We just got our electricity turned back on after 24 hours without it.  My, how that makes you realize how much we take it for granted.  Thanks to a strong cold front and winds beginning to make their way here from Hurricane Ike, yesterday we experienced some of the strongest winds our area has seen.  Sustained winds of 55 mph and gusts up to 75 mph tore across our area yesterday.  It wasn't long before our electricity went out and stayed out.  And as you can see above, around 90% of our area was without power.  Thank the Lord a good friend of mine still had her power and an extra refrig/freezer in their garage for us to store our food in. 

It's hard to truly experience how strong these winds were, but I took a video that gives a little bit of an idea.  It sounded as if a monstrous-sized locomotive was steaming through the woods behind us.  And you could hear twigs and trees snapping in the distance.  Leaves and tree branches were showering all around as if raining.

As I drove through our neighborhood and surrounding areas to take our food to my friends, my jaw was continually dropping at the sight of uprooted trees, massive sections of shingles and siding missing from rooves and sides of houses, and fencelines knocked over.  It may not seem like much compared to a hurricane or true tornado, but this is as close in my life that I've ever come to a natural disaster.

I had a feeling we were going to be without power for a good while, so out came the candles as night fell; and quickly after that came the realization of how spoiled we are with too much technology!  It seemed rather strange not having the computer, tv, or lights for so long.  We really weren't prepared.  We didn't have enough candles or flashlights, so an early bedtime was due.

This morning, still no power, so a breakfast of things we had reserved back in a cooler got cooked on the handy dandy grill.

Bacon and eggs!  I think the kids thought it was a bit like having a campout!

Because tensions were running high in the household (you know when things are "weird", the kids and parents alike don't seem to always handle it well) and because the kids were interested, we took a little drive around to survey some of the damage.  We stopped at a local park across the street from our subdivision and took some pictures of damage.

A tree had been broken and knocked over onto the play area, breaking down the fence.

That's a piece of somebody's siding in front of Alex that blew here from somewhere.

A dead tree by street that had been uprooted and crashed onto the main fenceline around the park.

Since I always, if possible, like to take the opportunities of interest to teach, I've begun planning a wind study/unit for the rest of this week.  I was amazed at how much great and very interesting information I found to teach about.  In particular there was a lesson I found that teaches the symbolism between the wind and the Holy Spirit...very interesting.  We had planned on studying more weather in general this year, so this will fit right in.  I will share more about this as we begin our study.