The Power is Back On!

I've actually had a good reason the last few days for not adding anything to the blog - we've been without power! We had a normal Sunday morning and the kids and I went to Church (Jon got home a little bit before we left after working all night). It was sunny and warm and everything seemed completely normal.

The topic of Sacrament Meeting was being temporally & spiritually prepared. Then during the 3rd hour, the lights went out. I didn't think anything of it - other than it was windy outside. I gathered the kids and we went to the van. It was really windy and someone told us that a big branch had fallen on his truck and it had broken the windshield. It was only getting worse, so we headed home. Just a little way down the road, good size branches were hitting the van and we stopped at a stoplight and could feel it swaying. I was really nervous, but had to the brave one. Emily burst into tears. So, I said "I have to drive, Emily is upset, Lindsey - pray!" So, she did and the rest of the ride home wasn't as bad. It was still very scary and I was so happy to get home. We did have to take a detour because the road we normally turn on was completely blocked by a huge tree. It ended up being just a huge windstorm (with just a tiny bit of rain), compliments of Hurricane Ike.


Our house still had power when we got home and Jon had woken up and put dinner in the oven. Within 10 minutes of getting home though, the power went out. We were lucky in that the dinner had actually cooked long enough to be done. We ate and gave the kids a bath and then played games. There was a nice cool breeze as we were putting the kids to bed. Jack thanked Heavenly Father in his prayers that we could tell what time it was on daddy's watch. Then Jon went back to work.


Monday morning came with still no power. It was a perfect day - high of 70 degrees - and the kids had a really fun time playing at the park and sawing branches off trees. Monday night, we used the grill to cook some hamburger and once again, we gave the kids a bath, put them to bed to a nice breeze and then Jon went to work.


Tuesday morning came and at exactly 6:00 a.m. - the power came back on! Yeah! So, it ended up being about 38 hours without power. We lost some of our food, but we were so very blessed with running water, food to eat, and beautiful weather. The kids haven't had school yet this week (including tomorrow) because there are still a lot of people without power and some of the schools in the district don't have it yet either.


It has made us realize the things that we need to get a little bit more of - spare batteries, non-scented candles (the combination of summer melon & pumpkin spice was a little nauseating), some cash, and at least a 1/2 tank of gas in the cars at all times. We're very grateful for clean clothes, clean dishes and the food out of the garbage disposal tonight! There are still over 200,000 people in Ohio without power, so we feel so lucky.

This tree was in front of the apartment complex next door. I couldn't get Kate to lift her head up. (Jon noticed that at the bend was an old hose that someone put next to the tree when it was probably first planted, so it became the weak spot in the tree.)

On Monday night after dinner, Jon handed each kid a container of icecream from the freezer. By then it was basically soup, but the kids had a great time eating it.