No Electricity

The winds from Hurricane Ike hit us severely on Sunday and knocked out our power (along with 279,000 other people in Louisville.) Our city declared a "state of emergency" and they told us it could be up to two weeks before electricity was restored. All the fast food restaurants were out of food... I hadn't gone grocery shopping in two weeks, (which is a huge praise! We didn't have to throw away much food) so we were hungry and looking for a meal. Can you imagine driving up to McDonald's and being told they were "out of food"?? We ended up having mac n' cheese by candlelight. Wal-mart ran out of batteries, candles, ice and coolers.

We were thankful that the weather cooled down so that we didn't suffer without A/C. We were also very thankful for our gas stove! Our neighbors upstairs have an electric stove, and were unable to even warm up leftovers. Peanut butter and jelly is fine for one or two nights, but it does have a tendency to get old.

We are also thankful for wonderful neighbors. On Sunday night all four couples from our quadruplex hung out outside on the porch visiting until late at night..what else were we supposed to do? no movies....no reading.... no internet....no phones... Last night we had a "get rid of what's melting in your freezer potluck" It was fun to get to know each other better, share food and fellowship and play CatchPhrase by flashlight afterwards! :o)

Praise God our power came back on late last night! It's amazing how much more we've learned to appreciate the little conveniences like being able to see to take a shower.... being able to charge up our cell phones, and being able to pop something into the microwave.... To be honest with you, I was a little sad when the power came back on after just two days. We were fully expecting at least a week. I was sad because I just love the sense of community that happens when we're "all in the same boat".... with no A/C all of us have our windows and doors open and just pop in for a chat, and we are happy to share even the simplest of things like manual can-openers. (I still wonder what people are thinking to stock up on canned food for emergencies when they only have an electric can opener!)

I also enjoyed the quality time that this power outage has given us. Aaron's classes were canceled this week, so we get to spend more time together. With no electrical diversions, this meant more time reading, and walking, and talking.... I just love it!

The Lord is good and gives abundant blessing and joy even in the "inconvenience" of having no electricity. What a difference it makes to view things as an adventure instead of a drudgery.... and to purposefully look for the blessings hidden in the storm clouds!