Hurricane Irene..I feel blessed & protected, I feel grateful

I've been meaning to do this for a while...sorry about that :)


Hurricane Irene hit us August 26-27, 2011.  We had decided to ride it out...it was only a category 1 & wasn't coming that close to us.  We knew it was a big storm & we were prepared with food, water (the tub was filled up...I would have filled every container we had if I knew what was going to happen), lots of batteries, flashlights & candles.  


We were pretty laid back about it all...I had after all, been through a hurricane before, more than once.  Saturday started out pretty calm, we ran to the store to stock up on some extras--just in case, we had already bought a good amount. It was raining like crazy by the time we were done, and the wind had started to pick up a little bit, but not much.  We hung out all day, watching the hurricane coverage, watching TV & playing games.


By the late afternoon it started to really pick up, I had a feeling that everyone should be in the basement & sent the kids down to watch a movie & Elias and I went down shortly after.  We lost power at about 7:30.  Elias and I went upstairs to look out the window & grab some snacks. The kids were downstairs setting up a card game...it was now about 8:00.  Elias and I walked downstairs we were talking to the kids & then we were all shocked by a huge noise and a tree falling right along the back of the house.  The kids didn't react at all at first...then they were really scared, Hailey more than the boys.  Elias & I went up to check the house & Elias turned off the circuit breaker.  From what we could tell (it was dark out) only the shed had been hit.


We moved mattresses into Hailey's room-the center most room in the basement & hunkered down for the longest night of my life.  Another tree fell somewhere shortly after & the kids were really scared now.  I am so thankful that Elias holds the power of the priesthood and was able to give us blessings of comfort & peace.  It was a touching moment to see the kids relax & become calm.  And I felt the nauseating fear subside (I was literally ready to throw up I was so worried)...I was still scared & I prayed more than I had ever prayed that night that we would be safe.  


I read the kids to sleep & then I tried to read myself to sleep...which didn't work.  Mom called around 11:00 or so, told us where the hurricane was (we weren't even close to done)..our radio stations had little information.  So I there Elias and I were, listening to trees fall around us...not knowing how close they were, Elias trying to eek any info out of the radio.  It was a LONG night.


We woke up to a disaster zone...I was a little worried to look out the window to tell the truth. Owen woke up, looked out the back door & exclaimed "All the trees fell!!"...mind you our house backs up to a wooded area. We were protected.  Three LARGE trees fell in the back yard. One fell from across the road to our house, narrowly missing the tree right in front of our house--it did shear off some branches, we were very lucky that it didn't cause a domino effect.  Our driveway was inescapable.  Power lines were on the ground in our front yard, the pole broken.  Our road was blocked.  Our neighbor lost about 10 trees in the woods around his house.  But in the midst of all the trees throughout our neighborhood only a few of the houses had damage...and were not damaged badly.  I think our shed got the worst.  The trees had fallen in between and around all the houses.  We were all blessed.


Then came the next phase.  The no power for DAYS phase...almost 6 days to be exact.  We were so thankful for our ward family who came to our rescue.  Moving trees to help us get the car out of the driveway, so Elias didn't miss any work.  Loaning us a generator so we had light & power for our fridge & freezer.  We by some miracle didn't loose much food. I had turned the deep freezer up to high (even the ice cream was still frozen almost 24 hours after loosing power) & filled the small freezer with water bottles to freeze, then moved milk & perishables into the freezer after we lost power.  We are so thankful for all those who helped us! It was a long six days of boiling water & bathing in not so warm water...but we made it through it just fine (it helped that the kids went back to school after 3 days)...and hauling water for the toilets (those I wish I could forget...one horrible thing about well water) :(


We made it through, and next time, we're leaving :)Here's some photos...


During the storm..Our House & Yard:(disregard the "early i the storm..." couldn't figure out how to edit to "in")

The neighborhood: