Praise the Lord that we are living with my in laws! It turns out that Riley County is one of the hardest hit from this ice storm. Even though it will still be another week at least before we have power, I couldn't ask for a more blessed place to be! My mother & father in law have a gas fireplace in every bedroom, so we are staying very warm at night. There is a gas stove so we can eat warm food. They have plenty of candles and flashlights, and even a lantern, so we have a bit of light too! Only things we are going without is actual light, electricity and running water. But we have family and friends that have been more than welcoming to us, allowing us the usage of thier bathrooms and showers
.
If Josh and I were on our own right now, we would probably be sleeping at someone else's house....not only would we not have heat, we would be bored out of our minds!
I would put pictures up, but I don't have access to a computer with the ability to get pics off my camera yet. But I will as soon as I can.
Let me paint a mental picture for you:
The trees lining our driveway are so overburdened with ice they sag completely to the ground and when you drive under them it sounds like a million icey claws scraping the paint off the top of your car. Up and down the dirt road where we live almost all the large trees are either sagging to the ground or have already lost giant portions of upper limbs, and their parts are strewn about the side of the road. The evergreens are so depressed from all the snow and ice that their tops are drooping to the middle.
The really exciting part of this storm is hearing all the stories. People can be so inventive with their resources when they are forced to. Our children's pastor laughed out loud with joy as she recalled the other day as her and her mother brought out their cast iron skillet and warmed up leftover meat and potatoes right in their fireplace! Friends and neighbors have been coming together in very loving and supportive ways.
Lizzie has been doing so well with all this. She has been waking up more frequently at night, probably because she isn't used to the pitch blackness (I usually have a night light on) or the extreme silence (we sleep in the basement and usually there are the sounds of heaters and such). But I am so thankful that she is breastfed! She hasn't missed a meal and feeding her is extremely easy - no heating up a bottle for her. And I am also relieved that she sleeps with us. Now, when she wakes at night from this frightening experience, she rolls into me, nurses a bit and falls directly back asleep. I don't know what I would do if she woke up screaming and wouldn't stop.....how stressful....
Currently, I am at my brother in law's house greedily using his internet and washing my clothes. Darling Josh has been more than elated to bust out his chainsaw and clear people's yards and driveways. Him and his brother bought a log splitter for their tractor last night and when I called Josh to check on him, he sounded like a little girl who got to meet Hannah Montanna - "Oh honey! It's awesome! Worth every penny, you have
no idea!"
God bless you all! Please say a prayer for all those crews trying to get electricity back on. As soon as they get a line fixed, some ice on a tree shorts out another line down the row....its like 2 steps forward 1 step back....and they've been working so hard.
