Well, we made it through. Praise the Lord! On Monday night of January 26, 2009, we had an ice storm so severe that the whole region here in Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, North Tennessee, and the Boot heel of Missouri was left devastated. We were declared in the State of Emergency. The whole city and surrounding areas lost power on Tues. We did not regain power from Tuesday at noon until Monday of the next week at noon. We have no alternative for heat. We lost so many limbs of trees, they were hitting the roof constantly all of Tuesday and Tuesday night. It sounded like a constant 4 of July without the celebration.
We spent the first night at home bundled up. Then we went across the street to stay with our elderly neighbors who have a gas log. Some of Paducah regained their power on Wednesday. The mail didn't run for two days. The banks stayed closed and the gas stations were unable to pump gas, so there was a gas shortage. We had many from Daniel's work come to check on us and bring us a generator. It was a small one and allowed us to run a few things like our freezer for a short time and charge phones. That was a huge blessing.
On Thursday day, we were able to go to Daniel's work all day and enjoy heat and electricity. That night, we moved to our friends' the Sandlins. They had heat, power, Internet, and phone. It was such a blessing to be warm. Everybody was such a good sport about bathroom lines, crowded tables, and lots of kids. Total there were 8 kids under 11 years old! We ended up staying there until the power came back on Monday.
In conclusion, we are so thankful to the Lord for so many things. It could have been so much worse. No one was hurt. When we were so cold, at the right time we found places to warm up and stay. When we were really desiring a hot meal, the Lord provided restaurants that were open. Even though the banks were closed, we had decided to set aside $60 in cash the week before, in case of emergency. When we were running low on cash, the Lord opened up the banks. We had enough gas to run the generator for several hours. Our cars were full of gas. What a blessing! We are so thankful for our house, heat, warmth, Internet, phone, and most of all, that God is always in control
Praise the Lord. Those pictures are amazing. So sad to see so many broken limbs. Send us a picture when you clean it up. I want to see the results. We are so thankful you are well. I assume the girls are back to school?
ReplyDeleteWow, scary. Sounds like it was a long week. Praise God for taking care of you guys.
ReplyDeleteRemember how we were joking about the possibility of the storm the day before! Ha. The Lord is in control, not us for sure.
Praise God!
ReplyDeleteSoo have your plans changed about the Arkansas camp? I remember you said, "if we have one more snow day before school ends, we probably won't be able to go" !
God will allow a way if He wants you to go though :)