Nothing Like an Ice Storm to Start Off the New Year!

Happy New Liturgical Year! I hope that you all are having a lovely start to your Advent season, full of blessings and grace. As I mentioned the other day, my husband and I traveled to Kansas for Thanksgiving, and after some awesome games, discussions of politics, literature, & liturgical things, and much Emma Approved (I totally got my mom and sister hooked on it!) we drove back to Oklahoma on Saturday evening...to find that Northwest OKC had been visited by none other than Princess Elsa in our absence. 


Trees-turned-icicles were everywhere, and the weight of the ice caused some trees to fall over into roads or yards. As we were driving down one road, the sky in front of us suddenly lit up with a greenish-orange color a few times. Was it aliens? Nope, but it seems like it was some strange power explosion. As we drove on, darkened buildings and more ice greeted our eyes. 

Yet, the intersection right by our apartment building had power, so we had a good feeling about things...and then we drove into the parking lot. Our complex isn't that huge, with only about 250-300 apartments, but the whole thing was out of power, and those icy trees were everywhere! So, last night and today after Mass, I basically felt like a bear: we found every blanket in our apartment, piled all of them on our bed, and crawled underneath. My husband, luckily, had a fully-charged 3DS to play with, and I decided to read The Hiding Place (some perrspective about the victims of the Holocaust is a nice way to keep from being a total wimp during a power outage) and catch up on sleep. Earlier this afternoon, my husband started getting some sandwiches ready, and after much moaning and groaning (while I tried not to be a total wimp, I was still a bit of a wimp), I pulled myself out of the warm covers. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I saw a small light. The power finally came on! 

Our apartment complex!

Our lovely parish, which thankfully had power! 

So much ice! 

So today, I am very, very, very thankful for power. I am thankful for heat, for shelter, for blankets, for a wonderful husband who runs food out to the car so it will stay cold all night, and for sandwiches,  I am also incredibly thankful for the hundreds of people who have been working around the clock to help the 70,000+ customers in the Oklahoma City area who suffered from a power loss! 

The view from the main window in our apartment. 

The trees decided to attack this poor renter's pickup truck! 

Another tree right outside our window!