Storm Recovery
As most of you know, we have moved backed into our house. [Hooray!] We were out of our house for 2½ months (we were told we would not be back in our home until September) while the repairs were being done on our home due to the storm damage. Someone asked me if it had been hard and I just laughed and said, “Yes, it has.” The first three weeks we took turns sleeping at each of our daughters’ homes, spending a night in a motel, sleeping in a RV, (thanks Gene and Margaret) and finally moving into a rental. We had slept in five different beds the first few weeks. So it is no wonder I had very little sleep.
The past few months, in some ways have been a blur, but the night the tree hit our house is still very vivid to me. A few hours before the storm hit, in my spirit, I just felt an uneasiness. I went my down my list and started praying but that uneasy spirit remained. I knew Jordan, my son and Nate, Chara’s husband, would be traveling a distance to work the next day, so I contributed it to that. I asked Jordan come to the family room so I could pray with him. That was around 12:00 a.m., which was rare for Jordan to even be up. He always goes to bed early when he is working. Jordan went to his room and started playing his guitar and singing, “Nothing But the Blood.” Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep on the couch. At one o’clock, I was suddenly wide awake (a God thing – He woke me up) and usually I will walk across the room and close the TV armoire, but this time I went through the dining room. (Another God thing, because if I had gone to the armoire the tree would have hit me.) In a matter of seconds after entering the dining room, I heard this horrific noise, and then I heard Steve calmly say, “It’s a tree.” By then, I was a little freaked out, the lights were out and I could not find our bedroom door to get to Steve. Then all of a sudden it dawned on me, what about Jordan, did the tree hit his room too? His room is only a few feet from the family room. So I went in the hallway to get to his room. For some reason, I could not get Jordan’s door opened and I kept hollering for him; but no answer. Then I really started to get concerned. I just knew the tree had fallen on him. My children always tell me when I get excited I have this high pitch voice that develops and I guess it was really high that night. Finally my voice woke Jordan up. I could not believe he had slept through the tree falling through the house. After he heard my high pitch voice, Jordan really thought someone was breaking in and he was trying to find his gun. We laugh about that now. The three of us finally got together and proceeded to the family room and I was shocked to see what had happened. The couch I was laying on was covered with sheet rock and tree debris. All I could do was say, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus!” Our Father had protected all of us. When daylight came, we were able to assess the damage further and praise God even more. It was a miracle that no one was hurt. Our contractor told us that our house had been split into. I think all we could do the next few days was praise God for His protection.
Our neighborhood looked like a war zone. I was amazed, not one person that I am aware of in Chester County was injured. As we drove around Chester, it was like God had instructed His angels to place trees out of harm’s way. God loves Him some Chester! I want to share one of the many blessings God gave us. On our street, we rarely see a house come open for rent, but a couple weeks after the storm hit, a house was open for us to rent. Now tell me if that is not a God Thing! We were able to move in immediately. We are truly, truly blessed and we have an Awesome Father!
Shelia