Thursday, September 16, 2004

Hurricane Ivan Welcomes Us To Alabama

Well we are experiencing our first hurricane even as I write. Actually it is now downgraded to a tropical storm but still packs a punch throughout most of the state. At 5:30 pm central daylight time Gadsden is in the middle of the storm watch. We've had some pretty good thunder storms and our trees have swayed mightily in the winds, but we're still standing. Probably only a couple more hours to go before the storm moves out of our area.

We did all the preparations: Got extra water bottles and jugs from the store, filled bathtub (so we have extra water and can flush our toilets if the water is cut off), got lots of comfort food and drinks and cans of soup and chili, got instant coffee if we lose power and, of course, lots of spare batteries of all sizes. The grocery store closed at 10:30 this morning, after I made our last run. Wasn't able to get C batteries for portable radio yesterday, but found some at CVS this morning.

So today is mainly staying at home and watching the TV and out the windows. Some concern about tornados but don't know if we had any here this far north or not. Been on alert since 10:30. Did go to church this morning and finished sermon preparation for Sunday. Hoping that our mission congregation at Talladega is still standing when I get there Sunday morning. Its a double wide trailer next to state hiway 77 and the report is that the storm did a lot of damage in that area. Oh well, its in God's hands.

Thanks to all who called or emailed asking about us. I'll add more when its over and I've got a chance to see what Gadsden has been through.

God bless you'all

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