Waiting on the Storm to Pass By

Today has been a day of waiting and preparation for Hurricane Ian to arrive.

The outer rain bands have been gradually building throughout the day, along with the winds.

The real storm has not arrived here as of yet. It only made landfall this afternoon way down on the southwest Gulf Coast near Ft. Myers, as a Category 4 (almost 5) hurricane. It is a huge storm, but thankfully is beginning to gradually weaken in strength as it slowly works its way north east across our state. We are on the northern edge of its projected path and the impact will not be nearly as great here as it is further south, for which we are very thankful. However, I fear there will be much damage to those who are closer to its eyewall. 

I woke up this morning around 5 a.m. in hyper hurricane mode. My adrenaline kicks in when there is impending danger of any kind, and my main thought was to try and get as much done as possible today before we lose power...which is most likely inevitable possibly sometime tomorrow or tomorrow night, but I keep praying it won't.

For those of you who remember our sweet "Lily Grace", this is quite an adventure for her...Her first hurricane! But sadly I've been too preoccupied to help her write her own posts lately...however, she is very concerned about this storm and is watching all of the news/weather updates with us.  Her puppy Bailey keeps her company.

So some of the things I did today were:

1. Three loads of laundry, including our bedsheets.

2.  Cooked beef stew in the crock pot all day.

3. Baked a meatloaf to have for tomorrow's meal/sandwiches.

4.  Searched until I found the power cord for the generator, which was lost behind a shelving unit in our shed...It had slipped down behind the shelves and it took some praying and seeking God's help to direct me to find it.  Now we just need someone to come and hook it up when and if we need it if the power goes out. We do not know how to do that.  It requires someone with more electrical expertise than we have to do it correctly. I'm still praying we won't need it.

5.  I baked biscuits to go with our beef stew for supper. Our son Benton came over to join us as his sweet wife Rose is still visiting her family in Minnesota.

We have some biscuits leftover for breakfast tomorrow.  Maybe with applesauce?

As most of you know, I am looking forward to going to a special "tea party" this coming Saturday..., but now that is up in the air depending upon what is going on with this hurricane by then. It should be further on up the coast and away from us, but if we are without power then of course they will have to postpone it.  Already one of my friends who was planning to attend with me is not going to be able to come because they've been away on vacation and can't get back into the state because of the storm.  The southbound lanes of the major highways have been closed to southbound traffic so that people can evacuate to the north and get out of harm's way.  I am hoping that if they do have to cancel it for this weekend they will reschedule sometime in the near future.  And with that in mind I decided to work on my hat design today while I still had power to operate the hot glue gun.  Here is how it looks...

So my hat and gloves and little purse and fan are all ready to go...let's just hope it will still happen in the near future.

In the meantime, here's a song that is going through my mind that expresses my prayers and thoughts as we wait for the storm to pass by...

Till the Storm Passes By

sung by the Gaither Vocal Band

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face,

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place.

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry,

Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Refrain:

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,

Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Many times Satan whispered, "There is no need to try,

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by"

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies.

Refrain

When the long night has ended and the storms come no more,

Let me stand in Thy presence on the bright peaceful shore;

In that land where the tempest, never comes, Lord, may I

Dwell with Thee when the storm passes by.

Refrain

Music and Lyrics by Mosie Lister (1958)

I will try to keep in touch as I am able, but if the power goes off it may be a while before it is restored since as of right now there are already almost a million people in the state without power, and they can't do anything to repair it until the storm is over.  So we will just stay as safe as we can and pray.  God is with us and we are very very thankful.  Thank you for all of the prayers for our people in this state...there are quite a few of us bloggers here and all of us will be affected in one way or another by this storm.  Praying for each and everyone to be safe.