Blessings In Disguise...Hurricane Irene

I am sure that many of you are thinking that it might be hard to find blessings in the midst a hurricane. But I have had the joy of finding many. On Sunday, August 28 hurricane Irene made her presence known to us at 6:30am. And I only know because the luxary I have been afforded, of having a fan blowing on my face to sleep, was suddenly stripped from me. The sound of silence was unfamiliar to me. But I quickly realized what was so important and how truley I had been blessed. No trees on my house or my car. No water filling my basement (I don't have one). No waves crashing my house to pieces. And the reality that we are fortunate enough to know that there would be resolve for us. We live in a country where we have power. We have clean water. We have food...So yes, I say we are blessed.

71 Straight hours with no power...we are so blessed, we had food to eat and a grill to cook it on, coolers WITH ICE to keep food...we are blessed. No hot water for 3 days...we are blessed, we had running water to wash our hands, our dishes and our table to eat on. No hot water to shower...we are blessed, others went 7 days without and we had warm water in the tank for 2 1/2 days.

No tv or internet...we are blessed, we were given the time to spend with eachother with no distractions allowing for 9 hours (minus 2 hours for breaks) of credit card monopoly,and a reenactment of the Red Sox game with baseball player pieces from a chess game (Sox vs. Yanks at that).

It was nice to see how the kids were finally able to find a way to entertain themselves. Some things like entertaining yourself are easier for some rather than others. This one is quick to find something fun to do. She set up a tatoo shop and charged a quarter per image. Adam actually was asked by a coworker when he got his. Then his brother saw his ankle one and wanted to know where he got it. He liked it. Hopefully not a lifelong career choice for her though.

We had to cook the food that was in the frig and freezer so it would not go to waste. My mom got a kick out of the precut cookies that I insisted on trying to cook on the grill. The kids thought it was a treat. In the last hours before we got power back on Wednesday morning we were blessed with the wonderful sharing that our neighbor passed on to us. He had been offered the use of a generator and invited us to hook up a 50 foot extension cord to allow us to have a light, the game on radio and a strip of rechargable devices. The little things that make you happy.

Before I went to sleep at night I walked over to the window and took a moment to take in the quiet of the neighborhood. All was dark except the God-made silhouette of the trees against His sky that was slightly lit. It made me realize that even in the dark, He is Light. The quiet, gentle sight I had the pleasure of seeing before I went to sleep. (I was sure to make a point and reassure that it was out.)

In the day that followed we went to my FIL's house to survey the damages to his house. We found many reminders of our fortune along the way and some as we got there.

These eyes say it all...

Fortunate this tree did not fall on our house...(can't say the same for my FIL)

Fortunate these trees did not fall near us...

Fortunate to have family that was all fine...

The girls crushing stones.

The boys guarding the girls' shoes from them.

The next time you forget what the Lord provides for us, shut off the power...ALL OF IT. Thank you Lord, for all my blessings.

"See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the dessert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who see, will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear, will listen."

Isaiah 32:1-3