This morning started out so well.  Our whole family was up and out of bed early,  dressed and eating breakfast an hour before we needed to leave for church.

As I was upstairs fixing my hair, I heard thunder roll overhead.   I thought, this is an alternate definition of insanity: flattening my hair before going out in a thunderstorm. Little did I know!

I came downstairs, and Brian was checking the weather.  The rain was pelting the windows so hard it sounded like drums.  I tried to make a video of it washing up over the curb in front of our house, but mostly just succeeded in soaking my pants and the floor six feet into the house.   I never stepped out the door.  We couldn't see the storm drain in our driveway at all.   

So we decided to wait for the rain to die down, then make a run for it.  In the meantime, we played twister, strategized out trip to the car and enjoyed the show outside the windows!

When it finally calmed, we ran out the door, and our neighbor was on the porch.  I learned he plays the piano at his church, and couldn't get a ride.  We had plenty of time, so we drove him in the wrong direction to his church.  The trip was pretty amazing.  And scary.  Here are some pics I took with my camera phone, in between quizzing Brian on all the reasons we were NOT going to end up like all the cars we saw dead in the middle of the road.  My husband is quite intrepid!

This is St. Charles, the main historical street, about half a mile from where we live.

 

This is also On St. Charles.  We were driving on the neutral ground (the median) on top of the street car tracks.

 This is a four way intersection with sidewalks.  That car up on the left is dead in the water.  As we drove down the street, one of the several people we came across standing out in the water directing traffic around the deepest parts of the very potholed streets, yelled at us to slow down.  As we made wakes, water was being pushed into peoples cars and houses.

 

We were circling around the freeway, trying to find an open on-ramp.  That car was blocking the one we needed.

So finally, we got to church.  We ran in, because we were pretty sure they were going to be short staffed, and we were teaching the three and four year olds second hour.  A very relieved woman who was caring for ALL the under-fives by herself during the Sunday school classes quickly left the room, taking the smallest babies with her.  As things settled, Brian and I ended up with the two to five year olds.  TWELVE of them.  Chaos ensued.  

Oh, a hilarious moment during the Bible story time:  our church here brings the kids into the same room for the Bible story, then sends them back for snack and crafts and whatnot.  So during the story today, the teacher asked "what do we hear with our ears?"  The kids yelled "sounds!" and "music!" and one five year-old yelled "NOISE POLLUTION!"

After church, we experienced our first crawfish boil.  I'm not gonna lie; I found it a little bit alarming.  At one point, a gentleman I really like asked me if I sucked their heads.  Um.  I turned around and looked at him, and said, "I'm going to pretend you did not just say that."

There was face painting, balloon sword fighting, and a toddler rolling around in the mud (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of, but someone else did, so hopefully I'll be able to get it).

A very, very full day.  Followed by much needed naps.