IKE

Chad feeling very proud of his handy skills; and he'd be the

first to tell you this is not his area of giftedness...way to go sweetie!! Preparing for the winds...a little ahead of schedule! I snapped this right before the winds started to pick up Friday night; it was an absolutley beautiful sunset...the calm before the storm!

Saturday morning; the only damage close by was our next door neighbors tree;

this was nothing compared to everything around the neighborhood and in harder

hit areas of Houston.

Without power but having FUN indoors with puzzles and Play-Doh

Taking advantage of the cooler weather and Chad helping Abbey ride her bike

without training wheels; Wow, she's growing up fast!

Go Abbey GO!

Well, if you are able to see this post, you can safely assume we are alive, well, and with POWER!!! What an adventure this last week has been! I certainly pray that all my Houston blogging friends are doing well and were spared from any devastation to your homes. The pictures I'm posting are mostly before the storm and as you can see from the pics I took of Chad, we were feeling catious, but had NO idea how bad it really was going to get.

Friday night we put the kids to bed early and in their own beds upstairs so they could get some good rest before we knew we would have to move them downstairs. Sure enough by midnight, my comfort level with them upstairs was ZERO and with the loss of power and everything pitch black, we put them in our bed downstairs. Abbey, Cole, and I snuggled in the bed while Chad dozed off and on in the chair, always checking in on the weather through his blackberry. We had boarded most of the house and just prayed that whatever we couldn't do, God would protect and that our windows could sustain the heavy winds. By 2 a.m. the eye had made landfall with Galveston and we were starting to get a little anxious by the sound of the howling winds and things beating around outside. We, not always sucessfully, tried to check in on both sets of our parents throughout the night (mine, in N.W. Houston, and Chad's parents in Katy). We kept hearing through the little battery operated radio that the eye would be passing right over where we live and sure enough by 3:15 we heard the frieght train sound and some lound booms. That's when Chad and I just looked at each other, swept the kids out of bed, and all four of us went and laid in Chad's closet till around 7 am when the storm began to die down a little. I'll never forget that night in that closet with Cole's little eyes looking up to us for reassurance or how Abbey being the big sister, would reach over and rub Cole's back and smile at him. I'll never again walk into that closet putting away clothes and not think of that night.

I always loved Ch. 11 news and Dr. Neil Frank, but they became a huge comfort listening to them all through the night and letting us know what we could expect as the night rolled on. I will tell you that God has been SO good to us and our home didn't sustain any damage whatsoever. While without power we made the most of the situation; thankfully with a gas cooktop, I fixed an egg, bacon, and toast breakfast the morning after the storm, the kids colored and assembled puzzles, and we've taken a lot of family walks to talk to neighbors and see all the beautiful, beautiful trees out here just snapped in two. The scary part of Saturday morning was seeing sunlight through the master bedroom windows only b/c Chad had boarded them and screwed them in with masonry screws...yep, they flew off with the strong winds and thankfully didn't make our neighbor's homes a target. As we understood, our area sustained winds around 100 mph for about an hour and due to the sound of a frieght train, it's believed a tornado spun off very close to our home. Again, GOD IS SO GOOD TO US!!!

I've been reminded time and time again how spoiled we are in our daily lives and how often I take simple things for granted. Sunday I waited an hour just to get in the front door of HEB only to find shelved items, NO bread, milk, eggs, meat, dairy, etc. Shelved Rice/Soy milk really isn't all that bad I'm finding. Gasoline is hard to come by as well; there is NO gas within a 10 mile radius of where we live and as soon as the tankers come in it's generally gone within an hour; so we are in major conservation mode here. Yesterday, Chad hit the jackpot after I called every grocery store up and down our area and found out that a Flagship Randall's just recieved cold items. They were limiting everyone but we were very fortunate to find bread, milk, and eggs. Please continue to pray for the Houston/Galveston communities; it's very difficult when people's basic needs aren't being met and families everywhere can't get what they need to function. Chad still hasn't gone back to work as there is no electricity and schools are closed until Monday. Going outside in the gorgeous weather we're now experiencing has been our saving grace against everyone getting cabin fever!!

Super long blog, I know!! Thank you to all of my out of town friends who have been checking in and praying for us! Please direct your prayers towards all the relief efforts and for supplies to continue to roll in for needy families. More updates to come! "...do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." Isaiah 43:1-2