I did not quite believe it when locals in Pennsylvania told us almost 1.5 years ago that this place would have hard winters especially since we had a mild winter last year. In comes this year with our little Maximus and Nikka for surprises. First a big snowstorm and then an ice storm and then no power.
I always thank God for these surprises because it teaches me more about myself and more about my husband and how we can better work through crazy situations such as losing power over 36 hours. As I sit here writing this I know there are still LOTS of people without power. I am super thankful for all the hard work the PECO workers are doing in order for us to have power but it is even more incredible the generosity that has been extended to us.
We could never have imagined being out of power and for 36 hours at that because I know it could have been longer. I really tried not to worry and was as calm as possible but my tummy said otherwise with an upset stomachache every time I ate something. The first day we trucked through our experience and stayed at home because it still was not that cold. We layered up and kept on our day. The kids did not make anything of it and only objected on the hats they had to wear throughout the day.
As the evening approached we really wanted to get out our chilly home and head out to an open restaurant for a warm meal. We had called several places in the area but we were not sure if our favorite Mexican would be open since their phones were not up. We drive by and it was open so we had to find an ATM since they were only taking cash. We arrived around 5 pm and did not get seated until 20-25 minutes later since the restaurant only had limited servers. We had our delicious dinner and headed to the mall until closing time. The mall had their heat blazing but there we could all settle, getting our phones charged at Verizon and laptops charged too.
We headed home to settle for the night at 50 degrees leading our kids with flashlights to their bedrooms for a good nights sleep. I really tried not to worry but my tummy was doing jumping jacks because all I could think were my kids getting sick, but they were covered well in blankets and in layers so they woke up really warm. The problem was when we woke up. It was FREEZING on our first floor and we decided to pack up quickly and head to our friend’s home to work for the day and for the girls to have a place to be warm.
Half a day went by and we were happy to find out that our power came back and it was a relief. I had prayed, not trying to feel selfish, that God would bring back our power so we could have our homes and not inconvenience people. I was thankful to Him because God is great in little things and big things.
What did we do with our freezer and fridge items? We had our patio and actually salvaged pretty much all of our food by placing it on the patio, so, thank God, but there was no dinner. Thankfully we were invited to dinner with another family and then we came back home ready to sleep in our warm home.
We learned a lot and I cannot even believe that even now, people do not have power, so we pray for you who do not have power and we thank the Philly Social Media Moms who lovingly and generously offered their homes and their meals. We felt loved indeed. Go check out their websites!
