my children were home and I didn't have a spare bed. She said she would sleep on the floor. I realized way before this that she obviously had dementia and I couldn't let her on the bus for fear wherever her family was they'd be worried sick and wouldn't know where she was. So I told her I'd go ask my husband.

As I walked from behind the tree (she wanted to be behind the tree so her family couldn't see her) I saw another younger Asian lady standing on the other side of the road. I figured she was related so I went to talk to her.

She was the daughter and told me she had only just picked her mother up from somewhere else after she'd caught the bus. I told her that I would take 'Mary' (I knew her name because she kept introducing herself to me) into my house and wait for her husband to come talk to her in hopes she'd want to finally go home. I gave this woman my phone number and took Mary inside.

I had Mary help with peeling potatoes and cutting the ham in preparation for our meal....FULLY expecting the family to show up any minute.

It came time for dinner so we sat down to eat and Mary wouldn't join us. She said she wasn't hungry.

Halfway through the dinner she came to the table and said she was going home to get some clothes. I offered to walk with her (she lived two streets away) and I got a call from her husband as she was walking out the door. I told him she was on her way home to pick up some clothes. We thought that might be the end of it but about 30 mins later the door opens and in walks Mary with a grocery bag. She makes her way back to the couch and lays down for a rest.

After dinner she gets up to help clean up the dishes and I tell her to come sit with me because it was my husband's job to clean up. My 19year old daughter, Sarah comes and sits with us to chat. Mary keeps asking Sarah the same 4 questions over and OVER again. (Asking her age....if she had a boyfriend....how many children she teaches the piano to...how much she charges....if she likes teaching piano or going out to work...) Sarah keeps answering them and is very good about the whole thing.

At 9:30pm I made my way up to bed. Mary said "When you go sleep, I sleep. When you awake I get up". I knew Mary was tired and fully expected her to go to sleep right away.

My 12yr old son, Christian, was at a party and was being dropped off by a friend around 10. He comes up to the bedroom to ask if he could sleep over his friend's house and ran around getting his stuff together. I see him out the door...as quietly as I can...and head back up to bed.

I told the kids that when they go to bed that they should lock their doors tonight 'just in case'. Not fearing she'd harm us but surely wake us up.

Anyway... A few mins back in bed and I had this feeling I should go downstairs.

(Side note) About an hour before hand I got a phone call from the daughter asking if she could bring some food over for Mary because she left before dinner. I said we had plenty of food and had offered some to Mary but she kept saying she had eaten and wasn't hungry. And that right now she was asleep on the couch. The daughter offered to come get her. It was me who suggested she just stay the night and we'd see what we could do in the morning.

As I start going downstairs I see Mary, in her pj top over her clothing, making her way UPSTAIRS waving a broom.

Mary was agitated because she thought Michael was a robber and was upset with me because "You tell me you have one son, one daughter and now you tell me three son one daughter!!!". Mary said she couldn't stay here now and wanted to go home. That's all good.

So I call her family up (I had gotten the number earlier..just in case) and tell them that Mary wanted to come home now but wouldn't let me take her home. They would come get her.

Meanwhile I am bra-less (sorry if that's too much information..haha) and in a house dress I use that I am NEVER to be seen in public in.

Mary makes her way outside and I can't see the family for what seemed like ages. I tell her I'll walk with her but she's getting more and more agitated.Finally a car shows up and her son and daughter get out of the car.(it's only a matter of seconds rather than minutes but it's long enough.)

Well...Mary goes off her head and begins yelling in Chinese at her 'poisonous son'.
She takes off her shoe and goes to hit her daughter all the time and I have to stop her by getting in front of Mary and sometimes physically restraining her.

There is no way she's getting in the car with them so I tell them to go and I will take care of Mary.

Ohhhh the sadness in their eyes. The son was close to tears with not knowing what to do and with embarrassment that we were in the middle of this...and with gratitude. Of all the houses she came to she came to OURS. My heart is FULL for the opportunity I was given to do this.

Anyway.......

Now Mary says she can't stay at our place because of this and that. She will sleep in the street. She will 'wait for car and run in front of. I not afraid to die. I want to die tonight.'

I knew I couldn't keep her here and she wasn't going to go home so I called the hospital and asked what I can do. They transferred my call to a help line.The help line says they need to get some information first. I told them ok but they'd better HURRY.

While I'm on the phone Mary thinks I'm calling the police and now has something more to be paranoid about.

I step outside to be out of earshot. Sarah and Michael are doing a WONDERFUL job talking to Mary and trying to keep her put and trying to calm her down.

Michael comes out to me telling me that it's all good for now because he started washing the dishes and asked if he could get some help. She started helping.

Isn't he clever??!!!

The lady on the phone is now transferring me to the ambulance. I call Mary's family on the other phone and let them know I'm getting help for them and will let them know later where she'll be etc.

(Everytime Mary is about to walk out the door, Sarah and Michael are finding little things for her to help with....covering the pumpkin pie.....finding room in the fridge for the pumpkin pie...etc)

I am now on the phone to the ambulance. They get a little information and will be around 'as soon as they can'. Which to me means we're not top priority and could take a long time.

I wait out the front for the ambulance with my 14yr old son Aaron. I figure Sarah and Michael have it all under control.

The ambulance shows up in just a few minutes. Sarah has now been able to get Mary to sit down on the couch. The ambulance driver calls the family before coming into the house and tells them which hospital she'll be taking her to.
Mary doesn't want to go with them but finally says "Fine! I angry! I go home!! I don't want go home but I go!" Mary wants to walk home but the ambos eventually talk her into letting them drive her 'home'.

I don't know where Mary is right now but I'm sure should she ever be at her place and up and leaves again, the Lord will guide her back to mine.

The end.

Through this entire experience I had two songs running through my mind. Both are ones I LOVE to hear and love to sing. They are: "A poor wayfaring man of grief" and "Because I have been given much".