Tuesday, June 10, 2008

...and THEN four trees FELL ON MY HOUSE!

YES... you heard me right!
Sunday night... storm... funnel clouds... SMASH... two trees on our house.

My neighbors came RUNNING to our house yelling in. They thought for sure we were trapped or hurt.

Only because of the LORD'S protection did nothing crash through windows, etc. We do have some roof damage and deck, yard.

During crisis like these it is amazing how people help others. I met neighbors I hadn't met in 4 years... coming to check on me.

AND Steve was out of town. THANK THE LORD my parents were there... BECAUSE....

Sat. our ONE VEHICLE stopped working. Steve tried to fix it. AND.... do I need to go further!

SO, Dad came up to try and fix it. AND our toilet broke... and MY resurrected cell phone finally died... and the fire alarm broke... THEN the trees fell on our house... ALL WITHIN 12 hours!

Still no power. Maybe Wednesday!

Still waiting to hear from the insurance company. Filed a claim one hour after damage.

Our house was on Channel 7 news from the air. Brianna said, "MOM... channel 7 is hovering over our house with a big camera out the window." We were in Applebees last night eating, watching the news... and it panned across our house.

Notice the two trees... twisted trunks.

Weston is coming home this weekend. He says he is going to climb the trees from the back of the yard to the top of the house... but first we have to find out what the wires are under the trees. We think they are cable or internet.

See the picture looking out my patio door. My mom was sitting in the chair. I saw the trees falling and yelled, "MOM... move!"

The storm came up within 30 seconds and lasted only a couple of minutes. The warning sirens went off 5 minutes AFTER everything stopped!

I can open any window on the back side of my house and the branches come right in!


View from the back of the yard looking towards the house through our swing set which was untouched... along with the Birdhouse in the tree left standing. CRAZY!
... you can see the top of the house if you look close.



This is what the back yard looked like LAST WEEK!














Looking out patio door.





If any one is free later... and you have a chain saw....




This was posted quickly when I was online at Panera. Sorry if the pics and captions aren't in order. I will update when I get power.

AND if you want to click on the pictures they should enlarge.

20 comments:

Netta said...

Oh, Mary Beth, I'm so thankful that you guys are safe... and so sorry that you have to deal with all the clean up. We love you and will continue to pray.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yikes! I'm glad everyone is ok!

Anonymous said...

You know, you shouldn't let Steve leave the house ever again. Bad things always happen when he's away.

Tammy A
Baldwin

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy you guys are all okay! Wow! Nothing quite like hubby being away when things go wrong! Let me know next time Steve is away so we can pray a little harder!!! =O)

I remember the car breaking down on Joe's first trip. I was in tears by the time the tow truck arrived. The poor lady at Toyota was so worried about me...and then my dad arrived to help me! God bless dads! =O)

I hope you have a much better week! xoxo Karen

Anonymous said...

So tremendously glad you're all safe.

I must say, can you imagine what your life would be WITHOUT the favor of the Lord resting on you!!!

Web Designer said...

Wow. I'm so glad you guys are okay :-) Geesh, what an "exciting" 12 hours!!
Remind me never to visit when Steve is away :-)
Glad your all okay!

Anonymous said...

Mary,
I'm so thankful that it did not come through the house! You guys have sure been under attack as a family! We'll be praying for the clean up to go quickly.
Much Love,
Marg

Tammy said...

Oh my Mary Beth!! When it rains, it pours, but who would've thought trees would coming raining down! Praise God, you all are okay. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help out. I wouldn't trust Nino with the chain saw though :-) Can't wait to see you in St. Pete's Beach!!

Tammy

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the damage, We too were out of power for two days.

I don't care what anybody says....Our Y2K training came in handy! LOL!

Christine

Anonymous said...

Oh my GOSH!!!!! Praise the Lord you are all ok!
Absolutely amazing. We experienced something similar back in 1998 when we were selling our condo, we were days away from signing the papers and this huge tree fell landing perfectly between our unit and our neighbors when it should've fallen on our bedroom and crushed us! Wow! It makes me thankful for the 2 trees we just had removed from our yard this spring (they didn't look nearly as healthy as yours!) You'll never look at a tree quite the same way after this!

We posted our trees on Craig's list and a guy actually paid us for the wood!
Hope you get power back soon. Ours was restored last night at 9pm just as we were getting ready to camp out at the church (we are on a well, so no power, no water, no toilets!!!!!!)

Laurie

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a mess! Bless your heart. I am glad no one was hurt. And, it’s gotta be a bummer not to have power.



Remember how it used to rain so much in Camden that the ground would be saturated. We had a tree fall on our house once and water started pouring in the bathroom. But, it didn’t hit any of us. That was good. But our house didn’t look like yours. The before pic is beautiful. I am sure it will be beautiful again.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you and your family are safe! What a nightmare! If you need anything please just call!

Lisa @ The Preacher's Wife said...

Oh my goodness MB!

Those pics just send shivers up my spine..I'm SO glad you guys are okay...

Sharon said...

I'm glad everyone is okay, and the Lord's protection was over you during the storm!

Anonymous said...

I knew that was your house! I saw it on channel 7. I told Nathan it looked like your house. He was like "no way, that was not their house". I'm sorry I won an argument at your expense. Glad everyone is okay! If the insurance comes through, this could end up being a blessing. We'll pray for you!

Heidi B

Anneliese Dalaba said...

Thank God for His protection! Those storms were awful. My son and a friend spent some time in the basement on Friday night when the sirens went off while Curt and I were out at a restaurant in Lansing with friends. Our daughter was on the road (yikes!) and she said it was awful. I'm so glad you guys are alright.

FHL said...

Oh my goodness, so sorry to read about everything that was going wrong....but Praise God every one was OK!

Seems life always works that way, hubs go away and everything happens at once....makes us stronger though ;o) I guess :o)

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thank the Lord you guys were all right! His hands were all over those windows! How did the vehicle do in the storm?

Stacy

Anonymous said...

omg! those 12 hours sound exactly like any given 12 hours in our life! i am thankful that you are all well! so...gotta fireplace for all that kindling?? =)

Lisa B.

Karen Hossink said...

Wow!
Thank God He protected you. Even in the storm, He is there!
I know what you mean about people "coming out" when disaster strikes. It's too bad we don't make it out to see each other when all is well, but I am always thankful for the support in the hard times!