We Survived the Storm!

We survived this week.  Thank you, Jesus!

As you probably know, or maybe experienced first hand, Indiana got slammed with snow and ice this week.  I had lunch with my parents on Sunday, and my dad mentioned that 18-inches of snow was in the forecast.  We went back and forth for about 10 minutes about it, because I was sure he was joking.  We never get that much snow at a time.  Never.  In the 10 years since I moved to Indiana, we seriously only get 2-3 inches at a time.  Never 18.

So, he finally convinced me to go online and look up the forecast.  I was shocked, in awe and started to cry inside.  I love snow, don't get me wrong.  I think it's beautiful and I'm not one of the whiners from the Hoosier State, who complain year after year about the snow.  I like it.

My biggest concern was that Joel wasn't going to be home for the storm.  It's one thing to deal with 4, 5 or 6 inches of snow by myself with the girls.  But the idea of getting over a foot was too much for me to digest.  So after I picked up Grace from school on Monday, I ran around town filling up on all the necessities...  toilet paper, snacks, baby supplies, batteries, flashlights, candles, salt and prescriptions.

We came home Monday night, all supplied and ready to hang out at home for a few days.  The snow was beautiful - big, fat flakes.  But the wind was horrible and I kept praying, pleading really, that our lights would stay on.  That was my biggest fear - losing electricity and heat with my two girls at home.  Joel gave me a quick "how-to" for plugging the generator into our furnace, but, there is no way I'd be able to figure that out.  Seriously.  Changing the batteries in a flashlight is a big deal for me.  Hooking up our generator to our furnace is an impossibility.

I got up a lot during the night on Monday and Tuesday.  I needed to see if our neighbors had lights and how how bad the snow was getting....  So, I slept very little at night because of worry, but thankfully we all snuggled up in the afternoons for long, long naps.

We had a 3-day pajama party, and it was awesome.  Once I figured that our power would stay on, I was able to relax and really enjoy a few days trapped inside with my girls.  We watched movies, drank hot chocolate, played in the snow, played lions and dogs (they are natural enemies, you know) and just completely enjoyed each other. 

A neighbor shoveled my walks and an awesome guy that knows my parents came by with his dump truck and plowed out my driveway in about 3 minutes.  Grace and I cleaned off my car (well, she ran around trying to hit my car with her shovel...)  And then yesterday, my dad busted his back cleaning out some drifts.  What a huge relief to not have to go out all by my lonesome and deal with all that heavy snow!

Here's our deck from our back door....  Thank you Dad for clearing a path.  And yes, Joel, I left the deck furniture out all winter.  Sorry!

View from our front door.  Oh yes, that's a very special sign in our front yard.  The Mr. gets to see it first and then I'll share it with all of you!!!

Grace on day #2 of the storm - Minnie Mouse ears are necessary to play games on PBS Kids.

Our very sweet, and very chubby Autumn enjoying the view from the back of the house.