heartofdakota.com

Fellow Floridians and other friends,
I am praying our State will not be hit too hard! We are in Pasco County and thankfully I have city water so we dont lose it when the power goes out! I live right in city limits, but am still considered rural.
Sometimes these storms can be fun. No electricity means lots of reading, no TV and playing games! It is exciting to be tracking the storm. Believe me, it is not always fun..it can be scary,but for the most part, it is an exciting time I think. No worse than preparing for the snowstorms and blizzards I remember growing up in Massachusetts.Although...blizzards never blew your house away...but at least hurricanes are WARM!!
I did baking today,bought some munchies and chocolate too! The grill is here to cook on and we have water and ice.
See you soon FAY!

Thank you HOD sisters for lifting our State up in prayer!

Praying for you ladies now and we'll be thinking of you tomorrow!

Blessings,
Carrie

Mary,

I remember those hurricanes! Growing up on the Gulf Coast and then living in Florida for 8 years, I am so familiar with the 'hurricane drill'. It can be scary...and it's really hard to know whether to stay or leave sometimes. I'll keep your family in my prayers. Even though it is serious business, when they're not too bad it can be kind of fun to gather together and do things differently than normal. We used to gather at different relatives homes (many of us) and play cards by candlelight (once the power went out) or listen to stories told by the aunts and uncles. I have good memories...at least from my childhood. But I've also stayed through some that I can see now we would have been better off leaving during. We lived in Auburn, Al during hurricane Opal (hit FL and AL, I think)and we were out of power for 2 weeks, 4 hours from the coast. We lived in a trailer, and had an offer to go to someone's home, but as young marrieds thought we would ride it out. We were safe, but it was so scary to lsit and listen to all going on around us. God definitely had His hand on us there in our foolishness!We left in 2003 when Frances went through, then had to run back to Florida because Ivan was heading straight for Alabama...only to still be out of power 10 days after the storm...only to run again (to Orlando this time) for hurricane Jeanne. But then when Floyd was threatening the east coast we left, and it ended up not being bad at all for us...and that was supposed to be a 5. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I understand what you're going through and I will be praying. As a matter of fact, we still own a home in Brevard county, so I will be praying for our own property and family members in Vero Beach as well. Let us know how it all turns out.

We lived in Auburn, Al during hurricane Opal (hit FL and AL, I think)and we were out of power for 2 weeks, 4 hours from the coast. We lived in a trailer, and had an offer to go to someone's home, but as young marrieds thought we would ride it out. We were safe, but it was so scary to lsit and listen to all going on around us. God definitely had His hand on us there in our foolishness!

Wow! I sort of drove Opal to Atlanta! I was at my cousin's home in Ocean Springs, MS and when Opal decided to turn and bear down on Mobile, I decided I really needed to get back to Atlanta before it hit. What a decision that was! I left headed east on I-10 when everyone else was headed west away from it. I got to Mobile and turned north and stayed in the bands of Opal all the way to Atlanta - got stuck in traffic on 65 for a while. I made it to Atlanta about 2 hours ahead of the eye. And, yes, Opal was still a hurricane when it hit Atlanta. That almost never happens that far inland! What a ride that was!

I am originally from La. so I am not really scared of hurricanes, but I do appreciate their force. But give me a hurricane over tornado alley anyday! I lived in Dallas for a year...now that was scary!

I am very happy that Fay seems to be just a lot of rain. FL has seen it's share of hurricanes for quite a while. I just hope it will come to Atlanta and stall out over Lake Lanier for a day or so....it needs it badly.

Judy

Okay..that 'just a lot of rain' has turned into 22 inches so far in the county where our home is located! We haven't heard anything yet about how it is on our street. I think some power has been out...but we plan to call our renters to find out all we can. We're just praying that there's no property damage from water, or tornadoes. There were a few of those as well.

Mary? Did you guys end up getting much of the storm?

You girls are so sweet! Thank you so much for your prayers! They worked a little too well. The storm hit every county around us and totally missed us. We didn't even get a good storm Though we had sprinkles and short rain storms. It has been totally overcast and when my husband and I walked on the water the big seas were just breathtaking! It is now getting ready to come back over the state again as a tropic depression. I hope to get at least one good storm?

InHisTiming, the flooding is bad over on the other coast. Last night on the news they had families taking canoes to their homes. The storm just sat right on top of that section and there was up to 25 INCHES of water dumped in some area's.

We're getting slammed by Fay right now and have been for 2 days. It's worse right now than it has been. I am shocked that we still have power since our electricity usually goes out when it sprinkles. LOL! (Ah - country life. ) Our wind gusts are getting stronger (in the 40s currently), and the rain is in sheets. The forecast for our area is that it will continue to get worse (stronger) before it gets better. "They" say that it's going to really get ugly after 5:00pm.

Please continue to pray for those of us still in Fay's path. Though she is not the strongest storm in Florida's history, she is still quite destructive.

Oh Tana,

I'm so sorry..., I am definitely praying for you! I hope you're not having any flooding!

Thanks, Mary.

My husband just called to let me know that his office/shop (where he is right now) is flooding as we speak. And our garage is flooding as well. I'm so sad. But, it's just stuff, right?

Tana in FL wrote:Thanks, Mary.

My husband just called to let me know that his office/shop (where he is right now) is flooding as we speak. And our garage is flooding as well. I'm so sad. But, it's just stuff, right?

Oooh Sweet Friend..., I am so sorry

Sending positive thoughts and prayers to you and your family. Hope all goes well.

Natreez

Tana I am praying for you. Yes it is just stuff and people are what is important but it is sad to lose stuff sometimes so I am praying for peace and protection for your family.

Ladies,

Thank you so much for your warm thoughts and your prayers. Right after I sent that last message on Thursday, our power went out. It came back on very briefly yesterday, then went out again. We finally, FINALLY got it back at 3:00 today. It's *still* raining here. Rivers are flooded and homes are ruined. I guess what has made it so bad is not the winds but the fact that Fay hit us going both directions. She went across the state, settled on us then went back across hitting us with her other side. The sun did poke through for a short time today though, and the electricity is back, so things are looking up!

It means a lot to me that you thought of us and prayed for us. I appreciate it more than you know. On the bright side - I read a lot of the manuals (LHFHG, BHFHG, DITHOR) while the electricity was out. I'm SO excited to start!

Thanks again, ladies!! It's nice to be back.