Hurricane FRANCES

Well, it is over. I can hardly explain how this last week has gone as all the days have run together with working in the middle of the night to prepare, no sleeping and lots of work to repair. Here goes nothing:

I think it was Tuesday. We knew the bar would be full and so we had a good time. I sat with my friends (all 50+ year old men) and chatted. Pretty much everything was about the hurricane. It wasn't turning north. It was heading straight at us. People were herding into the hurricane shelters while others were stocking up on drinks for the next two days. We decided to close for the night because we were all exhausted. We took down all the art in the bar, all the hanging birds, all the wine glasses, all the liquor bottles - it was empty. All the chairs and tables taken down from around the pool, we were ready for winds of up to 140 mph. As we were packing up, I asked Dan if he wanted to walk around the hotel and anoint it and pray. He was busy and said, "You have just as much authority as I do." and so I went. I took some olive oil and prayed over every corner. I prayed at the beach to keep the water only on the beach. One thing we were possibly preparing for is a surge (not a tidal wave) but where the water level rises like 20 feet and could completely flood us. So I prayed and left in faith. We got back home and until 2:30am, Loren, Jenny, Dan and Christi, Colin (Dad's business friend) and I moved plants around to safe ground, moved furniture and emptied our outdoor living rooms.

We put everything into the living room and kitchen/dining room of our house. Imagine all furniture, art, indoor plants, animals (8), people, and food in these tiny little rooms. We were prepared. I got together a little bag of, I guess, emergency supplies. Should the worst happen, I had what I could survive with. A change of clothes, long pants, toothbrush, contac solution, deodorant, sunglasses, my bible, my passport, all the money in the world I had ($11), my keys and ID for Seattle and a good book to read. I was prepared for our roof to blow off, for everything to be sucked out and to walk away alive. How does one pack knowing everything could go? With great sobriety.

We woke up early the next morning, or at least got out of a sleepless bed early. The wind had picked up. We spent Wednesday in the house. We sat down early in the morning and Dad had a talk with us. He told us that should the roof lift off, we needed to cover our faces because usually the sheetrock on the ceiling stays and that could hurt. Then, we were to crawl into the little closet to be close to walls (the safest place when you have lost a roof). The closet was maybe 5' x 8'. But still, we were prepared.

We went outside every once in a while just to see what it was like. Maybe it is because we were nestled down in the bushes, maybe it's because we were in the screened porch, maybe it's because of prayer, but the wind really wasn't all that bad. But still, we had to stay at the house. The roads would be bad. Jenny says the stupid people get killed in hurricanes when they go outside and a sheet of tin roofing flies into their neck and slits them open. That is a nice picture isn't it. So, by the evening we were all going crazy. Dan and I actually watched My Fair Lady on his laptop, by his suggestion. Weird. We had a good time, but it was still sleepless.

Wednesday night - three in the bed and the little one said, "roll over, roll over." Dan and I prayed for sleep. And sleep came. Thank heavens, because Thursday proved to be a hard day.

I got up and it was just Christi and I. Loren, Jenny, Colin and Dan had gone down to the hotel to clean up (I can't wait to show pictures when I get home!). There was sand everywhere. But the water stayed on the beach, prayers answered. Funny thing, Christi had also prayed that the water would stay on the beach. It's amazing how the Holy Spirit puts things in our hearts. Anywho, so we began by putting the house together. She worked on the broken screens and I moved furniture, cleaned house, got bedrooms back to bedrooms and put the kitchen back together. No dishes though :) Glad I sluffed those off.

After the hurricane, the humidity was out of control (it still is), and so after about 4 hours of working, I decided to take a bar of soap and go for a preliminary bath in the creek. Did you know salty water doesn't lather? Well, I found that out. So, with a bottle of water, I lathered and rinsed - my first shower since Tuesday. It was lovely. Christi left to go down to the hotel and I kept going, stopping for a light lunch of non-refrigerated items :) By about 3 or so, I took a break and had a lovely bath al fresco - I even shaved! It was quite relaxing after such a hard day. I truly have been camping. No electricity, no running water, no refrigeration, no AC, no fans, no nothing.

We went back down to the hotel where cleanup was still happening. The streets were and still are a mess, but the bar was pretty much back to normal. Luckily, the hotel already had power! So we had flushable toilets again. We had dinner and drinks and it was nice to see all our friends back in the bar. During dinner, we had another 10 minute power-outage so we fired up the hurricane lanterns and had quite a nice time.

Home again for another night. And here I am. It's Friday morning. I have been to the end of the earth and back - preparing for the worst and being blessed by God's hand of protection. So are you ready for this? We are expecting another one in the same path. Hurricane Ivan. Terrible, no?

So keep praying. I'm back online. Our house doesn't have power of water yet, but we are doing alright. God's hand is on us. We are thankful.