No Likey Ikey!

Yeah, I’m a wimp.
As I write this, I am in the comfort of my brother-in-law’s beautiful, air conditioned home in Mansfield, Tx (near Ft Worth).

Most of my friends are still in the Houston area suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. My husband and I were actually some of the more blessed ones: although our power was off, we still had running water, a gas stove and no structural damage or flooding.

Ike actually came through Conroe at around four a.m. My precious husband, fearing for our safety, actually made me a pallet of couch cushions in our interior bathroom and he slept on a pallet on the hallway floor. We were concerned that the huge oak tree in our backyard would end up in our bedroom or that the windows would blow out. Thankfully, neither of those things happened.

Most of the day Saturday we spent watching the storm – electricity went off sometime around six a.m. so there was nothing else to do! That evening, after things had calmed down, we ventured out to see the damage. We didn’t see any flooding but we saw lots of trees down, roofs damaged and power lines down.

We came home to a dark, hot house and had a wonderful meal of leftovers. We actually ate really well during this time mainly because we didn’t have anything else to do but cook, eat and wash dishes! I just bought groceries last week so we were in good shape where food was concerned.

To pass the time we played games, read books, took pictures, played with Caesar and listened to a battery operated radio. I actually got so bored at one point that I even made a parody video of a KTRH reporter covering Hurricane Ike…there’s only so much “Live and in depth team coverage!” a girl can take! And what’s up with reporters actually putting themselves in harm’s way to cover a story? Do they really think we’re so stupid that they have to demonstrate what NOT to do in case of a hurricane??? Anyway, we’ll see if I have the guts to post it here and give all of you proof of what a dork I am! LOL

Finally, after about 24 hours of no electricity (and hearing the mayor say we wouldn’t have any for 2-3 weeks) I told Chris that I thought this was an excellent opportunity to go see his family in the DFW area. Kevin and Melissa are expecting their first child in November and I really wanted to see them before she was due. Before Ike, we couldn’t find time to go see them, but now all we have is time – and besides I was hot and bored!

I know, I know – wah!!! Here I am complaining about being hot and bored while millions of people are standing in line for ice or gas or food.
I do feel really guilty about having such a good situation now, but the truth is I’m having a blast! Last night we went to TGIFridays to celebrate my mother-in-law, Jackie’s, birthday. We had such a good time with Kevin and Mel, Bro. and Sis. Miller (Melissa’s grandparents), Chris’ grandmother, Jordan and his girlfriend Christina, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Sarah. Today has been a wonderful, relaxing day. We’ve had a good breakfast, did a little running around and finally back home to play games. Tonight or tomorrow we will start cooking all the meat we brought with us to try to save as much of it as we can.

Please keep praying for everyone in the affected area. If you’ve never been in a similar situation you can’t believe how scary it is. For me, the lack of supplies wasn’t the hardest part because we were really well off compared to everyone else. What was hard for me was the knowledge that our basic needs had no way of being met. If we did run out of something or had some kind of need who would we call? Where would we go? The police were already overwhelmed, the hospital was no better off than we were (their generator failed), and all the stores were closed or had little product. Thankfully, we had plenty of fuel and traffic wasn’t bad on the way to Mansfield.

Also, please keep my parents in your prayers. They live in Lufkin and are suffering from Ike’s aftermath as well. They have purchased a generator but as many of you know generators can’t run a house full of electrical appliances.

If you are reading this and you are from the affected area please know that you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. I wish I could bring all of you here with me and we could all sit around and play games together. Unfortunately, all I can do is pray for you and hope for the best.

To my church family: I love you all very much and miss you more than you know. I can’t wait until things are back to “normal” and we can all be together again in His house. Just thinking of you brings tears to my eyes – I can’t wait to see you!

Coming soon…a slideshow of our recent adventures!