Do you know your flood risk?

This has been on a lot of people's minds since the news from Iowa. For those from my friends list in the USA: Just heard about a cool website on the radio, provided for free by the U.S. Government. Go to www.floodsmart.gov and enter your address, and it'll give you your flood risk an estimate of what flood insurance premiums will cost.

A Week in the Life of pegkerr, Volume IV

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

( Sunday )

Met Matt and Madeline Logelin today

I've mentioned Matt Logelin's blog (mattlogelin) a couple of times, the new father who lost his wife to a pulmonary embolism the day after their daughter was born. Matt and Liz were originally from this area, although they have been living in Los Angeles.

Matt recently came to town, partly to visit family, and partly for a family wedding. Since so many people have been following his blog locally (there was an article in the local paper) his wife's parents very graciously opened up their home for a get together so people could come to spend the day with Matt on his first Father's Day, including people who "met" Matt through the blog.

I went, and met Matt and his family. They were incredibly gracious, and were very warm about welcoming a bunch of people who were essentially strangers, but who have been touched by Matt and Madeline's story. I talked with Matt for quite awhile, telling him a little about what I've learned blogging about my own family life. "When you have a gift for writing, and you love your children," I told him, "what can happen is that people all over the world fall a little bit in love with your children, too. It can be incredibly supportive. But you will have to eventually figure out where your own boundaries are. And those boundaries gradually change, too, as your kids grow older."

"When you post about a problem you are having, since your reader have come to care about you and your kids, you may find yourself getting flooded with advice. I've had to learn when to say, "I'm not asking for advice; I'm just venting." I talked with Matt and Liz's parents, too, and felt extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with them.

Madeline is certainly a cutie, and it's evident that she and her daddy are in the middle of a very supportive family. I came away with very warm feelings, and I will continue to watch their family adventure as they map out this new life for themselves--very bittersweet, but definitely a good life, too.

( Some pictures from the gathering )