Who Turned Out the Lights???

This is what the kids and I came home to after a meeting at church last night. It was so sweet. Even a power outage couldn't keep Nathan from working on his school work!

After a very windy day with a few severe thunderstorms and even a tornado watch, we lost our electricity. At first the kids were a little nervous but then they got excited. EVERY candle in the house was lit (even the pumpkin candle decorations fell victim...). Since we have our own well, we had no water either. Luckily when we lost power, it was late enough that it was time for kids to go to bed. We got to brush our teeth with bottled water, and the kids went to sleep with candle nightlights. Nathan had a big paper due on friday so he just kept right on working so that when the power came on, he just had to type it up.

Once the kids went to bed, no power wasn't so fun anymore. Nathan was also supposed to have a study group here on Friday so we tried to clean by candle light, and no water. Every time I went to put something away, I had to take a candle with me to see where I was supposed to put it. I was missing all the Thursday night shows I like to watch while folding laundry, and all I could do was stare at the washing machine full of every white piece of clothing we own (except what was already on our bodies...) and it was soaking wet. WHY didn't I change the clothes over to the dryer like I kept telling myself to do all day? Grr..... Then I looked out my window to either neighbor. It seemed they had every light on known to man. Every Halloween decoration I swear was saying "neener neener neener..." Why were WE the only ones with the power outage on my road? The adjoining road had lost their power, but WE WEREN'T ON THAT ROAD!! I thought, "Look at them, wasting so much electricity and we have none..." After that thought, I realized I was really tired. I tried to read by candlelight, but after I spilled wax on me and the bed, I just decided to go to sleep.

We woke up by the alarm I had set on my cell phone "just in case". Back to lighting all the candles, and it was cold cereal for breakfast. On the way to school, the kids were so excited to have electricity in the car it was funny. When I got home, I had to get ready for a doctors appointment. Hmmm..... No shower, but one load of clean clothes in the dryer that I didn't take out yesterday! I was so happy to find an outfit, but the pants were sooo wrinkled! I folded them up as nicely as I could and then sat on them to iron them out. Hey- It worked!! I also had Jaleigh lay on a package of baby wipes to warm them up for our sponge bath later. Luckily Nathan's study group got changed to a different location because without sunlight, you don't see things under tables and smudge marks on the floor. Finally we got all ready to go and before we took one step out the door, the power came back on! I was SO excited! Jaleigh ran through the house turning everything on and then yelling, "It WORKS!! It REALLY WORKS!!" IT was fun "rediscovering" things for her after 16 hours of no power.

As I backed out of the driveway I noticed that all of our outdoor lights were on. I made me remember the thought I had the night before. "Look at how much electricity they are wasting..." This experience, as simple and common as it is, has really caused me to reflect. How prepared am I for an emergency? Yes- this time I could just go to my neighbors and get water, or anything else, but what if it was bigger? More widespread? My sister was just talking about the blizzard that hit Buffalo one year ago. 2 feet of snow in less that 24 hours. 341,000 people and businesses without power. Hey- that includes the grocery store too- that is IF you can get there. By the way, blizzard means cold and no electricity means no heat. What would I have done? I think it took them WEEKS to get things moving again. Also- it makes me think twice about turning on a light when it is sunny outside. Do I really need it? It just really makes you reflect when you have to go without something for even a short amount of time. Maybe it's good for everyone to lose power once in a while to appreciate it more. I know I certainly do.