After the rain...

Yep, that's my dreary, jeep-unfriendly forecast for the next several days, through Saturday. Here is what today looks like...The current local conditions are drearily overcast with misty rain thickening the air. It's depressing. We haven't had rain in so long though, that I think we actually got to the point of needing it again. Driving over the Withlacoochee River Sunday, I noticed that it is almost completely dried out. Amazing how it can go from overflowing the road to barely a trickle in just a month's time. The precipitation relief has been much appreciated, I'm sure, by the home-owners in the once flooded areas, as it has given them a great opportunity to dry out their structure and prepare for rebuilding. As I drove through Meadowbrook yesterday, I noticed that all the volunteers have gone. What happens there? The excitement and tragedy wears off and volunteers return to normal lives leaving people just to deal with the rest. Dumpsters still litter the roads, filled to the brim with debris from inside the homes. Home-owners were still carrying more to them, a look of true weariness and exasperation on their faces, grieved, overwhelmed... worn out. It broke my heart to still be able to see through these structures... to still see so much work yet to be done. Recovery is not finished after the Valdosta flood.

PRAISE YOU IN THIS STORM
~Casting Crowns

I was sure by now, God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away, stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen, and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls, I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls, I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried, You hold in your hand
You never left my side, and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls, I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Peace be with all those suffering through a storm.
~Dewdrop

Well, that was fun...

It's sort of like coming down off of a sugar rush... In the peak of the storm, I was zipping back and forth between the front porch (west facing) and my computer (southeast corner of the house), half the time dripping from the torrential downpour that the roof didn't protect me from. The rain was coming down sideways. Under the street light across the street, I could see the wind fighting over which way it would carry the rain, north, no south... I would be blasted with a gust from one side only to be blasted on the other side at almost the same moment. I'd run to the computer, and it would say that there was hail... and I'd run outside to see if it was there... (no hail for me)... I'm certain that to my family and any observant neighbors, I must have looked like a lunatic... Perhaps I am. My conclusion is that... I LOVE Gibson Ridge! What a spectacular package! So many details, just with a glide of the cursor. At most, it was 6 minutes behind, which isn't too bad. I think I will buy it.

As for the rest of my world... well, between planning sports parties, ordering trophies, feeding the hungry, supporting our troops, collecting for charitable organizations, getting darling daughter to practice, sponsoring a child in a religious sacrament, preparing for the Breakfast with Santa at church and coming off the rush of a storm... what else could there be...?

Oh, and my picture above was taken in October... I probably shared it then, but I decided to put it here... since I don't have any good rainbow shots, which would really be good here...

Toodles,
~Dewdrop