Without Power

Hey!

We survived Hurricane Ike... no, seriously! We had no idea, but Louisville was slated for HIGH winds yesterday. We walked out of church and were shocked to see leaves flying by, branches snapping everywhere, and whipping tree limbs...all under a beautiful clear blue sky. The weather continued to get wilder, with the sky staying blue! We had planned to have a family over for Sunday lunch- Dennis & Betsy & their two sweet children, Gabby & Nathan. I'd even made yummy spaghetti sauce with tomatoes from our garden, and oatmeal-raisin cookies! So we arrived at home, with the Andersons in tow... and realized we had no power. Forgetting that I could light the gas stove with candles even with the electric starter being out, we debated what we should do... Finally we lugged everything over to their house, in the hopes that THEY'd have power. Betsy laughed "it's like a progressive dinner, except we didn't get to eat anything yet!" The ride over to their apartment was rather wild, with most of the traffic lights on the way being out, and several roads being blocked by fallen trees. We were able to talk to the kids about God's power shown in the wind, and help them take comfort in His goodness. They were understandably a bit freaked out! In God's providence, though, our SSchool lesson had been on God's goodness, so it was easy to remind them of.

The Anderson's apartment complex entrance was blocked by a fallen tree, so after parking far enough so that no trees could crush our cars, we ran for it, somehow balencing cooking pots, children, and Betsy & I managing to stay modest with skirts on. Their power was on, and stayed long enough for us to boil the spaghetti noodles & heat the sauces. The garlic bread wasn't exactly toasted, but it was warm, so who cared? We ended up with a wonderful lunch, and had a great story "of that first time we ate together." They joked that they'd talked about wanting to have us over next time... and now they don't have to! Fun fellowship!

Our power is still off, meaning we'll probably go to bed with the sun tonight, and eat something I can cook over the stove. The forced simplicity is really fun! I got a lot of work done on school stuff, had time to journal and pray and was a lot less tempted to distraction at the computer. Even now I'm cramming in everything rather efficiently at the Shuey's house. School's been canceled for the WEEK!! Nice break for me. :) I'm probably going to try & help Sina with the kiddos so she isn't going crazy with all 4 of them home all day... maybe we'll go to the Science Museum (if they have power)!

Please pray for my Middle School Girls Bible Study, which will still start on Wednesday! I have 4 girls from the community coming, and hopefully more eventually. I'm really thankful and excited for the opportunity...and a bit nervous! Please pray for wisdom... and diligence in study.
Well, Ryan's here so I'm off!
Rejoicing in God's care for us.
--Christina