The Castle Rock MARE-TERNITY WARD
Message Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: dcwolcott on September 08, 2017, 07:24:53 AM
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I'm asking for prayers for Florida and a special prayer for my children and grandchildren that live here, please.
"Irma" is wider than the whole state of Florida, and with no one knowing the path she will take, we KNOW that everyone in Florida will be affected in some way. The last track had her coming up the middle of the state, which is not good for anyone. IF she comes up the center of Florida, I'm in the path because the eye is so wide. If she goes east, there will be less damage for me and my family, as I live slightly west of center, and have my mother (87 with dementia/alzheimers) and my son Jon and his family in the same town. I will be taking my mother to Jon's house to weather the storm -- as his house is brand new (finished in Nov 2016) and is block with hurricane strength windows. My mom lives in a double-wide manufactured home, and her last home was destroyed in the last hurricane,. So, at least we'll be together. My home is over 100 years old, and has weathered many hurricanes, so I'm praying it will stand this time too with no damage. I live on the main street in town in a big corner lot (almost 1/2 acre) with nothing close around the home -- only 3 trees around the perimeter -- so hopefully nothing can actually hit the house.
My other 2 sons, Tommy & Ben and their families live on the west coast (about 50 road miles away) -- Tommy directly on the water on a canal, and Ben about 10+ miles inland. So Ben and his family are going to Tommy's house on the water, since Tommy's home is 2 stories of solid poured concrete walls and floors and sits high off the water with their main living floor really the second floor of the home (built like a skyscraper of poured concrete) and they'll weather the storm there. Even if the water rose 15 feet it wouldn't touch his home the way its built high up above the canal water line. He is pulling his boat from the water today for safety's sake.
So, it doesn't look good at this point. But, I've done this before. They say Irma will be a category 4 storm when she reaches my area if she comes up the center of the state, and I weathered Hurricane Charley who also hit me as a category 4 storm in 2004 and the eye came right through my town (and right down my road when I lived out on my farm property).
Unfortunately, there is another Hurricane right behind Irma (5 days behind) that will hit Florida again they predict, but no idea of the track of that storm yet. When Charley hit us - with the eye coming straight down our road, there was another hurricane that came right behind and hit us again about 10 days later. I'm praying for no repeat of back-to-back hits.
So, praying hard Irma makes a turn east as originally thought, although I don't wish damage and danger on anyone. But I'm not as young as I used to be, and I'd prefer not to have this happen again. I remember the war-zone Charley left behind, with all the flooding (our flooded property was about thigh deep on land that never flooded before), and all the FEMA and others that came to town to help us, thank God. It was a mess for many and so many homes destroyed and people displaced. We made it through, but I'm not looking forward to a repeat.
Praying hard for my fellow Floridians, and hoping my family is not in the path of this one. ;pray ;pray
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Prayers for you and your family, and all in the path of Irma.
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Thanks Chanda.
Once it hits, I don't know if we'll have electric or internet, but I'll post here as soon as I can. Right now they say we'll be hit Sunday morning, so I'm good until then! ;D
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I've been thinking about you and your family since I heard that Irma was going to hit Florida, was so hoping she would turn back towards the sea. I know someone who has family living on one of the ruined small islands that Irma "visited" - no news from them as yet. And someone else has family holidaying in Florida, but they say they will be safe where they are?????!
Sending you my love and will be praying for you and the family (and everyone else in Irma's path), do your best to stay safe and get back in touch as soon as you can - we will worry about you. XX
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Thank you my dear friend. I know your prayers are strong!
I have made arrangement with Chanda, that if I have no internet I will try and call her so she can post for me after the storm passes. We hear they will be shutting down the electric grid until she's gone, so I know we'll be without power, but don't know for how long.
Until then, I'm here watching Snicka and all the updates!!
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Dearest Diane--
I put you in our prayer book at the mission this morning. We've been praying and putting finishing touches on battening down the hatches here in North Carolina. I'm sorry Irma is forecast to go right up your alley. They're still not sure if Jose will be coming here, or curving out to sea. And Katia is battering eastern Mexico now. The Gulf of Mexico area is really taking a licking this year. 😥😥😥
I will continue to pray that you and your family remain safe and dry. God us all with the crazy weather that's hitting us this year.
P.S. since you posted while I was writing:. Woooww....they're shutting off the electric. 😶😶😶😶 Thank you Chanda, for supporting our friend. I'll just keep up the prayers.
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Thank you my dear friend. I know your prayers are strong!
I have made arrangement with Chanda, that if I have no internet I will try and call her so she can post for me after the storm passes. We hear they will be shutting down the electric grid until she's gone, so I know we'll be without power, but don't know for how long.
Happy to help in any way I can. Good to talk to you today, even if it was brief.
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Diane... You and your family are in my prayers.
I sure hope the storm goes east of Florida. We will continue to pray through the storm for your family's safety.
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Well my update isn't any better. At least it will hit us in the daytime, which is so much better than so many others have dealt with. When hurricane Charley hit us in 2004 it was daylight too, which somehow just is better than dealing with flying debris you can't see.
We are still in the path, as Irma has moved west, and we are getting rain in waves, but this is our rainy season, so nothing seems abnormal for the rain. It's so hard to know that we will be torn apart in 24 hours or so...it is so beautiful here during the day, blue skies, clouds, VERY warm temperatures (too hot for me)...hard to believe.
I've got my mom situated at my son's house so I can start to buckle down my house today - typical things like removing outside furniture and taking down my porch swing -- don't want it crashing through my livingroom window.
So, I'll be on and off here several times today while I still have power and internet.
Thank you all for your prayers. I am a STRONG BELIEVER in the POWER OF PRAYER, and look forward to the Lord bringing me and my family through this horrid experience once again. Now it's trying to get my mind around what I need to remove from my house as far as important papers, etc. I really hate this. :(
Thank you again my friends. I pray I won't be off this site for very long. You are my daily heart-lift in so many ways. If I could hug you all, I would. You all mean so much to me, and having this site with all of you here means so much to me. ;pray ;pray
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Just a quick note to let you know that I pulled my gardening knee pads back out of the box. I had trouble driving home this afternoon, because I was paying attention to praying and not to driving. Fortunately, God kept his hand of protection over me the couple of times that I made distracted decisions.
One of our volunteers has a sister coming up from Florida. He kept phone tabs with her, as she's coming north on Interstate 95. In the 4 hours were working, she travelled only 85 miles!! 😲😲😲😱😱😱
So I've added Psalm 31:23-24:. Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
Be safe, and be reassured in spirit. He has you in his hands, we have you in our hearts, and all will be well in His time.
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Bless you and thank you for keeping us in your prayers. I'm not sure how much longer I can post, over 3 million here in Florida are without power. We still have power at my son's house, but the eye is in Naples, which means it will pass over us in the next 3+ hours. Winds have been gusting to 140+ mph. Pretty steady rain.
We are bunkered in here at Jon's, and Tommy and Ben are bunkered in Tommy's house. So, we're all prepared to ride this out. Praying especially that my mom's double-wide makes it through, as it will be very hard on her if she can't get back to her routine. Alzheimers is bad enough, but when you move them from their "element" it is really the beginning of their downfall.
So we are counting on the Lord saying in Philippians 4:6-8, " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
We know He has this all in control, and we trust in His love for us.
The eye is moving at 12 miles per hour and picking up speed, and since I've been writing here, it has again been down-graded to a category 2 storm -- which is simply lovely!! Keep it coming, Jesus.
Power starting to flicker here, so having to sign off now, and hoping to be back as quickly as possible, but I'll call Chanda if we're without power or internet.
God Bless everyone going through this storm, and I pray for safety and protection for all. Again, thank you for your prayers, and stay safe on the road.
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Keeping you in my thoughts Diane and hoping that the Lord is listening to all our prayers. ;pray
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Take care our wonderful friend. I have you and your family in my thoughts and prayers
Stay safe and take care
Ryan x
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It's just after 7PM here now, so not sure exactly when Diane posted, guessing like 4 hours ago, since the group is based on her time-zone (I think).
I just got in from fencing all afternoon, no message on the machine. Off to do chores, then I'll check again.
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Diane just called. No internet, but they have power at the moment.
The eye missed them, she is fine and so is her family. Just wind and rain to deal with through at least tomorrow.
Keep praying for Cara, Lee County was hit hard. Don't know when we'll be able to hear from her.
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Thank you Chanda - thank goodness Diane and her family are safe. Hoping we have some news from Cara soon - praying that she and her little ones have managed to stay safe.
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Finally have power at my house, so I've moved back home from my son, Jon's, house. The town got a lot of wind and rain, so lots of flooding, and lots of trees down. The Lord protected my home, only a few windows broken, and one of my cats apparently went out the window. Unfortunately, it was my lynx Siamese who was a rescue and VERY shy, so really don't have any hopes of finding him. I've looked throughout the house, and my "mama kitty" is sleeping in her normal place, but no sign of him, and I've checked for several days.
My mom's home (a double-wide manufactured home) is just fine, and I returned her home 2 days ago once we found her home was undamaged, she had power and cable TV. She only sits and watches the game-show network all day, and wanted to go home, and she's doing well.
All other children and their homes just fine. It was a real miracle of God. Just as the eye was reaching our County, it completely disapated! Who's ever heard of that happening?! So, we got the 70-100 mph winds, but no "eye" to deal with. I praise God for his blessings on my family and their homes. I'm the only one that had any damage, and it's just a couple of windows to repair, so I'm VERY blessed indeed.
Thank you all for your prayers. Now comes the yard clean-up and emptying a refrigerator that has been closed up for about 5 days with no electric. Can't wait to open that door~ :o
Again, thank you all so much for the prayers. They certainly did work!!
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Ive just talked to Clara. They came through the storm, the horses are fine, but they have flooding. She's keeping the little ones in a shared stall, because the pastures are full of oak tree leaves, and when let out, they start eating them, which isn't good. They just lost their generator this morning, so they are now without any cooling. They lost one refrigerator and probably 2 others, she said. They have no way to charge their phones, so we kept the call short. But they are taking things slow, as am I, since we are not as young as we used to be.
But I wanted all to know that she's okay, and the horses are okay. Just lots of flooding and clean up ahead.
I'll keep you posted until she can get back on here, but it will be a while, as Lee County took a big hit.
She thanks everyone for their prayers. ~~Diane
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OMG! I just saw my cat! He's apparently been hiding, but I caught a glimpse of him running in the front room. My "family" is now complete!
;pray ;pray
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So glad you, your family and your home's are ok.
Been worried, even though I knew you were ok.
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I so appreciate all your help, Chanda, and your prayers. All seems well. My son's kids and wife are now at my house, since I have power and internet, so she can work. She's a loan originator, and has lots of upcoming closings that they really need financially, so trying to help out. Most of our businesses are still closed, but I think there is one grocery open, so you KNOW I have to go buy coffee! Drank all I had and then some! LOL
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So glad to hear that you and your family are safe my friend, and that you found your cat. And thank you for the news about Cara, I was worried about her and her animals as well due to the flooding.
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Thank you, my dear friend. Your prayers helped bring us through!!
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So happy to read you have been reunited with your cat and that Clara is ok too.
Glad your family is safe Diane, it must have been quite scary.
Hope you manage to get some coffee, if not ill post some in the mail :)
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You'll never guess where I found the coffee, Ryan. At McDonalds! Didn't have much to offer, but I only wanted a LARGE black coffee, and they had that!
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Good old "Maccas" ( its what us Aussies call McDonalds)
Glad you were able to get that coffee to keep you going :)
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Good old "Maccas" ( its what us Aussies call McDonalds)
Glad you were able to get that coffee to keep you going :)
Micky Dees [Don't know how they'd spell it, but that should get you the pronunciation.]
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Diane. I am thrilled y'all are ok!
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Thank you, Holly. Yes, the Lord was very gracious to us! Mom is doing well, which is the most important, since I am afraid if I move her from her element she would not do well, so I am thrilled her home was left just fine.
I still have a few broken windows, that are boarded up. The poor glass companies around here are swamped with orders, so I think the windows will stay boarded up for a while, but that just fine and a small price to pay for the house "standing its ground". This is a wood frame home, built over 100 years ago, so I thought it might weather it fine, and it did. Old construction, but GOOD construction!!