It is late now -- way past our normal bedtime, but I'm staying up to get a bit of laundry done before bed. Laundry is not my normal Friday night activity, but Irene threatens us with her presence in the morning, and I want to have enough clean clothing to last a few days should the power go out. Thankfully, the storm is not looking quite as strong as initial projections seemed, but still will bring quite a bit of wind and rain to our area. I think we are as ready as we can be -- extra water on-hand, stocked up on food and batteries for flashlights a bit, picked up all of our outdoor belongings and stored them in the shed, and now, we wait...

If you have a moment, pray with us for safety and the well-being of our home. There are a couple of concerns that we have -- particular vulnerabilities with our home. We have a relatively large tree in our backyard that died last year. We have not yet had it taken down. Dead trees during torrential rains and heavy winds don't always fare so well. We are praying that this tree does not fall during this storm! It could damage any number of things, including our home. Also -- we are praying that water does NOT come into our home. The room that we recently finished and turned into an office is the only room in our house that does not have crawl space under it (because it used to be a garage). Because of that, it is definitely the most vulnerable room in the house to water. Ultimately, we know that it is God who directs the storms and the winds and the waters, and He is good...always.