Hurricane Irma

So, after being in Florida for a whole month, we had our first hurricane and boy was it a big one! When Chris came home from work about two weeks before and said, "there's a big hurricane coming, we need to get prepared," I knew it was a big deal. We spent those two weeks making evacuation plans (for just me and the boys since Chris is the meteorologist at the Navy base), loading up on non-perishable food and plenty of water, clearing everything out of our back yard, filling up our bath tub, moving Chris' car to a near by parking garage, and even buying a generator.  We were ready, or as ready as we could be.

Chris and I decided it would be best if the boys and I didn't leave. We knew the traffic would be terrible and Chris thought it would be more dangerous for us to be on the road. So glad we made that decision.  The bad weather started on Sunday, the hurricane came Sunday night and Monday morning.  We got outside every chance we could when there was a break in the weather (hence the first picture) because I knew we would be stuck inside soon.  We lost electricity on Sunday night and it came back on until Tuesday morning.  So glad we had a generator because we didn't lose any of our food.  And, we have a gas stove which was wonderful! 

Playing in the puddles on Sunday when there was a break in the rain!

Getting out and enjoying ice cream at one of the few places still open on Sunday.... it was a ghost town!

Thankfully the only damage we suffered was a broken window. A branch flew into it in the middle of the night.  There was glass everywhere! It broke in our dining room (where we eat every meal) and Chris and I immediately knew what a huge miracle it was that it broke at night when no one was in there. The only thing we had inside was a cardboard box and a sunshade for the car.  We used a whole roll of duck tape and nailed the sunshade to the window. Thankfully, it stopped the rain from coming in and the wind from doing any more damage. It was a mess, but we are extremely grateful thats all we had to clean up.

The boys did great! I thought they would go crazy, but they enjoyed playing with the flashlights, painting, doing play dough and of course eating all of our hurricane snacks!

Helping Papa get the generator set up. 

Our make shift light... Abram loved reading books with the boys at the table with our lantern. :)

Our town, Riverside, is along the huge St. John's River. Even though we didn't suffer much damage, we can't say the same for our town. Some families that live along the river lost everything. There were huge trees down everywhere and on of our beautiful parks completely flooded. It is still very sad to drive around our little area and see the devastation.

A picture of Riverside, where the river flooded homes and businesses. 

Huge tress are down everywhere! 

These are pictures of Memorial Park which is right along the river. The whole area was under water and severely damaged.

Before the storm...

After...

The waves crashing during the hurricane. So sad. 

Even though the hurricane was a disaster on so many levels, we can definitely see how God protected our family, our house and even our city.  We are praying this is the last hurricane of the season, and hopefully the last one we will see while we are in Florida.