IKE... Part II

Here is a real update on our status after Ike. David didn't want me posting our exact whereabouts when we weren't home due to all of those blog reading looters. First and foremost, we are fine and our house is fine. We are all finally back at home. David came home on Thursday morning because he needed to get back to the office. When I referred to him going to work in previous posts, he was setting up a cozy little office in the corner of Starbucks. I don't think he minded that too much, but he had to get back. As long as we didn't have power, Micah and I were hunkered down in College Station at my parent's house. We were hunkered down with my parents, my sister and her fiance Danny, their 2 dogs, my grandparents, and much of the time, David's brother Kevin and his girlfriend Audrey, and our friends Matt and Jessi. It was a serious Hurricane Party. This party included way to much playing of the game "Settlers of Catan". Never heard of it? Didn't think so. It also included some really good food and even S'mores thanks to Teddy. Our house did get power on Thursday but David wanted me and Micah to go ahead and stay through the weekend because Houston is still such a mess... and because he would be coming back up on Saturday for the Aggie football game anyway. Parts of our neighborhood still don't have power and the grocery store across the street is still running on generators! I will be so glad when this mess is over but I decided I couldn't move in with my parents until the city of Houston is back to normal because that is going to be a long long time. So, I'm back.

Anyway, here is how it all played out:

On Thursday morning, David and I woke up to the radio alarm (yes we have the old school boxy radio alarm) telling us that Hurricane Ike was in fact headed straight for Houston, not Corpus or Mexico like they originally thought. So, we decided that we would leave that afternoon for College Station. I packed light for 3 days (what was I thinking?), didn't even think to clean out the fridge, and we left. Friday and Saturday consisted of waiting for the storm and watching the storm. I have never seen anything like it. It was scary... even in College Station the wind was crazy. I was positive we weren't going to have a roof when we got home. On Sunday, things seemed back to normal in College Station (except for the fact that there was no bread to be found in any stores-- what is that about?) but not so much at all in Houston (as we could see on the news). On Sunday, David, Teddy, and Matt drove to Houston to check on the houses and clean out fridges. Their damage report was good for us... no damage except that we lost a tree (maybe 2). For the rest of the week, we tried to live as normal as possible, living with my parents. My grandparents were able to go back on Monday which made them very happy. We are so blessed to have such a nice place to stay so close to home that has all of the necessities and then some. Micah didn't seem to mind the change of scenery too much. He got his first cold while we were away. I am attributing that to either the teething (tooth #2 popped through) or all the junk the hurricane blew through because why not blame something else on Ike?

While on hiatus from life up in College Station, Micah and I somehow managed to sneak in a trip to the San Marcos outlets, a trip to Brenham to visit Great Grand Joyce and Aunt Kathy, quite a bit of shopping, a trip to the movies (Micah didn't attend that one-- The Women... very cute), and I didn't miss a single run for my half training!

Thank you thank you thank you to my parents for allowing us to essentially move in for over a week while we didn't have power and were waiting for things to settle down... especially Suzu who takes such good care of her family and was cooking for 15 people some nights.

We feel so blessed to have been so protected throughout the storm! Our prayers are with those that are still without power and are dealing with the destruction from Ike.