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Monday, September 15, 2008

We're Fine.

J, Kira and I are home now and VERY blessed. There isn't much damage other than many large branches that came down in the front and back. Amazingly we have power back. That's all God's doing.

I wasn't able to get online earlier today because we still did not have internet. I'm not complaining, since many people still do not even have power. The neighborhood right next to ours is still without power. We have friends from church who live there. I have not been able to contact them yet, so Jenn, if you can read this... you have a place to stay, shower, eat, or whatever if you need it. I didn't know if you went to your parent's or not.

A few of our immediate neighbors lost fences or have slight damage to homes. Many of our friends from church and J's office still don't have power. We even know of a couple at church who had a tree or two crash through their house. Literally from the roof, into the attic, down to the 2nd floor and then on down to the 1st floor. Fortunately they had left town, and now one of their companies is paying for an apartment to house them temporarily.

Wow what an experience.

Last time with Hurricane Rita, we left and drove north during the middle of the night which consisted of 8+ hours on the road. Honestly, I had the very similar feelings as I did this time around with Hurricane Ike except we were feeling it all inside the building.

Friday night I only got about 30 minutes of sleep while the storm was blowing and wreaking havoc. J, one of the owners and I stayed up most of the night mopping up water that was being blown into the building from the front doors. That was really spooky! No glass broke and only trees on the property were damaged.

Saturday morning J and I may have gotten about 30 minutes more of sleep before there were things to do and our nerves kept us from sleeping. If you've never experienced little to no sleep, and then anxiety, hard work, exerting yourself and stress all on top of that, it makes your body feel a little sick. Almost nauseous. Fortunately the two kids needed to take naps so we all decided it would be best for everyone to do the same. I think we all had about an hour and 45 minutes of sleep. That refreshed us all.

Thankfully we had the generator since the power stayed off until late Saturday night. The couple and their kids who stayed with us are part owners. The husband is a quadriplegic, so he NEEDED power to have a regulated temperature. We were all about to go to other locations late Saturday because the generator overheated (which is being dealt with, and the company/installer is being informed of the problems they caused). We had the needed items packed up and were locking the building door, when the power finally came back on. God is so good!

I'll have to upload some pictures, but they don't really do everything justice. J and I drove a few places Sunday afternoon and saw how much damage had been done just in the area. One area near where we use to live had about 6 telephone poles that snapped in half, just like matches. Other parts of Houston were and probably are still flooded. That is a big part of the reason people can't get anywhere. Food and supplies are having trouble being delivered, and some people aren't even allowed home yet.

Thankfully many of us were able to go home after the storm to pick up frozen meat and other food items and then take them back to J's office, since power was still out.

We are so thankful that God listens to, and answers prayers. I can't tell you how many we said over this weekend, especially during the hurricane. I know that Ike was only classified as a category 2, but he was only a degree/point or two from being called a category 3. The winds in our area reached upwards of 80 mph and the storm itself was about 600+ miles wide. I don't care what they say about a "big" storm being category 4 or 5, 600+ miles wide is a huge storm. Looking at it on the news over a map of Texas... Ike would have probably covered many states. Michigan? Oregon? Virginia? I'm pretty sure they would have been completely covered.

It's difficult after going through a hurricane all night and into the morning to hear announcements on the radio say to expect 8 more hours of high winds and rain the next day (which were fairly accurate). Then the next night we had really big rain storms. Adding more water to the rain we already had.

We had many people (family and friends) invite us to drive to their cities and stay with them, but because of traffic Thursday and Friday, and the already inclement weather, it was best for us to stay where we were. Plus J is on a team with his office in which he needed to stay and help out. He was on what they called the emergency/evacuation team. If we went anywhere, we were going to go where the company needed us. With Gustav, if it had been a category 4 or 5, we would have gone to San Antonio, although we wouldn't have minded. The same with Ike. Because it was just a category 2 (almost 3) we stayed here to do what was needed.

Another thing? Houston, Galveston and many surrounding cities had curfews. We weren't allowed to leave or be out after certain hours after Ike came through. That was a safety precaution, and a way to keep people from looting or breaking into homes and businesses in areas that were evacuated. If you were out after curfew, then police had cause to think you were up to no good, and they did actually catch and arrest people.

I'm just very thankful to be okay, and that the people we have talked to are okay as well. Some have damage and loss of property, but they are alive and they will make it.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! They WERE heard.

4 thoughtful comments:

Laura said...

I'm so glad you guys are safe! And what a blessing that everything is still intact! I hope your area gets back to normal soon.

I love you guys! I'll keep praying for you! xoxo
-Laura

glee said...

Good to hear you are back home and have power. I often wonder why the authorities don't ask folks who are in front of the storm to clear out earlier. Leaving a day earlier would have allowed you to get the sleep you needed and avoid the traffic rush. Makes no sense to me. Stuff is replaceable.

I hope things get back to normal soon for you!

Ann(ie) said...

I'm SOOOOO happy you guys are home, have power and hopefully also have much beer, wine and comfort food. 8) xoxoxo.

Ann(ie) said...

Oh and um this could be a sign to move to the Pacific NW and live next door to moi. ;) I'm just sayin.....

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