Weather Update

Thanks to those who reached out to make sure we are OK. It's been quite a week here on the East Coast, between an earthquake and a hurricane.

Irene shooed us out of our Jersey Shore vacation a day early, and now it has us hunkered down indoors. Yesterday morning brought a flurry of outside activity in order to be safely sequestered now: did the grocery and drugstore runs, got Chinese food, and took the kids for one more swim at the Y.

Our cabin fever is somewhat lessened and somewhat magnified by the fact that we have been taking our meals up on our third floor: we are in the midst of a major kitchen renovation, so our stuff is in boxes, our fridge is still on the first floor, and we've moved our base of operations to the play area of our kids' floor, where there is a sink, counter space, and a table.

It's been fun to eat dinner together up there, even though the area is really cluttered, between all their toys and all our essential kitchen items (including microwave, coffee pot, and George Foreman griller). Whenever the electricity went out in California growing up, the Huangs would huddle up, read stories by flashlight, and sleep in sleeping bags to keep each other from feeling scared. So there's a little bit of coziness associated with weather-related adjustments to the usual home set-up.

Still, here's hoping Irene blows over soon. There's water everywhere, we're ready to resume our normal rhythms, and there are plenty in this city and other cities all up and down the East Coast who are in deeper water than us. In the meantime, we wait, somewhat unnerved by the feeling of helplessness as we are square in Irene's flight path, trusting in the God who is at once the source of and the protector from such an awesome natural force.