Sandy On My Mind

Yesterday was a long one.

I was glued equally to the internet and tv for most of the day

watching Hurricane Sandy's advancing waves to the

eastern US shores.

Growing up in Miami, Florida

and having lived in South Carolina thru Hugo,

and in Houston, Texas during Alicia

I know a little about the power of hurricanes:

if the water isn't the main concern

the wind certainly is.

Of course, my mind's concern and focus

was especially tuned into the force of nature this time

because of my girl:

who is serving a mission in New York.

I google earthed her apartment in Irondequoit

and found that she is surrounded by water--

less than a mile to the north is Lake Ontario

and on the east and west are both the Irondequoit Bay

and the Genessee River--she is less than a few blocks from the river.

All of those lakeshore areas had mandatory evacuations

and I kept checking the local news in Irondequoit for any news.

We got some information from her mission president assuring us

that our missionaries were all accounted for and safely tucked into their apartments.

I also got an email from Diana early in the morning,

here is a snippet:

Hey mom!

So we're allowed out of our apartment for just a few hours this morning to email and shop, but we're not allowed to work till wednesday. We're supposed to be the center of the storm, at least thats what we've heard. I've got my head light all ready to go, I bought a pair of cheap boots in case it floods and we made an early morning run to Walmart (6:30am...apparently Walmart doesn't open till 7 here! What the freak! So we stood outside looking like tired drowned rats till the doors opened) to buy some water and food. Apparently the electricity goes off all the time here when stuff like this happens. We're good though, there's just alot of rain.

That went along way to calm my heart, seriously!

But the reports coming out of New York and New Jersey
as the day went on,
were so dramatic,
that by nightfall,
I admitted to my husband that I was kind of a mess.

I went thru the motions of daily life
with a prayer in my heart
until bedtime and I
surrendered to my faith.

This morning came and again I flipped on the tv
to see the aftermath--
it is sobering to see the amount of damage up and down the east coast
and into the Appalachian mountains.
I checked online to see if Diana's apartment had electricity
or
if she too, is without power this morning.
When I pulled up the power companies' website map,
there, in the middle of alot of power outages,
her apartment shows that they have electricity!

And then,
we received this:

Dear Parents of New York Rochester Missionary

We did not see the predictions here in Western New York that were expected.  We had some rain and wind over night, cloudy and calm this morning.  Missionaries are all back to normal schedule.  We always appreciate all of your prayers and support.  We love our missionaries.

President Jack R. Christianson

Yes.

All is well.

We know that when a community where our missionaries are serving are hit with these kind of events,
they are called upon to get out and help wherever they can in the clean-up process.  I know my daughter will gladly put on those new rain boots and get out to work today.

And now, I will resume breathing on my own.