Hurricane Sandy

Here I am.... Rock You like a Hurricane....

I can't even begin to say how thankful I am for the safety of Tony and I, Lance, Jen, and their family, and my other friends and family affected by this terrible event.  Periodically, Tony and I scan through the horrific images of the destruction frighteningly close to us, and tears of gratitude literally fill my eyes.  A little recap of our weekend:

SATURDAY:  Tony and I got serious about preparations for the hurricane.  After volleyball, we went to several stores searching for supplies.  People rampaged Wal Mart before we got there, probably worse than the hurricane did, so we moved on to several different stores, each providing less luck than the ones before.  Our lack of water increased our determination (and desperation!), so we decided to broaden our horizons, which led us to Home Depot.  Thank you Home Depot! Not only did they have duct tape, flashlights, and batteries, but they also had bottled water!

getting ready....

SUNDAY: Before church, my sweet husband woke up very, very early to get all our laundry done before the rush of people occupied the machines. During church, we received word that we were put on evacuation notice.  We quickly returned home to pack our bags and prepare the house.  We spent the afternoon duct taping cardboard on all our windows (we used the whole darn roll, too), removing our dishes from the cupboard, dismounting our pictures, packing our bags with essentials (toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste, what else do you need?) and swaddling every breakable item we have in towels and blankets.  After several hours of nervous anticipation, Tony just called the West Haven Emergency System and asked if we had to evacuate.  They told us that we could stay if we wished, so we decided to remain at home.

taking everything down

MONDAY: Hurricane Sandy.  Luckily, it didn't really hit until the early afternoon, so Tony and I went on a run in the morning. It was windy and spitting rain, but we wanted to get one last stretch of our legs in before prolonged hunkering in our apartment.  The winds worsened all day, and cold settled into the apartment.  We pretty much snuggled all day and studied, and I never felt more safe than when I was cradled in my husbands strong arms.  When we still had power Monday evening, we had our "last hot meal" (which turned out to be completely untrue.  We never lost power, so had hot meals every day).  How didn't we lose power?  I will never know, because several large trees went down in our neighborhood and we had 65 mph wind gusts.

This was super close to our apartment!

Tony mourned over the "last hot meal"

Luckily, it wasn't!

Needless to say, we were a little 

stir-crazy after

staying inside so long!

TUESDAY: Similar to Monday, only in reverse.  Bad winds in the morning, but by the evening, conditions definitely improved.  Tony and I went on another run to the beach to assess the damage.  A block away from our apartment, splintered trees littered yards, rooftops, and cars.  Two blocks from our apartment, water gushed out of people's basements.  I still can't believe nothing happened to us.

By Wednesday, life pretty much returned to normal: practice, weightlifting, studying, busy, busy, busy.  Thank you all, for your thoughts and prayers.  

Please keep it up for all those still struggling in those highly affected areas.