The Storm

Sunday night we were about to leave my (Brooke's) parent's house in Fruitport after picking up Teagan (they had babysat her that day while we were at a wedding shower for Tim's sister). We decided to give Teagan a bath before we left so she would be all ready for bed when we arrived home. Prior to starting her bath, we noticed that the weather was becoming overcast and the sky was getting really dark. We decided to move our van inside the garage so that we wouldn't have to load up things in the rain. Very soon after doing this, it began to rain really hard and the wind became unbelievably strong. We decided to go down to the basement since it felt like a tornado was brewing. We could barely see out of the windows since rain and tree limbs/branches were hitting them so hard. The power had also gone out. After 10 minutes, the storm died down and we peered outside to see the damage. It was really unbelievable...and devastating...how much wreckage happened in such a short amount of time. There were so many trees down around their house and in their driveway. There was no way to get out. Many of the trees were completely uprooted. There were also power lines down across their driveway. A large tree had fallen on a portion of their neighbor's house. Just incredible....and sad....and totally unexpected. Because there was no way for us to leave, Tim and my dad spent most of the night hooking up the generator and using the chainsaw to cut up and move fallen trees so that they could get out for work in the morning.

We are very grateful for God's protection and for the providential decision to stay to give Teagan a bath since we would have been on the road when all of this happened (one man from Grand Haven was killed while driving b/c of a fallen tree). Please keep Mom and Dad O in your prayers as they continue to do clean-up and find their way back to normalcy!

Their front yard will never be the same!

Their neighbor, Laura, after arriving home (she had to park over a half mile away b/c the roads and her driveway were blocked) and seeing the damage to her house and property for the first time.

Tim and my dad hard at work trying to make some progress on such an overwhelming task.