The last week of August, 2011 proved to be a very full and trying week. I was a very busy mother of 3, trying to prep the 2 oldest children to start school the following week when they news stations started to buzz about a hurricane named Irene churning in the ocean and tracking as though it was headed up the east coast. I tried not to freak and continued on with my day to day activities, but all the while, keeping within ear shot of the radio and news to see or hear where this monsterous storm was headed. Everyday, the path and intensity of Irene seemed to change. Such is the life of a hurricane. Finally, as the week started to come to a close, so did the projected path of Irene. She was a-comin! Slowly, but surely, people in our area started to "prepare for the worst, hope for the best". Rumors of mandatory evacuation orders started and slowly turned into facts. People were leaving.
Do we leave? Philip had not been granted permission to leave the area and the military had not declared that we evacuate. Ok...so do the kids and I leave minus Philip? What?! Leave my spouse? Alone? What? Stay and ride this out? With my children? The more we thought, the closer the storm got.
We, ultimately, decided we would stay. As a family unit. Ride out the storm.
Thankfully, we had headed the council of our church leaders and had enough food and water, emergency supplies and gear to get us through whatever Irene was going to send our way. We were prepared to be without power for several weeks and without fresh food for who-knew how long. We spent a lot of time with the children, talking to them about what hurricanes were and how we needed to prepare for them. Having them help me fill zip lock baggies with water to fill in gaps in the freezer, or fill the tubs with bins of water for emergency purposes, talking about the importance of ALWAYS being prepared was a wonderful experience. Wonderful? Yes, really. Working and preparing for what was expected to be a very impressive storm brought peace to my heart. This was a teaching opportunity like none other. We found many opportunities to stop and pray with our children as we watched the news and learned of the developments of the storm. We talked about gospel principals like faith and obedience and how they related to us and the storm. Ect.
As we watched the storm come within 12 hours of our area, things got pretty hairy. I started to 2nd guess our decision to stay. Homes to the south of us were completely destroyed. GONE. Was this our fate? Were we next?
Still trying to keep our composure, we prepared the kids for a "family slumber party". The storm was projected to hit our area in the middle of the night. My worst fear!! We made a plan to cover the girls room window with a mattress and all of us sleeping (or lack there of) together. The kids thought it was a great idea and spent most of the evening prepping sleeping areas for everyone, even Layla, our boxer. It was a good way to keep the kids occupied!!!
To make a long, 2 day story short....Irene ended up passing over us as a category 2 storm. Her projected path and strength changed dramatically as she came up the coast. What a blessing. Call it mother nature, if you'd like. I'd like to call it a merciful Heavenly Father.
Here is a sample of how we spent our 2 days prepping for and riding out Irene.
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