so in control
there is one event in my life that i enjoy reminiscing on. i like to pilfer through the family files and gaze at the pictures, reliving every moment of the crisis. few weeks ago, i noticed that the pictures were damaged and wanted to preserve the pictures, so i scanned the pictures and promised myself that i would share the story again on my LJ, and show the pictures that i didn't before.
i will never, never forget the night. it was evening on december 14th. mom and i had just survived an odd trip from a drama performance at a high school, driving around fallen branches and nearly being hit by a truck in an intersection because the power was out. we were just laughing about how incredible the windstorm was, and how it was mighty enough to make the power of an entire high school building go out- we would never forget what we witnessed that night. i knew it would be a memorable christmas break, especially that the very next morning, a plane would bring my boyfriend at that time, to the northwest to meet my family for the first time. i was excited.
but little did we know what was in store for the rest of the evening. mom and i had just pulled up in the driveway of our house, when our neighbor waved to us frantically. he was pointing to something behind our house. in the dark, we were able to make out the incredible sight of debris approximately 7 to 10 feet high, along with a tree resting on the roof of our house. our jaws dropped. we rushed into the house to inspect the damage done to my sister's room, since it was the affected region. i was expecting mayhem in my sister's room, shattered glass and pine branches and pieces of the wall and roof all over. instead, we were shocked to discover a small branch poking through the ceiling. the hole was only few inches wide, and several inches long. the fireman had come, deemed the house safe, and left before mom and i even arrived.
we went bustling around, trying to patch up the hole in the ceiling, and put tarp and buckets around the damage zone to prevent water damage if it rained. my parents and i headed up in the perfectly intact attic, and was further surprised to see no further damage had been done. my parents stuffed tarp around the branch in the attic, and sent me downstairs to get one more bucket. i clambered down, and headed downstairs.
as i reached the basement and turned to the direction of the garage, a loud THUD exploded in my ears, and everything went black.
high on adrenaline and shocked straight, i instinctively ran back to the attic, screaming for my mother. i had this horrifying image of another tree falling on the roof/attic, pinning my parents. much to my intense relief, my parents were already scrambling out of the attic.
as it turned out, another large branch of the tree, which was being held up by a powerline, snapped off- downing the powerline, and just BARELY missing my house. the branch swept the side of the house, bringing down the rotting gutter and brushing the windows. but no windows were broken. my parents and i was only 5 feet away from the downed branch, and if it fell to only few more feet on the left, we both could've been injured. yes, we were stupid enough to head up to the attic in the middle of the windstorm, while there was still danger.
i knew that everything had changed. i had to call my boyfriend's family, and inform them of the emergency. he was supposed to wake up only four hours later to get ready to head for the airport. my family ended up staying at a hotel for nine days, as we waited for someone to come and restore electricity to our house, and as things turned out, my boyfriend wasn't able to come at all- which worked out in the end.
as i ponder of the details, i become more amazed. our roof is only 3-4 inches thick with the tiles and the wood. The diameter of the branch that was resting on our roof was nearly a foot. the other branch that had brushed the side of the house was over 2 feet in diameter. and our house were perfectly intact- no serious damage done to the roof, except for a tiny hole. by the winds and the weight of the branches, our roof should've collapsed, like many other houses that were hit by fallen trees in our area. no windows was broken, which is incredulous, after seeing the pictures above. it was really interesting of how the fallen tree brought down the old, rusty things- the rusting and leaning fence marking the boundary of my neighbor and my home, and the rotting gutter. we had just painted the white fence in the picture- and there was no damage done to it- especially as we were taking down the tree- we had to roll it off our roof, and was bracing for the trunk of the branches to crush the white fence. instead, it fell neatly and cleanly between the posts of the open gate of our white fence.
we were really lucky compared to many, many of our neighbors. many neighbors had to go without electricity and heat for few to several days- we were sent to a hotel, paid in full by our insurance, since the tree had downed our powerline and caused minor damage to our property. if the tree only downed the powerline and caused no damages, we would've been stuck freezing our butts off for several days.
everything worked out so smoothly, it was unbelievable. i saw how He was SO in control with each and every detail- my family's safety while we were in the house, the timing of everything, the major damages prevented and so many more.
amazing, eh? this will be one of my favorite stories to share. each and every time my family has a crisis, it always works out smoothly or He shows up to take care of everything. it's amazing.
i will never, never forget the night. it was evening on december 14th. mom and i had just survived an odd trip from a drama performance at a high school, driving around fallen branches and nearly being hit by a truck in an intersection because the power was out. we were just laughing about how incredible the windstorm was, and how it was mighty enough to make the power of an entire high school building go out- we would never forget what we witnessed that night. i knew it would be a memorable christmas break, especially that the very next morning, a plane would bring my boyfriend at that time, to the northwest to meet my family for the first time. i was excited.
but little did we know what was in store for the rest of the evening. mom and i had just pulled up in the driveway of our house, when our neighbor waved to us frantically. he was pointing to something behind our house. in the dark, we were able to make out the incredible sight of debris approximately 7 to 10 feet high, along with a tree resting on the roof of our house. our jaws dropped. we rushed into the house to inspect the damage done to my sister's room, since it was the affected region. i was expecting mayhem in my sister's room, shattered glass and pine branches and pieces of the wall and roof all over. instead, we were shocked to discover a small branch poking through the ceiling. the hole was only few inches wide, and several inches long. the fireman had come, deemed the house safe, and left before mom and i even arrived.
we went bustling around, trying to patch up the hole in the ceiling, and put tarp and buckets around the damage zone to prevent water damage if it rained. my parents and i headed up in the perfectly intact attic, and was further surprised to see no further damage had been done. my parents stuffed tarp around the branch in the attic, and sent me downstairs to get one more bucket. i clambered down, and headed downstairs.
as i reached the basement and turned to the direction of the garage, a loud THUD exploded in my ears, and everything went black.
high on adrenaline and shocked straight, i instinctively ran back to the attic, screaming for my mother. i had this horrifying image of another tree falling on the roof/attic, pinning my parents. much to my intense relief, my parents were already scrambling out of the attic.
as it turned out, another large branch of the tree, which was being held up by a powerline, snapped off- downing the powerline, and just BARELY missing my house. the branch swept the side of the house, bringing down the rotting gutter and brushing the windows. but no windows were broken. my parents and i was only 5 feet away from the downed branch, and if it fell to only few more feet on the left, we both could've been injured. yes, we were stupid enough to head up to the attic in the middle of the windstorm, while there was still danger.
i knew that everything had changed. i had to call my boyfriend's family, and inform them of the emergency. he was supposed to wake up only four hours later to get ready to head for the airport. my family ended up staying at a hotel for nine days, as we waited for someone to come and restore electricity to our house, and as things turned out, my boyfriend wasn't able to come at all- which worked out in the end.
as i ponder of the details, i become more amazed. our roof is only 3-4 inches thick with the tiles and the wood. The diameter of the branch that was resting on our roof was nearly a foot. the other branch that had brushed the side of the house was over 2 feet in diameter. and our house were perfectly intact- no serious damage done to the roof, except for a tiny hole. by the winds and the weight of the branches, our roof should've collapsed, like many other houses that were hit by fallen trees in our area. no windows was broken, which is incredulous, after seeing the pictures above. it was really interesting of how the fallen tree brought down the old, rusty things- the rusting and leaning fence marking the boundary of my neighbor and my home, and the rotting gutter. we had just painted the white fence in the picture- and there was no damage done to it- especially as we were taking down the tree- we had to roll it off our roof, and was bracing for the trunk of the branches to crush the white fence. instead, it fell neatly and cleanly between the posts of the open gate of our white fence.
we were really lucky compared to many, many of our neighbors. many neighbors had to go without electricity and heat for few to several days- we were sent to a hotel, paid in full by our insurance, since the tree had downed our powerline and caused minor damage to our property. if the tree only downed the powerline and caused no damages, we would've been stuck freezing our butts off for several days.
everything worked out so smoothly, it was unbelievable. i saw how He was SO in control with each and every detail- my family's safety while we were in the house, the timing of everything, the major damages prevented and so many more.
amazing, eh? this will be one of my favorite stories to share. each and every time my family has a crisis, it always works out smoothly or He shows up to take care of everything. it's amazing.