OK, I take it back!

This is actually a follow up to my last post, which, for good reason was just published a few minutes ago although I wrote it two days ago. You many want to scroll down and read it first so you can get the full effect.

So I left it incomplete, since at that very moment I was interrupted by a HUGE POP!!!, followed by the sound of shattering glass and our electricity flicking off momentarily. All the girls were down for naps, and as I'd said, the weather was ominous, but when I typed those words describing our recent weather patterns, little did I know what we were about to experience. I didn't know what had happened but I knew glass had broken in our house and I could smell a burning smell, so I went and got AG, who was still awake and immediately dialed T at work, asking him to come home while I walked from room to room looking for the broken glass. When I walked into our living room, this is what I saw...


One of the two trees in our front yard, the one that is only about 10 feet from the house, had been struck by lightning! Panes from two windows in our living and dining rooms had been broken out by debris, which was all over our front yard,


and when T came in he said most of the bark had been stripped off the top of the tree. After the storm passed we were able to go out and take a closer look and a few pictures, which at least give an idea of the damage. We could see that one of the big upper limbs had been hit and was bare, and then it came all the way down the trunk and went into the ground.



There were big shreds of the inside of the tree on the roofs of several houses across the street from us! Here's a shot of T and the girls with one of the bigger pieces of bark...there were dozens of pieces almost this big.


T spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the yard and visiting with dozens of neighbors who stopped by to take a closer look, then yesterday we had people out to fix our AC and phone/internet, which all got messed up with the surge. Tonight we discovered our washer is also not working right, but all in all we have realized that considering what could have happened with the tree being SO huge and SO close to our house, the damage could have been much worse. We are so grateful to all be safe and our house relatively undamaged.

The saddest thing is that the tree, and its siamese twin, will have to be removed. AG said, "Where will we get another tree like that?" It's funny how some trees become really special, and these have worked their way into many of our days in our almost two years here, serving as a frequent photo spot and AG's starting line for her "exercises" (she runs from between the trees across to the other side of the yard and back). We will miss them! And even though I know God is in control of everything, I will not ever talk behind the weather's back like that again!