Ice Storm 2009

I remember the "great ice storm" of 2007. I remember living in Ozark and really not being affected that bad. School wasn't even cancelled.... But then I remember driving into Springfield the first day we were back at work and just having my breath taken away. The damage was just...incomprehensible. It was as if a bomb of ice had exploded over the entire city. Nothing was left untouched. I remember thinking...wow...life will never be the same...it will never LOOK the same. I had never in my wildest dreams imagine that ice could be so destructive. I was fortunate and only lost power for 2 days, but many people I know and work with, went 2 weeks or longer.

Then came the little ice storm of 2008... and I was a little more prepared and really, it wasn't too terribly bad.

Slowly but surely life goes on and things DO get better. The trees, though shaken and battered, bloomed again in the spring. The ice storm became a distant memory.

January 2009-
My Dad and I talked on Monday night. We were supposed to get slammed here in SW Missouri and they were supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow in Sikeston. I prepared. I had food, water, candles, ligthers, clean clothes, etc. I did the dishes, took the trash out, things that I learned from the last ice storm.

They did nothing.

BOOM... They get the ice...we get the snow (with some ice too!). Yeah, things were bad here, but so much worse there.
My family got hit harder than I think Springfield did in 2007. I have this intense fear/anxiety that sometimes will just engulf me to the point of not being able to breathe...and that is fear is that something will happen someday and I will not be able to reach my family in the event of a disaster.

Of course my fear is well founded, at least to me. My parents are on top of the largest fault line in the United States that hasn't quaked violently since 1812...so it's just a couple of hundred years overdue. I am terrifed that someday it will quake and I will be left alone in this world without the people who mean more to me than life.

Anyway, back to the ice storm... So they are going through this horrible experience now. They have no power, no heat, no food, no gas. My Dad is currently staying at Red Cross shelter set up at their church, Miner Baptist. Of course he is volunteering there as well and I guarantee you that no one will leave without hearing about Jesus because of him!

My mom, Sara, Dave & Reid were at Sondra's house (a family friend) who had power, but then it went out. Dave, Sara & Reid are trying to get a generator for their house. Bryant is with his mom. Jacob is staying with a friend who has power. Missy & Brandy are staying Cape with Corey who has his own apartment and power and Kayla is at her Dad's house in Scott City and they have power....and me...

...I'm here...in Springfield...feeling utterly helpless! I hate that my family is scattered and I hate even more so that I am not there to help them through this. They are all stressed and tired and I want to be with them. I want to make them laugh and play dominoes and spoons with them to help them pass the time. I dread going back to Sikeston for the first time and seeing my "home" changed and damaged. I looked at pictures on line and cried. I think it was harder seeing my "home" or my "safe place" damaged like that.

I've also been thinking about how I got prepared for the ice this year because I have been there and was not prepared the first time...and they did not prepare because they've never seen anything like this... and I keep thinking of the song by DC Talk "I Wish We'd All Been Ready."

Are we ready? Am I ready? The time may come when I may lose my family or my friends or my home... and all I will have is my faith and relationship with God to carry me through...

And some glorious day I know that I will be with my heavenly Father in heaven, with my family.

Am I ready?