Nasty Ike

Growing up in Houston, it is surprising to me that this is the first hurricane I have weathered. I hope it was my first and last though. Ike was nasty. We hunkered down at Michael's Mom and Dad's house for the weekend and boy am I glad we did. Robert was in route from London but couldn't get to Houston until today. Thanks Kellie for the hospitality. She really took care of us, helping with Luke, cooking on the gas stove (note to self, make sure we have a gas stove in the next place we live), boiling water to make coffee, etc.

I didn't sleep but a wink Friday night, listening to the wind and rain and wondering when the power was going to go out. It finally did around 5 am I think. The rest of the day we spent watching the water rise and recede on their street and then walking around the neighborhood to survey the damage. The Merrick's house faired well and just has a lot of debris in the yard, a few trees down and part of the fence missing. My family had a tree go through a window and did some structural damage to the house. You can look up in the entry way and see the sky, and they were stranded in the neighborhood for 24 hours due to flooding! They still have smiles on their faces today though.

The power is still out in all of the Woodlands, but both of our parents got generators today. The energy companies are saying it could be two to four weeks before the power's back on up there.

We came back to check on our apartment on Saturday night and found a bit of a mess. We have power being on the Med Center grid, but no water. The ceiling was leaking like a waterfall in our kitchen and my closet when we got back. 80% of my hanging clothes and shoes were soaked with nasty brown water and red stains, but Praise the Lord for renters insurance. I used to question whether we should spend the money on it, but boy am I a renters insurance advocate now. Put me on a commercial.

Thank you Lord we are all safe and still have roofs over our heads. Pray for those that have lost everything. I have been brought to tears too many times to count just seeing the devastation in our neck of the woods. I can't imagine seeing the coast right now. Just Pray.

Here's how we passed some of the time. BUBBLES! :)