We're HOME!!!

We are finally home! We all got home as a family Sunday evening! Needless to say everyone, kitties, dog, kids, and Mommy and Daddy were glad to be together in our home again. Yesterday after church we stopped by the house so we could walk our dog. I saw footprints in our new 7 inches of snow that led to the backyard and around where the downed power line was located. Well, as we were pulling out of the driveway I saw a man with a hard hat walking down the sidewalk a few houses down. We stopped and hollered at him asking if he knew when they might be working on our house. He asked where we lived and when we told him he said we were next!!! Music to my ears. I actually had tears in my eyes I was so happy. I was sure the 7 inches of snow we got Friday night was going to slow progress down even more. We decided to go back to our hotel room for a while to let the house warm up. It was a chilly 38 degrees in there that morning. Besides, Emily wanted to go "swimming" in the hot tub. So while the kids and I had naps in the room, Jeff came home and cleaned, shoveled snow, and got everything ready for us to return home (what a wonderful husband). Then after a church dinner and program last night we got home. Needless to say, the cats and Zack, my dog, didn't venture far from us. And everyone had a great night's sleep. Benjamin even slept 7 straight hours!!

This ice storm will certainly go down in Hutchinson history. Our little town of maybe 40,000 was featured on the national news and the weather channel last week because of the devastation and the thousands without power. Please pray for the many in Kansans whose homes are still dark and cold that they will soon be able to return, too, because it is so very cold outside. Send thanks to all the power company lineman who brave this nasty weather (we had crews here from Colorado, Indiana, Arkansas to name a few). And count your blessings and enjoy your home, however modest it may be and be thankful for all you have. We forget how very blessed we are until something we have is gone, even temporarily.