The Voice of the Lord

 "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters...
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yea, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon."
(Psalm 29)

We heard that voice last week Monday.  It left us feeling small...

We once had a forest behind our house...now it is a big field, or, rather, a huge brush pile!

When the high winds began I was home alone with the kids while Duane was working a double at work.  While eating supper we watched the first tree fall.  We couldn't hear the sound since the wind was so loud.    We often sing a little song when the kids are afraid of storms.  I sang it often that night.  It may sound childish, but it is full of child-like faith:
"Who's in the middle of the storm?  God is!
Who's in the middle of the storm?  God is!
Who's in the middle of the storm?  God is!
I'm not afraid for God is in the storm!"

After Duane's work shut down he had to decide to what to do- drive home through the hurricane to be with his family or wait all night in a building that was creaking.  He came home, protected by the One of Whom it is said, "He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust."

Our home is surrounded by trees- tall ones, mostly ash.  The 2 trees in the picture above must have fallen together, pulling their roots up with them.  There were 6 trees in particular that I was worried about- praying about.  3 of those did fall.  One fell across our back yard, another across the corner of our driveway, and the third on the other side of the house fell into our neighbor's back yard.  NONE HIT THE HOUSE!  We awoke in the morning to witness the miracles.

Above and below show the views of what used to be our forest- we stopped counting trunks at 30 down in close proximity...

Below is what's left of the tree that fell away from our house...

A view of my favorite decorative tree, our weeping birch, twisted and ripped open by the fierce gales...

With no power inside and warm weather outside, we spent a lot of time outside last week.
What's a brother good for... a good boost up a tree...

Duane put in lots of hours waiting in line for gas and then cutting up trees with that precious gas...

Here's the trunk of the tree that fell over our driveway...

And, because of the electricity mess in our area, we had to cancel Judah's 5th birthday party.  But he was still able to open our presents that night by the light of flashlights...

..the bow-and-arrow set he was waiting for...

As the temperatures continued to drop over the weekend (outside and inside our house), we finally caved in and moved into Aunty Ada's warm apartment for 1 night. And to our great joy, our power came on yesterday morning!  How dependent we are on power!  And even more dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit!  It was so cozy to be in a warm and lighted home as another 'nor'easter' hit our area, this time bringing 4-5 inches of snow...

So we're home, and very, very thankful!  Even for the pretty snow to go sledding...