Ike's Headin' North

I stayed up until about 1:00am with my dad-in-law and at that point we still had electricity and things were calm and uneventful. At about 4:30 am I woke up and noticed the lights were off and the wind was blowing! It wasn't really too horrible though - not compared to what went on with Rita. It was interesting to hear the wind rip up one side of the house, over the roof, and down the other side! I was really impressed with my dad-in-law's house; if the window had been closed I may not have heard much of anything. He and my mom-in-law built this house with their bare hands some sixty years ago. It's amazing what it has withstood all these years.

The only damage we have seen is some limbs down. There's a tree in front of my dad-in-law's house that lost a limb. Every storm we have takes a little bit more of that tree! There are also some limbs or trees down on the other side of the bridge and down the road toward Aunt Sylvia's house. We also have a storm refugee: a little baby squirrel who doesn't even have his eyes open yet.

We haven't gotten a lot of rain, so the creek has not flooded - that's a blessing. The wind is still whipping around quite a bit and at times we get some pretty good gusts!

Hurricanes fascinate me; they annoy me and stress me out, but they fascinate me too. I think it's because they are such examples of raw nature - a testimony of the power of God. We were sitting outside earlier and a big gust of wind came and rolled that limb and then turned right around and rolled it back to where it was - wow!

We have certainly been blessed. My testimony of prayer and the promptings of the Spirit have been strengthened through this experience. Heavenly Father loves us, He's aware of us, and He hears and answers our prayers!