Superstorm Sandy

Superstorm Sandy they called it!  

I will start by saying I've never been more grateful to live where I am living.  We are close enough to the beach to visit, and far enough away to have avoided tremendous destruction and devastation that a hurricane can bring.

We have been praying and doing all we can to help those that truly experienced the worst of the storm.

  I remember Xavier praying for days before the storm that hurricane Sandy wouldn't hit us.   Unfortunately, despite many years of counsel from our prophets about food storage and emergency preparedness, we were not very prepared.  Tim got home from London the day before the storm hit.  We spent hours making sure everything in our backyard was brought into the garage or basement.  We stocked up on water and lots of non-perishable food items.  We made sure our gas fireplace was working.  I also made sure we were all bathed and all the laundry was clean before Sandy arrived.  We were going to be ready in time! I was SOOOOO grateful that Tim was home before the storm hit.  If he would have stayed in London even one more day I would have had to do it all on my own and Tim could have been stuck in London longer because the airports shut down right after the storm.  So, I count that as a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.

When the storm hit the Easton area it was rainy and windy beyond anything I have ever experienced.  The lights flickered on and off and then darkness.  We anticipated the power being out for a while.  Days.  Maybe longer.

We put the boys to bed as usual and didn't change our routine, but as the wind picked up we were afraid that our windows could possibly break from flying debris or wind.  We decided to take our extra mattress, set it in the middle of our living room and camp out.  The boys loved it!  We had our flashlights and candles ready.

Sleeping that night was almost impossible.  The noise of the rain and the strong winds made enough noise to disrupt our sleep.  All I could do was snuggle my loved ones and pray that nothing serious happened to us or those around us.

We woke up to a sky of gray, light rain drops falling still, and debris everywhere.   Surprisingly only one tree fell down in our neighborhood.  Being in the house without electricity and 2 highly active boys for 24 hours was long enough.  So we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the remains of Sandy.  Our walking trail had trees and sticks galore.  A boys dream.  But knowing why it was there was a little unsettling.

We took a drive to check on an older sister I visit teach.  Driving up this steep hill covered with trees it looked like a war zone.  Downed trees and power lines.  Fire trucks.  Police re-directing traffic.  Unbelievable.  All from ONE storm.

It's interesting, though when you take away all the electronics how much fun you can still have.  We played all sorts of games, we colored, we were silly.  The boys even used the mattress as a trampoline.  I felt like this pause of normal everyday life gave us time to realize what was really important and re-connect as a family.  We had some real quality time and some happy memories amongst the chaos.

I almost felt guilty for being so fortunate when all our radio reported was how much people lost in the storm.  Images were unavailable to us.   All we could do was imagine the stories the news reporters described on our little radio.

By about 5 pm the next day our power came on.  It was too good to be true, I thought.  They flickered for about 10 minutes and then our lights stabilized.  We were the lucky few.  My friend Karina was without power for a week.  I watched her son during the day while she was at work so he could be somewhere warm.  Some of Tim's co-workers were without power for weeks.  Mars allowed many spouses and children of employees to come to the office during the first week after the storm.  Spouses had a warm place to work and the kids had a warm place to stay during the days while they were waiting for power to be restored.  What a fabulous company to help during such extreme circumstances.

Gas was being rationed in New Jersey.  So lines were around the block in some areas of Pennsylvania where New Jersey residents were trying to get gas in our state.  It was such a sad time for so many.

Our stake organized relief efforts into Rockaway Beach and Long Island, which were some of the worst hit areas of New York.  Tim was able to help one of the weekends and was amazed at what he saw.  I am so grateful our church is so willing to act quickly to help those in need.

We continue to pray for those recovering and re-building.  It will be a long road for many.