weekend storms

For those of you who haven't heard, our area was hit with a huge, unexpected storm on Friday evening.  The results have been devastating damage to numerous homes throughout the region and massive power outages.

Friday evening, I was supposed to run a 5k with several ladies from church. The race was scheduled to begin at 7:45, but was interrupted by a storm that came around 7:15. Because I was a runner in the race I was taken to a building with no windows which prevented me from seeing the storm take place. My husband however was able to watch the storm and the craziness of it. A window from the hotel where he took shelter was broken and pieces of glass were flying everywhere. My mother was out to dinner with my mother-in-law and a tree branch flew into the window of the dining room shattering it and causing them to have to move into the bar of the restaurant to finish their dinner. A neighbor called my mom and told her that a tree had fallen in her yard--what an understatement!

This wasn't just a tree--it was a 100+ year old black walnut tree that has been in the yard basically since this house was built! It was here when my dad and his brothers were growing up and it has been here since my parents bought the home almost 20 years ago! Thankfully the damage was only to the porch and not the actual house. And despite the fallen uprooted, enormous tree on the porch and in the yard, she still has electricity--which is more than you can say for half of the town (including us)!

So our weekend was spent trying to beat the 100* heat without electricity. We are grateful to my mom for allowing us (and some other friends) to stay with her and our friends in Charleston who had power allowed us to spend Saturday afternoon with them playing games and making a DIY slip-n-slide :) It has been nothing short of an exciting weekend.

Please pray for those in our area who had worse damage done to their homes and those of us still without power--especially those with no cool place to stay. They are saying it will be Friday before all of the power is restored. We are hoping it will be sooner.