Back in Business

We are back - after 86 hours of no power, our electricity finally started working this afternoon. We were all very relieved! The heating went straight on - as did the washing machine (2 things I have really missed!) and Joshy was able to finally take off his coat indoors - I must admit - whilst I was desperately trying to focus on counting our blessings whilst the electricity was out - I had started to get a little worried, especially as both kiddies had developed colds and permanently had cold hands and faces.

Here are some pictures of our area and how hard it hit us::

Frozen berries in the garden

Our pretty bush was covered in ice and shortly after this photo was taken, was squashed by a tree branch which fell from the tree above. I had never realised before how scary it can be to have frozen branches, not able to take the weight of the ice, snap off from the trees around us. They created such a noise - you could get a general idea of where the noise was coming from, but were powerless to do anything other than wait for it to land and see if the house was still intact.

The first night without power - after a day of freezing rain - was the pits - the silence of the house was only broken by the snapping of trees and branches and hearing them crash down...not nice.

This photo was taken whilst Jay and I ventured out to try and track down some firewood. We were pretty amazed with the sites we saw throughout our town on that journey.

Trees bowing under the weight of the ice on their branches::

A good illustration as to why so many people were without power (I think it was up to 240,000 homes in Oklahoma at one point)

Icicles formed on most powerlines and weighed them down

The tree that crushed our bush!

So, whilst all of this was happening outside - we did all we could to stay inside, keep warm and amuse ourselves. Which involved lots of reading with Grandma, lots of playing, crafting aplenty and lots of family time.

We did manage to finish our home-made nativity - and we are overlooking the fact that Mary looks like a catfish or that Joseph has now gone AWOL....

and whilst all of the pictures are taken showing lots of light - this is perhaps more of an accurate image of our house from 4.30pm - 7.30am

The power seems to be a little on the dodgy side still and we lost power again for a few minutes this evening - I nearly cried! We are also bracing ourselve for more wintry weather which will hit us tomorrow - so we are just praying that it doesn't hit as hard as before.

I have been crafting alot over the past few days, with the aid of my trusty light::

Granted, its not the sexiest accessory in the world! but it has come in SOOOO handy over the past few days! I haven't any photos of the hand sewing I have been doing - weather and power permitting I am hoping to sew them up for Maddy's pre-school teachers as presents.

And now, I am going to bed and hoping and praying that we still have power and heat when I wake up...x

Comments

[Carrie]

Wow! What an ordeal you and your family went through! But the pictures that you took are gorgeous.

[Cindy]

Oh Dee,I had no idea. That looks awful. 86 hours with 2 little ones is forever! I'm glad your power is back and pray it will not go out again with the next storm!