We Have Power!

Whew! Sunday night we got hit by the big storms that crossed the midwest. We've been without power for a day and a half. But last night, as hubby and I drove home from church, we were overjoyed to see lights! As we drove over the hill, and looked at each dwelling heading toward home, we checked each one. Yes, the school had lights, the next neighbor's house had lights, the church had lights. Indeed, even we had lights.



I never realized how totally dependent on "power" that I am. I was really freaked out about the "no power" thing. I felt completely isolated from the rest of the world and worried about the house being too cold for my children and me. I worried about what to do with the stuff in the fridge and who was going to come and tarp the roof, so it wouldn't leak.



My children, to my dismay, had cold pop tarts and water for breakfast yesterday. Talk about some mom-guilt kicking in! Yep! It's true. I always hearken back to my childhood when I correctly (or incorrectly) remember my own mommy handling every situation with ease and perfection. I'm quite SURE we would not have had cold pop-tarts and water for breakfast growing up, even if the power had been out for a week!



It wasn't until the next morning after the storm hit, that we could see the damage that the storm had done to our house. Roofing was off. Our children's big wooden playset had been thrown across the yard and stood in a tangled heap. Our window screens were severed. Our gutters and soffets were damaged. And our siding had big gashes, holes, and even some of the neighbor's shingles embedded into it. I saw all this and was so thankful that we had been protected inside our little under-the-stairs closet. That's right, 2 grown ups, 3 children and a wiener dog inside the little closet under the stairs. It's not too comfy! But seeing the destruction that I had, I said extra prayers of thanksgiving. God is always protecting us, even when we don't know we need protected.