A huge ice storm rolled in Thursday night. We never lost power, but over 100,000 people in the city did. Many are still without power. And it's c-o-l-d. The temperature is dropping further, which means the ice accumulated on trees is gonna stay there for a while.

You can see what happened to the trees in front of our house. Two beautiful Bartlett Pear trees, which we planted in, I think, 1994, the year after we moved into this home. They were doing SO well. Now they're trashed. (Click the photo above for a large view)

Mom and Dad lost power around 7 a.m. Saturday morning, and it hasn't come back. They're using our generator right now. Dad says they're able to heat the house nicely, plus run the freezer, some lights, and the TV. So they're fine. Pam's sister Jodie is sleeping in a cold house again tonight.

Pastor Tim and Tara, along with their four young children, spent Friday night sleeping on the floor of the church. Tara's Mom, and her sister and brother-in-law, joined them, all having lost power. Tim called me this afternoon to talk about tomorrow's service. They were in Avilla at Tim's brother's place. As we talked, Tara called their home and said she heard the answering machine. A good sign. Was power back?

I volunteered to drive by the house, to see if lights were on. As it turned out, I ended up calling Pam, who was just going through the Scott's checkout line. I asked if she'd be willing to drive by Tim's house, which lies deep in a complex development. I'm not sure I could have found the house. I knew Pam could find it. She called me and said the Christmas lights were on. So I called Tim and told him. "You have no idea how happy that makes me," Tim said.

A section of our development just down the road got hit real hard. This section was lined with beautiful trees. That section of road is down to one lane, thanks to shredded trees. Looks like a war zone. Like a tornado ripped through. (Click the photo for a large view)