So, this is a tropical storm?

Alexandria, Virginia-- Not sure what this storm will bring, but I'll give you my first hand report from the Nation's Capitol! While I am taking this storm seriously and everything on here is true, take it with a grain of salt ;)

Sunday, August 28

10:45 am: Lots more trees down than I expected on the GW parkway. Pretty big ones had fallen, but none blocked the road or me from getting to church!

9:45 am: We didn't even notice, but apparently our house did suffer a bit from Irene...probably partially because of the earthquake, I'd imagine. Our landlord heard a thud around two and this section of the stairs had fallen.

9:20 am: I think this is my last update on the storm. Not sure there will be much else to tell. I'm still glad to have been prepared, better safe than sorry. If there hadn't been major warnings in the area and there HAD been great damage, half the recovery would have been playing the blame game and that doesn't help a thing.

I feel bad that the lack of visual damage in my area was kind of a let down. I know there are people up and down the coast who have suffered great loss in the past 2 days and my heart goes out to them.

8:30 am: Amanda and I decided to go out and check things out. To be honest, it looks nothing worse than a normal thunderstorm. I was actually scared at a point last night, but the damage is next to nothing in Old Town. Smaller branches down and large puddles, but no flooding or trees down.

8:11 am: Okay...maybe it isn't that much calmer. I think we need to go investigate.

8:00 am: Waking thought: There was a storm last night? Just kidding, but it is much calmer today. Still very windy, but the rain has stopped. It may also be a little less menacing since the streetlights aren't making the trees reflect on my wall.

3:05 am: Still the strongest winds we've felt. Making it pretty hard to sleep!

12:30 am: Well, I was actually sleeping quite soundly until Ben texted and called and then I was jolted fully awake by strong wind. First time I considered moving to my floor to be away from the window. This is definitely the strongest wind yet, even though the radar is no longer showing us at the center. It has actually sounded almost like rumbling thunder, but it is really just the wind. Lightning now for the first time too.

Saturday, August 27

11:04 pm: Calling it a day and hoping to sleep tight.

9:57 pm: Amanda and I decided to go check on the cars to see if any big branches are down. We were feeling adventurous until we stepped out our front door. I think the umbrella against the wind made it feel a lot stronger because clearly the wind won. Amanda thought she was being blown away and walking West back toward the house was a wet one so we ducked close to the ground as we walked. We wanted to walk to check out King Street, but only got about 50 yards in that direction. The wind was so strong we ended up hiding in a stairwell until the biggest gust passed. I was just waiting to get beamed. While I blame part of it just on not being able to control the oversized umbrella, it still scared us enough so that we probably won't be going back outside this evening.

9:21 pm: No further mention of Georgetown...not sure that was a correct report. Waiting for the power to go out. Ugh.

9:05 pm: About to hit DC. Tornado Warning in Georgetown. I will not be leaving this evening...unless it is to check on the car. Higher winds expected. Ahhh....

8:36 pm: I keep hearing noises in my room. Pretty sure it's more brick/sand falling from the walls like during the earthquake. Great.

8:34 pm: Window on West side of the house still wide open and giving us great sound effects, but no rain. Wind starting to make me a tad nervous.

8:26 pm: Supposedly it is supposed to get worse tonight and 100,000 in DC area are without power. Towel by my window is soaked, but so far so good. Amanda and I are debating trekking out. Can we see anything in the dark? Movie at Lauren's? Local pub? Staying put for now.

8:07 pm: Hear brakes slam and some choice words from the street. Jump up to look out my window to only see a car stopped. False excitement.

6:09 pm: Listen to the Oldie "Come on, Irene" in honor of Irene blowing and learn that the song is actually "Come on, Eileen"...change the title of this blog. (Google it right now though and there are plenty of people who were mistaken!)

5:17 pm: First drips of water come in my window. I feel like the movie Signs. It’s here.

5:10 pm: Observe trees blowing in circular motions.

4:48 pm: First heavy rain.

3:15 pm: Grabbed our umbrellas and go for a walk. Got on a "news reel" and probably in the background of several others as there were trucks everywhere. Observed lots of sandbags and not much happening on the Potomac.

3:05 pm: As we prepare to find the "eye" of the storm I try to rewrite the lyrics to "Eye of the Tiger". Fail.

3:00 pm: Put on my rain boots.

2:00 pm: Rain starts to pick up, but windows are still open and wind isn’t ready to blow us away. Preparing to go down to check out the waterfront. Amanda declares it is the first time ever she wishes she had rain boots. (Radar: 2:16 pm)

12:00 pm: Still drizzling and still contemplating the couch.

11:00 am: Drizzling. Should we get the couch? Charging my camera. Question of the day: Where to park our cars?

10:00 am: Cloudy. We remember we’re supposed to pick up our couch today.

8:00 am: Decide to go get gas and pick up some batteries from Target. Hear it is supposed to start storming here at 10. Tropical Weather Storm watch? What the heck am I doing here?

12:15 am: Roommate tells me it has changed from “orange to red” on the map, so it’s getting worse. We discuss moving our cars and inspect the walls as she worries we’ll lose the roof. She is the only one who experienced the earthquake from our home and knows how old it is, especially during natural disasters.

Friday, August 26

8:45 pm: Friend calls offering to pick up water because it is out at several stores.

5:15 pm: Amanda finally seems a bit concerned.

5:05 pm: Dad tells me to keep him posted and he's kind of excited-wishes he was here with me.

3:30 pm: At this memory, I decided I’d rather be prepared for Irene then not. I drove down to Giant where I was unpleasantly surprised at the crowds. I figured I would miss them by going before 5:00. Wrong. There were no carts left so I picked up one of the last big things of bottled water and stood in line. I was charged a clearly inflated rate of $11.59 for that water and carried it out to my car before going back in for some food items. As I walked around the store and picked up apples, wine, crackers, and bread, I was thankful for the polite attitudes people were keeping. Walking back out to my car, however, I had visions of New Orleans after Katrina and I put my water in my trunk so people couldn’t see it if things got nasty. How terrible is that? I hate that my mind would even go there, but you never can tell in our fallen world.

3:00 pm: As I discussed the hurricane with my roommate, I recalled 2010 when I had first moved to Virginia. For several days, I watched my neighbors flock to the stores and buy out necessities such as Milk and shovels. I laughed and bought cookie supplies and wine. Fast forward 24 hours and we had 17 inches of snow and it stayed on our street for 3 days, fell again, and it was a full 6 work days before I could get into DC.

Morning: Kiki’s dad: You better just bail. Drive 100 miles west.

8:01 am: Text from dad: Will you maybe have to evacuate?

7:15 am: Text to Amanda from her dad: You need to go stay with your aunt in the mountains.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, "for our God is a consuming fire!" (Hebrews 12:28 & 29)

Since I'm updating about the hurricane I feel like I should share about the earthquake that took place earlier this week!

August 23, 2011--

I was sitting at my desk on the 6th floor of our building, about 5 blocks from the White House and started to feel some rumbling. I stand up to look outside, thinking a big truck must be going by. As it continues and I don't see anything strange outside the rumbling/vibrating turns into our building swaying from side to side. My reaction is to stay rooted in my spot, staring out the window, as I wonder if our building is going to collapse. The wiser people in my office were calling us away from the windows and we all stood there for a moment. We quickly see that people are leaving the building so we grabbed our phones and purses and followed.

When we got down to the street, we realized that it was not just our building. I immediately contacted a couple of people in the case that cell service wouldn't be around long and I didn't want them to worry. At this point we didn't know if it was a terrorist attack or earthquake and I was still waiting for something else to take place. People were saying it was like 9/11, my biggest thought was that it was the metro. Others mentioned a plane crash. For about 8 minutes no one had any idea what was going on. Cell reception was spotty, but from within our group we heard from the Capitol, Alexandria, and North Carolina and knew that at it couldn't be an attack, thank God.

We stood out there for some time and really didn't know what to do from there. Thankfully it wasn't chaotic, but an excited uncertainty filled the air. Can they predict another one coming? Can we go back in the building? Should we get away from the buildings? After a while we went inside to close up our computers and leave for the day. I was still pretty shaky by the time I made it to my car for the traffic jammed 8 mile drive home. I envisioned buildings falling or the 14th Street Bridge collapsing with a big aftershock. I really was quite shaken with the whole thing.

At home my frames were off the wall, a shelf had fallen, and in the intensity of the day I didn't even notice until Wednesday that there was a layer of sand/rock around the sides of my room from our ceilings. I live in a pretty old building so apparently it was pretty noisy when it all took place!

The events of this week are just a powerful reminder of what little control we have in this world. God can move mountains and oceans, people and hearts, and it can be so hard to trust in His plan. I sit quietly, clinging to His promises and amazed by His grace.

Interesting mentions of earthquakes in the Bible!