Hurricane IKE

In fear of what the meteorologist was telling us and the size of IKE, we made the decision to board up and head to my brother' s house in Dallas for safety. Our 4 1/2 hour drive turned into 11 hours and we took the Beltway around the really bad traffic on I-45. For those of you who have never gone through anything like this, let me enlighten you. It is surreal watching the place you love, where your life is, your possessions are and your friends are be engulfed by a storm this size. We spent 2 days not knowing if our home was still standing, or if we even had anything to come back to. We were watching from afar. Our beloved Galveston was declared uninhabitable, only 20 miles away from our house. Needless to say, emotions were high. We laughed and cried and just laughed. Thank God for technology. We were able to get in touch with our friends via face book and our cell phones.

On Monday, Kevin and I headed back to access our own damages. We were anxious, but Houston didn't look as bad as we expected. The damage was selective, a luck of the draw per say. There would be huge damage in one place and none in the next. As we pulled into our neighborhood there was not one stop sign standing, several light posts down and fencing everywhere. We pulled into our driveway and noticed our fencing down and roof shingles all over. There was a patch of roof gone, but as we took all the plywood down and entered inside, it didn't look too bad. We have roof damage, ceiling damage and some wall/ door damage, but all in all, we faired very well.
It is amazing to be on a corner lot and have the least amount of damage in our section of our neighborhood. Our neighbors across the street have water dripping from their walls, a huge hole in their game room and all of their possessions are destroyed. Their house is not livable. The next three houses down from us have substantial damage from walls, roof, carpet, possessions. We are so lucky.
Thank you Lord for sparing us from such damage.

How lucky are we? Our house is repairable, the people who are buying our house only had a porch light damaged. The house we are buying in Sislbee, TX only has fence damage. What a miracle! There are so many other who did lose everything. Please keep them in your prayers. Please keep all our city and county officials in your prayers. This is a mess. We are a wonderful and resilient city. I know we will recover. I have faith that Galveston will rebuild and reopen. Until then, there is much work to be done. Please remember those who need help. If you can, offer to help them. If you can't help, pray.

"Dear Lord, Thank you so much for the blessings our family has received. Thank you for our safety in the storm and the minimal damage to our property. Please be with those who were not so lucky. Help them to understand that You did not do this to them. Help them to have the strength to move forward past their hurt and to recover. Please show me where I can be of use to others during this time. Thank you for the beautiful, non- humid weather you have sent us as many struggle without electricity. What a blessing. Thank you Lord for your love and compassion. We love You and thank you. Thank you for Your Son, who through Him makes our salvation possible. In Jesus name I pray, Amen."