Let The Recovery Begin (Hurricane Sandy)

As I continue to pray for the areas and families affected by Hurricane Sandy I had to stop for a moment to thank God for having mercy on our small city. There were only a few parts in our area, including my home, that had power outages and suffered damage. My parents house are surrounded by enormous oak trees but thankfully only a few small to medium sized branches fell. The power outage only lasted an hour or so but during that time I let fear sweep over me briefly and then imagined how the millions of people who were in the eye of the storm were feeling.

Pumpkin woke us up around 2 am and I offered to get up and take her out. As I tried the hall light that's when I realized the power was out. I heard sirens and the wind howling and all I could think of was "How bad is it out there?" and "Why didn't we prepare for this better!? We don't have enough water or food!" Gary was moving some of our food in the fridge to the freezer and warned me not to flush the toilets so not to waste our water supply (um, ok-who knew!). As I waited by Pumpkin's crate to help her get back to sleep about 20 mins later the power came back! We were so relieved--waking up the next morning I found out that the majority of my town hadn't had any power outages. Thankfully, we only had to experience it for a short time. I thought to myself how incredibly blessed we were and what the rest of the east coast was going through.

I turned on the news first thing Tuesday morning and saw all the damage from Sandy. My heart goes out to all the families and all my friends who are still without power. I am praying for you all to have a quick recovery and for your safety!!! If you feel God pressing on your heart to help out with any relief efforts visit the KLOVE news page for more info (www.klove.com). God bless you friends and remember God has not left your side, not once during this devastation.

“For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory.” Psalm 84:11

Surf's Up!

I couldn't go without writing a post about my first experience surfing in NYC with my hubby--here it is:

We like to visit NYC at least around half a dozen times a year, it's also great because I have a group of friends that are always more than willing to let us crash at their place. I can't explain how much I love crossing the bridge into the city--almost instantly we feel that particular thick, warm  air. A few minutes later I can smell the ocean...*sigh* Yes. I love this place.

Surfing was by far the best time I have ever had! We loved it so much!!! The waves were somewhat intimidating that morning we went out, the sky was cloudy and the winds were picking up. You could tell from the instructors that this was not a normal day with quiet waves. They crashed one after the other. As soon as we picked up our boards it became real to me and I almost chickened out. Gary remembers me saying "Ok this is way to scary. Let's go!" and I remember praying for God to keep us safe!

There were a mix of jumper waves/face smacking waves/take me under and drag me 10 ft back waves--all totally enjoyable! We'd jump on our boards as the instructor positioned us, he'd yell "paddle, paddle" and soon after "UP! UP!" let me tell you--the BEST feeling in the world was riding that wave-it wasn't huge but it still gave me such a rush! Wish I had a video but I do have a few pictures....

Gary and I were cheering eachother on and every time Gary saw the instructor free he'd yell  "Go on babe! I wanna see you ride another one!" He was too sweet and knew how badly I wanted to try this. New hobby? I think so!

People. I think I'm addicted.

#healthyadrenalinerush