sherriknits

Ok, this has been hard.  Our daughter and her hubby still do not have power, right in the middle of town.  I drove through their neighborhood on the way home from work and it is just creepy, so dark.  The temperature is supposed to drop into the 20’s tonight.  Funny thing for daughter, though…her hubby says it gets *down* to 72 in the middle of the night in their house so they’re not hurting for heat.  They’ve really been doing well, but from our short experience, I know the candlelight and lanterns gets hard on the eyes.

Today hubby bought a generator.  We just don’t want to get caught like this again.  The daughter didn’t want to use it so he took it out to some friends’ house.  I was at work for the first time this week, but told him I wanted to go because I wanted to see how everyone out there was faring.  They live right out of town and are not expected to get power back for up to 10 days although it could be sooner.  The devastation out there was amazing.  What used to be kind of like a forest behind our church now has about half of the trees cut off at the halfway point.  Someone said it’s almost like a helicopter chopped them off.  We saw power company trucks working all along the way.

Unfortunately, my camera battery went dead so that’s it for pictures.

Our friends we took the generator to have to move out of their house.  That had water coming through their light fixtures and so much damage in their yard.  They had baskets and baskets of laundry because when the ceilings started leaking they started using all their towels and spare blankets to mop it up.  Their ceilings are sagging.  They have been able to borrow a washer and dryer so what I saw was not even all of it.  They put up a good front but I could tell they were nearing the end of being able to cope.  They have been cooking everything on their barbecue, including pancakes….in the rain!  So now at least they have some power as they figure out how to move out for awhile.  Been there, not fun.  (but they do get new ceilings, sheet rock, paint and who knows what else…trying to look at the end result)

I talked to a few friends today and saw another one.  Go see Dip Lady to hear about her experience.  I was so happy to see her face today!

One of my friends called and told me they lost many, many trees.  Many of them had very significant memories.  It took them 4 hours to cut their way out of their driveway.  She had no way to reach her elderly father because even if they could have gotten out, the roads were blocked.  So when she did get out, what did she do?  At the grocery store she met a little elderly man who was confused (it’s so weird, when you get to the store when it’s all so nuts..you can’t think what you need when your ability to cook is limited to a wood stove or barbecue or in his case, no way to cook).  She gave him some money to buy sandwiches and then, get this, got his name and address and went home and made him spaghetti (on her bbq!!!!) and took a hot meal and more groceries to him and his bedridden wife!  She had to navigate through a pitch dark building to the top floor.  I was so blessed to hear that while she was going through much herself, she did this.

I walked to the popcorn store today.  I thanked the owner for standing on the street and selling coffee on Tuesday.  She said she was the one who received the blessing.  We talked a bit about how wonderful it is to see people coming together and helping others while they have needs themselves.  We both ended up crying.

Last night, we went to buy a chain saw (thank God for Home Depot gift cards) but who would be in that aisle but our son’s girlfriend’s dad.  He told us not to buy one and he came here today and cut our tree apart.  It was dark when I got home so I couldn’t really see how bad the fence was…but I was so blessed at his kindness.  

We’re starting to hear from family where the flooding is.  Thankfully they are doing ok.  We were supposed to take the little imp to get fit for orthotics in that very area but that has been postponed.

I got a call from a cousin tonight who heard that we were cut off from everything when she was in Hawaii.  Someone asked her if she wasn’t from our community and she came home not knowing what was going on.  She thought the bluff had come down at the edge of town like it did once before.  We talked a few minutes before she realized it wasn’t that at all but wind.  She kept telling me she loved us all and is here for us, will do whatever she can to help.

So, yes, it’s hard….but it’s also been a huge blessing seeing people pull together.  I think the emotion I have been struggling with all day is just that reality is setting in.  I so desperately want to hear that power is restored. 

Thanks to all of you who care, it sure helps.  To keep it in perspective, I think about the Katrina, Rita, Sept. 11 and realize it could be much worse.  It seems the people I talk to  are mostly aware of their love for each other.  Isn’t it amazing what comes out of us?

And those who do things like stealing gas cans out of pickups (dear daughter and fiance went to Wal-mart this evening and forgot to put their gas into the truck and it was gone when they came out)….I just feel sorry for them. 

Count your blessings!

Tags: blessings

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