Whoa Mama!

Mother Nature packs a punch. And we have certainly felt the depth of that punch this week. In the middle of the ice storm, as I sat on our sofa in front of the huge picture window, I was jolted from my seat and thought the world was crashing down on us. Turns out it wasn't the whole world, as it sounded, but it was the whole gutter and facia from the entire length of our home. With it, the gutter/facia combo also brought down our phone line - ripped it from the side of the house!
Not an hour prior we saw a very large limb come crashing down into our backyard - thankfully, it didn't hit anything, but it certainly left a new problem...and a LOT of annoying sticks strewn about and a lot of cutting to do - while standing on ice.

So, we began the ordeal of having the gutters replaced - something sure to take a few weeks. And once that was on the way we had to find a way to 'skate' through the ice to get this huge limb chopped up and out of our way. Problem being, we no longer have a chainsaw...and a handsaw won't cut it - no pun intended.

We asked around to some friends if they had a chainsaw. All we wanted was to borrow one and do the work ourselves, but much to our surprise a good friend stepped up and offered to help. Not only did he log on facebook to put a post expressing his need to borrow at least one chainsaw, he contacted several of his own friends, finally tracking down two new chainsaws with a lot of promise.

To us, he even went a BIG step further and offered to cut the limb with Cary, in the bitter cold. We were truly humbled by the offer and cannot express our gratitude properly. Cary and Ben made very quick work of the ordeal as I prepared coffee and entertained McKinley and Lincoln. Then, a friendly invitation for coffee came from Lincoln's Mom, Kylie. The small break was more than welcome and we had a blast (as always) telling our stories and talking a HUNDRED miles a minute (because when you have a rare moment to talk without preschoolers, toddlers and newborns around you talk really, really fast because there is a LOT to be said!).

As Cary and I looked out the window, after the big clean up and coffee break the view was a little less of a blow. Now we wait for the ice to melt so that the repair can begin and the workers can be safe. In the meantime, our home has been secured from the weather and whatever else and we wait.

Having always been a huge fan of beautiful snow, it is so very unlike me to say this: I AM TRULY SICK OF WINTER. Spring has never been so welcome in our home.

I also need to point out how very blessed we are, and how thankful that there was no further damage. With such horrendous weather the outcome could easily have been much worse. We have much to be thankful for: our health, our home, true friendships, God's grace, and so much more.

Lynn