The tree that made me nervous.
"The bigger they are, the harder they
fall."
Hurricane Irene posed a bigger threat than she actually delivered to our neck of the woods. (My husband thinks the government hypes it so that we will become more dependent on them. Obama, did you notice, was making sure we knew he'd do a better job with FEMA than Bush did. But I won't wax political; just sayin'.)
Mind you, Irene was not a just a sneeze either. She took out power to much of our state, and some people still don't have power. We lost it for about 15 hours in our neighborhood, but there were still a lot of major traffic intersections that aren't working yesterday, so they are treated as 4-way stops. I am proud of my fellow drivers for how we all looked out for one another (or ourselves), politely and carefully.
Many Maryland schools which were supposed to open Monday are still closed. That includes my daughter's school where she was to start student teaching this week. She's fine with the delayed opening because, once she starts, they're not allowed to take off for anything except death.
Before Irene hit, I did most of the prep work in the family because I was the most concerned Not hyperventilating, but wishing the rest of the family felt equally concerned so as to help me. (Yes, you detect a whining Martha here.) My son Steve helped me secure our outdoor furniture. He also corraled three little flashlights. I brought my beloved potted plants indoors and left the rest outside that I was either not afraid to lose or were too heavy to blow in 50 mph wind . (Actually it was an experiment on my part. "Will it stay or will it blow?" Report at 11.)
I bottled water for drinking but didn't fill the tub. Had I really believed we'd not be able to get showers for days, I would've taken the extra step. I also packed all the snack food from the pantry into grocery bags and had them ready to carry to the basement. I also packed candles with matches with the food bags.
I put tennis shoes into a bag for a couple of us in case we had to escape through the walk-out basement. Had I really believed that would be our only escape route, I would have packed sturdy waterproof shoes for everyone.
As of Saturday 10:30, right after my hubby and son had been there for music practice, the pastors decided to cancel Sunday church. At least the practice is a worship experience; it's not like it was waste of time. Had I really believed this was going to be The Big One, I would have asked them to stay home. Knowing them, they would have gone anyway.
Saturday afternoon into evening we got a lot of rain. The winds starting really picking up around 10 pm , so hard that I feared our 100-foot-tall, 2-foot wide, dead maple would crack and topple onto the house. After all, the ground was also saturated and the earthquake a week prior had surely shaken the roots, no?
I was absolutely convinced we'd have a power outage, at the very least. By God's providence, I happened to check the bottom drawer of the fridge where I had put some thick steaks and forgot about!! Horrors!! But they were still fine, so I quickly cooked all of them in the oven. If nothing else, we could eat cold roast beast by candlelight for three days.
By 11:00 pm my hubby was concerned enough about the wind and trees to consent to having us bring twin mattresses to the basement. Snack bags and bottled water, too. Dee exclaimed, "Woo-HOO! A family sleepover!' Ironically, Paul did not bodily go down there; he kept watch in front of the TV on the main level while alternating between guitar and Sudoku playing . If he "frets," it's on the guitar. Teehee. But he was not really fretting or he would have taken his guitar and the dog downstairs. (Reilly is not allowed on the basement carpet since he treated it like a Spot-a-Pot upon his arrival to our home.)
Tornadoes were being spotted within two hours of us. Sarah, Joel, and I went bodily down to the basement. (I grew up in Kansas and lived through tornadoes. I don't mess around.) Had I really believed a tornado would rip through our immediate area, I would have dragged everyone by the ankles down the steps. I decided to leave their whereabout in God's hands. They're adults, after all, and get annoyed with my control freakishness.
At midnight the winds had subsided, and the mattress got hauled to the family room for Paul . But the wind picked up into gusts at 12;30 and I was nervous. Really nervous. Okay, I was scared and anxious. Near tears. Begged the older kids to at least move to the front of the upstairs to sleep, away from the woods. Nope, they declared themselves "fine." Their peace was annoying to me, until I realized, "Their faith is bigger than yours, Zo! You raised them to trust God, and now they do, in this very real storm. What about you? Go to bed and pray, woman!"
So I did. I lay down, alone, in my bed. Texted my sisters of my worry, asked them to pray, and closed my eyes. The Lord showed me I was being like Peter in the boat, saying "Do you not care that we are perishing?" You would have thought we had 200 mph winds and a tsunami at our door the way I was shaking inside. Finally, I surrended. "Okay, Lord, I choose to trust You. You love us more than we love ourselves, and that's a heck of a lot." (Yes, I say "heck" to God in private prayer.) "You won't let anything happen to us that You won't hold us through . If we die, we're all meeting You face-to-face. If we don't, we'll suffer in Your hands, but at least we won't suffer out of Your hands. Please calm the storm outside and the one inside of me and let me sleep."
Just like that, like a whisper, I was asleep.
Next day, very little damage. A few branches down, and seven inches of rainwater in the bucket. No power. But that was okay. There was daylight, and we had snack food. We kept the fridge shut to preserve food. Five people took hot showers. By 5pm I wondered about the fridge food and I also needed a shower, so I took one and then drove to Steve's girlfriend's house. He was helping them clean up fallen limbs. They did not lose power. And they graciously offered us their generator. So praise the Lord, when we brought it home and plugged in the fridge, we discovered eveything was still semi-frozen. No food lost whatsoever, and our water was still hot so Joel and I got hot showers.
Our power came back on at 7:30 . Cheers!!! High fives!!! Light all around. No more toileting by candlelight, although it was a nice ambience while it lasted. The power came on while Ben was out getting more gas for the generator. Meanwhile I heated up cold steak, boxed mashed potatoes and garden green beans. Even popped open a bottle of wine to celebrate power (both natural and supernatural!) . I prayed a prayer of thanks, half choked up, for God's protection and peace (even though my peace swayed like the trees at times) and that this hurricane provided a semi-boot camp for how to prepare for the next one.
Mind you, Irene was not a just a sneeze either. She took out power to much of our state, and some people still don't have power. We lost it for about 15 hours in our neighborhood, but there were still a lot of major traffic intersections that aren't working yesterday, so they are treated as 4-way stops. I am proud of my fellow drivers for how we all looked out for one another (or ourselves), politely and carefully.
Many Maryland schools which were supposed to open Monday are still closed. That includes my daughter's school where she was to start student teaching this week. She's fine with the delayed opening because, once she starts, they're not allowed to take off for anything except death.
Before Irene hit, I did most of the prep work in the family because I was the most concerned Not hyperventilating, but wishing the rest of the family felt equally concerned so as to help me. (Yes, you detect a whining Martha here.) My son Steve helped me secure our outdoor furniture. He also corraled three little flashlights. I brought my beloved potted plants indoors and left the rest outside that I was either not afraid to lose or were too heavy to blow in 50 mph wind . (Actually it was an experiment on my part. "Will it stay or will it blow?" Report at 11.)
I bottled water for drinking but didn't fill the tub. Had I really believed we'd not be able to get showers for days, I would've taken the extra step. I also packed all the snack food from the pantry into grocery bags and had them ready to carry to the basement. I also packed candles with matches with the food bags.
I put tennis shoes into a bag for a couple of us in case we had to escape through the walk-out basement. Had I really believed that would be our only escape route, I would have packed sturdy waterproof shoes for everyone.
As of Saturday 10:30, right after my hubby and son had been there for music practice, the pastors decided to cancel Sunday church. At least the practice is a worship experience; it's not like it was waste of time. Had I really believed this was going to be The Big One, I would have asked them to stay home. Knowing them, they would have gone anyway.
Saturday afternoon into evening we got a lot of rain. The winds starting really picking up around 10 pm , so hard that I feared our 100-foot-tall, 2-foot wide, dead maple would crack and topple onto the house. After all, the ground was also saturated and the earthquake a week prior had surely shaken the roots, no?
I was absolutely convinced we'd have a power outage, at the very least. By God's providence, I happened to check the bottom drawer of the fridge where I had put some thick steaks and forgot about!! Horrors!! But they were still fine, so I quickly cooked all of them in the oven. If nothing else, we could eat cold roast beast by candlelight for three days.
By 11:00 pm my hubby was concerned enough about the wind and trees to consent to having us bring twin mattresses to the basement. Snack bags and bottled water, too. Dee exclaimed, "Woo-HOO! A family sleepover!' Ironically, Paul did not bodily go down there; he kept watch in front of the TV on the main level while alternating between guitar and Sudoku playing . If he "frets," it's on the guitar. Teehee. But he was not really fretting or he would have taken his guitar and the dog downstairs. (Reilly is not allowed on the basement carpet since he treated it like a Spot-a-Pot upon his arrival to our home.)
Tornadoes were being spotted within two hours of us. Sarah, Joel, and I went bodily down to the basement. (I grew up in Kansas and lived through tornadoes. I don't mess around.) Had I really believed a tornado would rip through our immediate area, I would have dragged everyone by the ankles down the steps. I decided to leave their whereabout in God's hands. They're adults, after all, and get annoyed with my control freakishness.
At midnight the winds had subsided, and the mattress got hauled to the family room for Paul . But the wind picked up into gusts at 12;30 and I was nervous. Really nervous. Okay, I was scared and anxious. Near tears. Begged the older kids to at least move to the front of the upstairs to sleep, away from the woods. Nope, they declared themselves "fine." Their peace was annoying to me, until I realized, "Their faith is bigger than yours, Zo! You raised them to trust God, and now they do, in this very real storm. What about you? Go to bed and pray, woman!"
So I did. I lay down, alone, in my bed. Texted my sisters of my worry, asked them to pray, and closed my eyes. The Lord showed me I was being like Peter in the boat, saying "Do you not care that we are perishing?" You would have thought we had 200 mph winds and a tsunami at our door the way I was shaking inside. Finally, I surrended. "Okay, Lord, I choose to trust You. You love us more than we love ourselves, and that's a heck of a lot." (Yes, I say "heck" to God in private prayer.) "You won't let anything happen to us that You won't hold us through . If we die, we're all meeting You face-to-face. If we don't, we'll suffer in Your hands, but at least we won't suffer out of Your hands. Please calm the storm outside and the one inside of me and let me sleep."
Just like that, like a whisper, I was asleep.
Next day, very little damage. A few branches down, and seven inches of rainwater in the bucket. No power. But that was okay. There was daylight, and we had snack food. We kept the fridge shut to preserve food. Five people took hot showers. By 5pm I wondered about the fridge food and I also needed a shower, so I took one and then drove to Steve's girlfriend's house. He was helping them clean up fallen limbs. They did not lose power. And they graciously offered us their generator. So praise the Lord, when we brought it home and plugged in the fridge, we discovered eveything was still semi-frozen. No food lost whatsoever, and our water was still hot so Joel and I got hot showers.
Our power came back on at 7:30 . Cheers!!! High fives!!! Light all around. No more toileting by candlelight, although it was a nice ambience while it lasted. The power came on while Ben was out getting more gas for the generator. Meanwhile I heated up cold steak, boxed mashed potatoes and garden green beans. Even popped open a bottle of wine to celebrate power (both natural and supernatural!) . I prayed a prayer of thanks, half choked up, for God's protection and peace (even though my peace swayed like the trees at times) and that this hurricane provided a semi-boot camp for how to prepare for the next one.
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1 comment:
Good news and good work! (ALL the work- including the trust, pray SLEEP part!) Praise God for His ways with our thinking and hearts! Yep! I get the "fretting" on the guitar thing! It seems to be a reasonable and healthy "outlet"... (My husband plays "unplugged"!!! (No electricity required! ;)
Yummy roast beef!
You go, Zo!!!
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