20081215

The long cold weekend!

A storm unlike any other we have ever experienced hit our area Thursday night. We went to bed listening to heavy rain hitting the roof and woke up in the early hours of the morning Friday listening to the cracking of trees falling over. The temperatures were just right so that rain fell but everything it touched was soon coated in ice.

With no power we pulled out our emergency radio to find out if school was canceled. The children were really excited to learn that they got to stay home. That excitement was soon lost when they realized exactly what it meant to not have power. Natalie went from room to room testing all the lights and informing me that they didn't work. She even went downstairs to see if the Christmas tree lights worked. So we took a few minutes to explain to the children what it meant to not have electricity. No TV, no computer, no fridge, no freezer, and no heat!

Not being able to watch the news and get a report of how bad the damage was we were expecting the power to be on within a few hours. When we learned that it wouldn't be a few hours but would be a few days we were a little concerned. It was cold in our house and the temperatures outside would be dropping into the teens that night. Because we have a gas hot water heater and a gas stove we still had hot water and were able to cook on the stove. We drank lots of hot chocolate, dressed in layers, and used up all our blankets when we went to bed Friday night.

The kids were troopers and although they didn't like being cold they sure did enjoy using flashlights. I wish I had a picture of the kids sitting on the living room floor wrapped in blankets and playing a rousing game of Go Fish. Trevor had the job of holding the flashlight so the other kids could see their game.

We were very fortunate to be one of the early places to get power back on. After two really long and really cold days our power came back on Saturday night. It was so nice to be warm again.

Since our Church building and lots of our ward members were still without power church was canceled yesterday. It was another day at home but at least our home was warm once again! Some friends of ours came over and spent the day with us so they could shower and bath their children, do some laundry, and enjoy electricity. It was a bit crazy with 10 children but we did manage to have a 5 minute primary lesson after lunch and before nap time.

Today was another no school day for the children and tomorrow they will be home as well. So many people still without power and so much clean up still to be done.

2 comments:

Nadia said...

From what you said things look really scary over there. I am so glad you are okay and electricity is back. The kids are the best in these times, aren't they?!
Jeremy's got a job where he calls people in your ares doing surveys. Everyone was way too busy keeping themselves worm and no one wanted to talk to him today.

The Jones Family said...

Wow! What a great teaching moment to be prepared for unexpected situations! Sounds like you guys made the best of it! A big sleep over!