Thankful Thursday - Hurricane Irma Blessings

HE COVERED US - HALELUYAH!!!!!

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for covering us with your mighty hands. And thank you for protecting our family, congregation, and neighbors. Thank you that we kept our roof, that no trees fell on our house, that no one was hurt, that our power was only out for twenty hours. Thank you that we had neighbors and family who helped us with cleanup. We are blessed beyond measure, and we give you all the glory. Haleluyah! (And thank you for the wonderful miracle of air conditioning)

It could have been so much worse.  Our county was declared a disaster zone by FEMA, and we have seen great devastation in photos, videos, and by driving around our area.  We are beyond grateful and humbled by his protecting hand.  This link shows some of the damage in our area.

Here at Golden Cottage, we lost some shingles, a piece of fencing fell down, and we had a new, small pond in the northwest corner of our lot. Minor problems, since the roof did not leak, the fence was easily fixed, and the small pond has dried up.  We lost power for twenty hours, which is why I'm ever thankful for refrigeration, especially air conditioning.  Our wonderful daughter and son-in-law loaned us his generator so that we could have power.  We didn't get to use it though because about the time we got it all hooked up and running - VOILA! - the electricity came back!

The damage was minimal as you can see below.  Our neighbor's bottle brush tree in their front yard fell over into our yard

Our neighbor's bottle brush tree in their front yard fell over into our yard

The biggest damage was to the trees in the backyard -- lots of limbs down, and the huge elephant ears around Golden Pond.  But they will bounce back.  They always do.

More photos from the back yard:

By the time Irma reached our area, she had diminished to a Category 2, but she still did a lot of damage. We are so blessed to have minimal, light problems. We are blessed that she did not retain strength as she passed over our state, into Georiga, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

We were cleaning up the million pine cones that fell in the front yard when a little boy on a bicycle came by and said, "Do y'all need help?"  He was only about nine years old, but he worked hard.  He was joined by our next door neighbor's three children.  They made short work of the cleanup, and we were so blessed by their mitzvah.

We have been blessed by the love and care our congregation has given to us and to each other, and for their help of their neighbors.  This is G-d's plan -- for us to help others and seeing it in action must make him smile.

Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for those impacted by the storm in our area as well as across the south.  Many have no power. Businesses, banks, and schools are closed, gas is a problem, cell phone service is sketchy. Some do not have water yet.  Our county is under a boil water alert due to broken water mains.  The long-term effects will be far-reaching as many have lost everything.

Pray for the workers who are helping get things back to normal:  police, firemen, electric workers, nurses, doctors, and emergency management people.  Probably others I can't think of right now.  G-d bless them and the many volunteers helping, too.

We are thankful that both of our daughters had minimal damage, too.  Please pray for our daughter in Jacksonville as that city was impacted with 12" of rain and terrible flooding.  I went through Hurricane Dora in 196, and it was a bad flood then, but Irma was much worse.  All of the storm water is flowing into the creeks and lakes and then pouring into the St. Johns River which flows north into Jacksonville before it empties into the ocean.  It's a bad situation that will get worse before it gets better.


Let me know, Gail-Friends, if you've been impacted by Irma so that I can pray for you.

Thankful Thursday is my day of the week to focus on and be grateful for all the good things in my life.
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