What a week it has been! It began on Thursday, September 11. Normally that day would be remembering what happened seven years ago, but instead, we had constant news coverage about the upcoming landfall of Hurricane Ike. We began our preparations, basically laundry and making a "plan" which consisted of the debate...should we stay or should we go! Here is our time line:
Monday-Wednesday, September 8-10: Watching all the weather segments on the news to see Ike's track; checking Weather Underground every 6 hours for the new models to come out (they come out at 2:00 & 8:00 est.). Concern started growing Wednesday.
Thursday, September 11: Brian's office closed at 9:00 a.m. to allow employees to make preparations. I started laundry and keeping things as caught up as possible. We cleaned out our laundry room closet, it was the only room where we all could be that did not have an outside wall. Plus watching news coverage nearly non-stop. Parker did not have school either.
Friday, September 12: Again, no work for Brian as early effects of the storm was expected by afternoon. We were watching the track very closely. Brian got up at 5:30 a.m. to check the latest to determine if we would leave last minute. It looked as if it was going to remain a category 2 (which is the hardest part for the meteorologists to forecast). We decided to stay, but I tell ya, until 10:00 a.m. we were debating. We finally just said "ok, we are staying"! Keep in mind we are 25 miles (as the crow flies) or so inland so the storm surge was not a factor. We are told to "Run from the water, hide from the wind", so really we were okay to stay. We are in evacuation zone C and they called for A & B.
Winds start picking up throughout the day, but by evening we start seeing heavier gusts. We tried to have the kids stick to their regular bedtime, just in the closet rather than their bedrooms. We lost power at nearly 9:00 p.m., unfortunately it was before Liddie fell asleep so that was a chore! I laid and dozed with Cale on our bed until 11:30 or so, Brian came in and said it was time to head to the laundry room. Brian inflated the air bed so we already had that ready when we moved in there. The sounds were very hard to explain, the winds whistled sometimes and we could hear our garage doors popping in and out. The winds would let up from time to time for only 5 minutes or so and it would pick right back up. Long enough to make us think we were getting a break. We are so thankful for Brian's cell phone because we could pull up the radar and watch where the storm was exactly. Although we had a radio and we were listening to it, it was comforting to see. We were just to the east of the eye wall and that is what caused us to never get a break! There was one time we heard a big thunk and could only imagine what was happening (come to find out it was a neighbor's satellite dish). From time to time I would peek outside just to see the winds, there was one time though I looked out and it was as if someone put black paper on the window, I could not see a thing. The winds and rain went on until 7:00 a.m. or so.
Saturday, September 13: I could not wait to get outside to see what happened. It was a weird feeling after the storm passed. Power was out and almost feel like you have been cut off from the outside world for a period of time. As we walked outside, other neighbors start emerging too.
Fortunately we only lost just a few shingles. We have since found a few leaks, but think they are insignificant and can easily be fixed. We felt God's protection over us and also saw him provide for us over and over. We had friends get power back Saturday night, and they came knocking at the door at 9:00 p.m. or so asking us to come stay at their house for the night. This was such a blessing because it was really hot that night. Then the next day another friend sends me a text (by the way was really the easiest way to communicate because the cell phones were hard to get out on because so many people were using them, plus the land line was out) and tells me they got power back and offered their generator for us to use. This allowed us to watch the news and see the first pictures of what happened to Galveston and the surrounding areas, let the kids watch a movie on a portable DVD player, sleep with a fan and the most important thing...brew a pot of coffee in the morning!
The weather has been great! A cool front came through and we spent a lot of our days outside. Brian grilled every night and Sunday night we ate in our driveway with neighbors. That actually was a positive it really caused the neighbors to get out and talk. Although this was a couple we already talked to quite often, but we shared a meal together.
Suddenly Monday night the power comes back on. Every night we kept saying we were leaving the next day, but we toughed it out and it really turned out for the best. Thankfully we did not leave because Cale come down with a virus causing his to run a high fever for 3 days then broke out in a rash after the fever broke, we are thinking it is roseola. It is never fun to be away from home with a sick baby, but if we did not have power it would be better to be away from home in a cool place with a sick baby!
Parker is on schedule to start school on Tuesday. The grocery stores seem to be getting stocked back up. There still is a large portion of our town that still does not have power. Overall as of Sunday night still over 1 million without power in the Houston area. The cool weather has passed and the mosquitoes are out in full force!
All and all we decided we would only ride out another hurricane if it were smaller than this one, if it is any larger...WE ARE OUTTA HERE!
Thank you Lord for power, satellite, phone & internet!!!
