Hi all,
Barb called about 2am where I was in the Seattle area Monday a week ago, 4am her time in Oklahoma. A storm had come through with what we later found out were 110mph winds (177kph), knocking out power to thousands, and at our house uprooting about 12 large trees and several many ones around our house. Winds were measured at 142mph just north of us (229kph) and it took a week before power was restored fully in our area.
We were later told an F2 tornado had formed, and seemed to be true because the tops of many trees were twisted, and while our trees were laid down in a north to south pattern, a neighbor about .5 mile north (1km) had his trees laid down in a south to north pattern, indicating rotation.
Later that day Barb found a plastic straw driven about half its length vertically into the dirt straight up and down. We had heard tornados could drive hay from a field into a tree like a spike, but we had never seen something like that.
2 trees, tall and healthy white oaks, fell directly on our deck, destroying it, and narrowly missing the corner of the house where Barb had been sleeping. Another large white oak the deck had been built around was uprooted, and it was only the deck that was in a collar around the trunk that kept it from crashing into my home office.
The corner of the roof was damaged and guttering destroyed. Other trees fell on my truck, we think totaling it – still waiting for estimate. Others destroyed portions of our privacy fence on the north and south sides. Still another white oak dropped on another tree, which kept it from falling on Chris’ bedroom and bathroom. Others blocked our driveway. In my home office I have a big picture window overlooking the lake, and the branches from the tree that damaged the roof and gutters scraped that window, but didn’t break it. Amazing grace.
Barb was extremely shaken – it was dark, I was thousands of miles away, fallen trees were surrounding the house preventing her from getting off our property, power was out in the area though our generator had come on meaning she had power, the only house with electricity in the neighborhood. At 4am Seattle time, 6am Oklahoma time, I was on the phone with our home and vehicle insurance agents in Oklahoma, a tree removal company, fence repair company, and others, coordinating for shaken and understandably emotional Barb who should arrive where and when and how – everyone was up and working at 6am back home because of the storms.
One elderly couple had been in bed and a tree had fallen on their house, through their roof, and a large branch fell across them in bed, pinning them in bed. Rescue workers had to use chain saws to cut them free – and they were largely unhurt thankfully, just trapped by the branch pinning them to their mattress.
As it turns out, our insurance only covered $1000 of the tree removal company’s $10,800 bill. But it had to be done right away – the tree over Chris’ bedroom alone could have come crashing down at any time without notice.
I had posted some pictures on Facebook that Barb took later that morning, and some of those who saw our predicament generously sent some money to help, so that we remain only about $5800 short of the bill. Insurance will cover most of the fence, truck, deck – though so much remains out of the coverage of insurance – lots of yard work, home repair and other miscellaneous expenses for labor and repair, etc – many of you have no doubt been through things like this and know that even with the best coverage, there are lots of extra expenses insurance doesn’t cover.
We are most thankful Barb was unhurt. Our yard is very much changed in appearance, and we will have firewood for our wood burning stove for several winters, lol. We already had a long line of trees and debris washed up on the shore from the unusually high water that lasted through July, and now we have a huge pile of trees and branches to be sorted, cut, and the rest burned.
When I arrived home all I could do was hold Barb for awhile. She is amazing and handled everything with grace and clarity, directing tree removal crews, an insurance agent, TV/phone workers, and a neighbor who chain-sawed trees to let crews in and her able to walk off the property, and so much more. Thank you for any help you can provide for us to pay the parts of the bill insurance didn’t cover.
Pictures posted on our website, www.cwowi.org under ‘Updates from around the network’. To find that just scroll down a bit from the home page on the lower right side.
New England Conference, October 11-13, Manchester, New Hampshire
We still have a few openings if you want to come, but our deadline is fast approaching. You can go to our web site and find details and registration.
We’ll start with a welcoming cookout at the home of Tom and Sylvia Friday night, and Saturday will be filled with teaching, personal prayer, and worship. On Saturday afternoon I’ll be sharing some visitations with the Lord.
I’ve had, talk about prophetic things, and have a Q&A time. Sunday morning will be house church style, but we will make sure everyone gets prayer and we’ll see what the Lord says through and to each person. It will also be a great opportunity to meet others on the same spiritual page who live in that region.
Pray for us
Frankly, we are tired. Where did the time go from March-now? We went to Finland in March, to the EU conference in the Netherlands in May and early June, I had 2 heart procedures resulting in a defibrilator/pacemaker being installed in July. In August we had the US Midwest conference in Wisconsin, the week after that the storm hit and the rest of September will be filled with clean up, repair, and restoration. In October our US New England conference…then we rest!
We SO very much appreciate your prayers, your support, and we do need it all at this time.
God’s winks
We are thankful that among the thousands of trees and homes and other structures damaged in our area, no deaths occurred. We had to forcibly take our thoughts captive to Christ to maintain thankfulness and look for the good. Our home was spared, Barb was spared, I got a pacemaker in July, our son Brian who is on staff with us had successful back surgery a couple weeks ago, things with Chris are at a steady routine and level of health – there is much to be thankful for!
Chris and I were out yesterday during his normal Friday day with dad, and when we arrived at the dump/recycle station to throw out our trash there just happened to be a trash truck emptying the big metal containers into itself. The driver would pull the truck up to a container, then forked arms would go out from the front of the truck, pick up the container, loft it overhead and dump its contents in the back of the truck, it would compact the material, and then set the container down again in a noisy process that Chris loves.
It provided 25 minutes of pure fun and entertainment for Chris. I was thankful and amazed that through everything the past weeks and months, again, there was the Father’s faithfulness demonstrated, for as everyone knows which Chris says, “The Lord just loves trucks.”
The Father and Lord seem to take delight in the little things. It is like God winks His eye at us in a private gesture just to let us know He is still there, still on the job, ordering our steps, still looking out for the little things while we deal with the ‘big’ things. And yet I wonder if those little winks from Him ARE the ‘big’ things. For it is those little gestures that help us adjust our attitude towards the big things we have to deal with.
I just started a series on my Weekly Thoughts asking ‘How are you affirmed?’, and that is a perfect example. What affirms our faith, what confirms for us all we believe and know to be true, is true? For me, those little God winks are key. They are like bread crumbs along a long path leading us home, each one confirming we are on the right track.
How has God winked at you recently? Look for them, remember them, give Him thanks for them. And stay in that thankfulness.
A very newsy news letter – thank you for being in our lives!
Blessings,
John & Barb