AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday night at about 6:30pm our house was hit by lightning! Taz, Bob and I were at home but we are all okay! Taz and I were in the kitchen when the lightning actually hit the house. I saw a really, really bright blue/white light and BAM! Our power went out and Taz howled like I have never heard before. The insurance lady later told me that because our house is built on a slab and because animals don't have anything on their feet, he was actually electrocuted by the lightning that went through his body. After taking care of him for a minute and figuring out something was wrong, I walked outside and saw this just above our side garage door.

That is where they suspect the lightning actually struck the house.

Of course, the one time I didn't charge my cell phone the night prior; I had almost no cell power so I had to go to the neighbor's house and call the power company. It was still raining at this point and I actually RAN next door. As I rounded the corner of our house headed next door, I saw a Progress Energy truck pulling away from the house caddy corner to ours. About 15-20 minutes later, the guy showed up and I realized the full damage to the outside.

This is where it went to the right from the "strike" and that is the cable internet line which was fixed today so I could post this!

These are the two points to the left of the "strike" where the vinyl trim was blown off of the house. You can't see it well in this picture but there is another burnt point at the very top of the roof.

Lightning is mysterious! It actually rounded the back corner of the house and this is just above our back door. It was searching for a way to get to the ground. (sorry about the sunshine!)

And here is where it found the "ground" at the bottom of our back door. Very weird.

Yeah, our first estimate is $1,300+ in exterior damage repairs! A friend had tried to call me while this was happening and when she couldn't get our house phone to work, called my cell. With the last 15 seconds of power I had, I told her the power was out, the house had been hit by lightning but we were okay. She offered to come over but I said we would be fine. She knew something wasn't right so she came over anyways! Taz and I spent Monday night at her house (that's the house Taz found Nate at) and I started the lengthy process of getting repairs and filing an insurance claim on Tuesday morning. Our present interior damaged items are: stove, TV in living room, Xbox 360, PS2 (Nate's with all the extra hard drive and modem and such; of course not mine because it was the basic version), elliptical machine, stereo receiver, cable modem, router, and house phone.

Thought you might enjoy a shot of our tyedyed TV! :)

I am exhausted and have to return to work tomorrow! Keep us in your prayers so we can get these things taken care and our life can return to normal. NATE SHOULD BE HOME IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!!!

~S