Ice, Ice Baby

As I promised yesterday, I would do a post on what it was like for us, The Lam Family, to live through the 2007 Ice Storm. For all the Tulsans out there, this is probably a bore for you as you were enduring the same thing. So as I sit here gazing out at the gray, dark, drizzly day WITHOUT any snow, it's easy to picture what was happening 1 year ago. Here's the abbreviated version. Oh...and my photo selection was very limited. We couldn't find any of the photos of the tree on our house...I think we wanted to completely forget about that...and got rid of the photos.

It went a little like this...

Night 1--WM was smart enough to move the cars out of the drive away "just in case". Power went off and two hours later our huge 50 year old tree came crashing down onto our house. By the grace of God--and I truly mean that God's hands guided that tree--it didn't smash the window that Patrick was sleeping by. If WM hadn't moved the cars--they would've been smashed, too.

This is one small portion of the tree that came down on our house--this the part that landed in the street.

Day 1--No power...headed to my sister's house to camp out for the day. Spent the day on the phone with the insurance company.

Day 2--Still no power--stayed at my sister's--who still hadn't lost power and never did during the whole ordeal because she lives in Tulsa and has little bitty trees that don't fall down on power lines. It's one of the disadvantages of living in an old neighborhood--big trees that cause damage when they fall. I don't go to work because of the mess going on at the hospital and the daycare situation (too long to explain, just believe me when I say 'the fewer kids at the day care the better').

Day 3--Nope, no power. Starting to feel guilty about overtaking my sister's home.

Day 4--Went home and sat in the FREEZING COLD house while waiting for the insurance adjusters--who didn't show up. Decided to go to work and take kids to school so they could have a little of their regular routine.

Day 5--No power yet, the news reports it should be on tomorrow! YAY! The kids are ready to go home--the fun of the "sleep over" at Aunt Amy's has worn off and they want their toys and beds. WM reports he got a generator from work but doesn't feel like it's safe for the kids and I to stay at home.

Day 6--Still no power--but the PSO recording says it will be tonight or tomorrow. A ray of hope!
Day 7--SHUSH IT YOU STUPID PSO RECORDING AND TV NEWS STATIONS--my power still isn't on--don't tell me it will be tomorrow unless you can guarantee it.

Day 8--The guilt of staying at my sister's has overcome me--my kids want to be home--and I'm losing it. I must go home, power or not. Fire up the generator WM, the kids and I are heading home! (the PSO recording promised it will be tonight, we can handle a few hours with a generator heated home).

Day 9--Nope, not yet. I think I finally cried--the TV stations said they weren't going to report when power would be restored because 98% of the power was on. We were that 2%--which I could understand if we lived out in rural Oklahoma, but for Heaven's sake, I live in the heart of Brookside! My neighbors across the street had their power for 3 days--"your side of the street is on a different grid." (shut up, you stupid PSO person).

Day 10--Just when all hope was lost at 4:00 p.m. our power came on. I cried when I got the call from WM telling us to come home! 10 days later-yes, we found out later that we were truly one of the last to have power restored.

It was a trying time. It was tough dealing with it with a 4 year old, 2 year old and 4 month old (who was being exclusively breastfed at the time--causing everything to come to a hault every 2/3 hours). We were basically living day-to-day. If I'd known I'd be without power for 10 days, I would've packed up 10 days worth of stuff. But instead we ran home for "one more day's" worth. Christmas was a week and a half away, so besides putting our house back together, we were shopping, wrapping, etc. Crazy, crazy. But considering 29 people died--we are thankful. I am so blessed to have a sister that warmly and encouragingly opened her home to us and told us everyday to stay and not feel guilty.

So, I guess I shouldn't be so grumpy today when looking out my window at the dreary, misty cold day. I should be thankful that I have a warm home tonight.

'Til tomorrow! Stay warm!