Disaster Area, and more

Turns out I live in a disaster area. The entire state of Iowa has been declared a disaster area due to the weather. Where I live in Cedar Rapids, we've had it easy. No power outages. No real challenges other than being stuck in the house. But all around us there's terrible effects of last week's ice storm. I drove down a rural road this week en route to a meeting. There were at least 50 power poles, snapped, toppled by the weight of the ice. Some other poles and trees had a sheet of ice around them perhaps 3 to 5 inches thick! It was bizarre to see! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me.

Danette had to fly to South Dakota for work and got stranded. When flights got canceled, she decided to rent a big SUV and ride out the storm. Fortunately, she decided to do the right thing and pull into a hotel in a litte town in South Dakota when visibility got too poor. (A lot of highways have been closed due to the strong winds causing white-outs. Apparantly, lots of cars are in the ditches on the side of the road. With travel nearly impossible even to rescue vehicles, volunteers have been taking to the highways on snow mobiles to rescue stranded motorists.)

I'm thankful Danette was smart enough to pull over. It's a bummer that she's stuck in a hotel out in SD, though.

I miss my friend. It has been such an incredible blessing to spend this "recompression time" at her house. She travels a lot due to work, so though I stay at her home right now, she's actually gone more than she's home. In fact, she was stranded in Atlanta, Georgia, just this past weekend due to weather.

It's rare to meet a friend like her, someone with whom your heart connects instantly, who makes you laugh and who challenges you. She's been a huge blessing to me. I've realized that I don't write much about her. For those of you here in Cedar Rapids who know her, you'll agree with some of the things I love about my friend: Her love for God. Her love of life. Her passion. Her smile. Her laughter. Her heart. Her guts. Her giftedness in working with people.

I've been blessed with several amazing friends in my life. Danette stands out as one of the best, a Proverbs 27:17 friend.

Speaking of friends: Pam and I were able to go and see Amazing Grace this evening. (We were supposed to go last Friday but got snowed in.) I absolutely loved the movie! It's truly inspirational. I wholeheartedly agree what Pastor Kim says about the movie!

I found this clip from the movie on Christianity.com. (Click on the link for more clips from the movie.)

The movie truly makes you wonder: What would it take to change the world?

Blizzard

Late this afternoon, I finally got out to scrape ice off the car and move it out of the driveway in preparation of a trip to the airport. (I wanted to be able to get to Danette's Pilot in the garage. I'd much rather be driving a big SUV on these roads than a small sedan.)

What a job getting the thick sheet of ice off the windows. It was bizarre working so hard just to back the car out of the driveway, but you can't quite drive not being able to see a thing through the windows.

And that's what it's supposed to be like tonight. Whiteout conditions. Some roads in the area are closed due to power lines being down. Teams are being brought in from surrounding states to help with the power outages. Much of Cedar Rapids was without power this evening. Fortunately, in my part of town, power was out for maybe 3 seconds. I'm trusting it'll stay on for the rest of the night. It's starting to snow quite heavily, so with heavy snow packed on icy cables, it's possible we can still lose power. We're supposed to be getting up to 9" of snow in this part overnight.

I ended up not going to the airport after all, by the way. Danette's flight was canceled. She's stuck in Atlanta, hoping to get in tomorrow. I'm hoping they're able to land by early afternoon... Church has been canceled for tomorrow. I'm ready to have my friend back home.

Hanging out with friends

Lunch break
Originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

My dear friend Mary gave me a call the other day. "Do you want to take a break and go watch the eagles?" she asked me.

We drove to a spot in town where there were innumerable bald eagles. I braved the cold to go and snap a few pictures.

After that, we drove to Mary's fiance, Weir's home to watch the birds in his yard. Weir's a bird expert and used to own the local wildlife goods store. In his yard, there are perhaps 20 bird feeders! As we drove up, wild turkeys ran into the woods behind the house. There were juncos feeding on the ground, downy woodpeckers hanging out on the feeders, and the trees were dotted red with perhaps 50 or more cardinals! There were also a number of other little birds which I cannot remember the names for right now. Will have to ask Weir what they are!

Click on the cardinals to see pictures of the eagles and more.