Oh Irma...

So when news broke that a hurricane was heading towards Florida I wasn't worried. We are inland, and living in a 2nd floor apt with a floor above us to deal with a roof blown off and a floor below us to deal with a flood. It seemed like every day the direction was changing and heaven knew where it would actually plow through. Although our living quarters didn't allow for a stockpile of food and water I did head out to Costco to grab a few things a couple days before they expected the storm to make landfall. Not only were there no parking spaces but then after stalking someone for their space I quickly learned that you had to stalk people for their carts. Once inside there were lines wrapping around the store for not only people checking out but those in line for water which was being rationed. It was absolute insanity! I may have left with no water but I did manage to get out with 8 gallons of mango juice...



As the storm got closer, SeaWorld was making arrangements for their trainers to pull all nighters with the animals. Last year when a storm had come through Jack spent the night at the park with the trainers but this year they said they had it covered but he wanted to make a point to check up on the employees so we had a great afternoon enjoying the calm before the storm...



As it turned out the storm did end up turning in the direction of our town, and coming inland. In fact it came right over us and wow, what a storm it was. We were one of the few we knew to keep power the whole time which was a blessing but the whole Orlando area was put on a required curfew to prevent any trouble and danger as there were lots of downed trees and power lines. Jack and I were rebels and decided to head out anyway as we wanted to check out the house and see how it survived. Of course it's only 2 miles away and yes, we ended up getting pulled over. Jack flashed his badge to the police man and said we were heading to SeaWorld to check out damage which thankfully got us off the hook! There was far worse damage than this but here are a couple shots taken on the drive to SeaWorld...



Because many schools and families within the school district were without power schools remained closed for a full week following the hurricane. Of course the kids weren't complaining! So Alys and I packed up the kids and away we went to Ormond Beach. What was sad was mose the hotels and neighborhoods in this area didn't have electricity or water. How grateful we felt to not have been affected that way. Hurricane Jose which followed behind Irma but stayed off shore created some big waves that the kids loved playing in! You can see how close our car was to the water line. A bit scarey but so worth the convenience!



One of the highlights of Irma and the storms that followed shortly behind had to be watching the community come together to help those in need. We had the opportunity to go assist in the preparation of meals that were being sent to Puerto Rico which had been devastated by hurricane Maria and what a great experience that was and a wake up call to how blessed we are. Feeding Children Everywhere was given the task of putting together over 4 million meals just for Puerto Rico. It took place over three weeks and and was by far the most organized and best service we had done in quite some time. So proud of Mormon Helping Hands and all the volunteers from the Mormon faith that came out in droves to help.