Aftermath

I'm late on my aftermath of Ike post. We've been dealing with, well, the aftermath of Ike. Bryan/College Station didn't really see much damage or affects from the storm, but those we love have really been through a lot. As you know, my parents are from the Beaumont area. God really had his hand on their home AGAIN...and they had no damage to their home. They had a tree fall in their backyard and demolish their fence, but that's it. However, houses next door and across the street weren't so lucky.

A long time family friend lives across the street from my parents. He and his family had evacuated and returned home to a treen through his house. My dad walked through the house with him for the first time when he got home. As they walked into their son's upstairs bedroom, my dad said it was a very "sobering" moment. The tree that had smashed their house had falled directly across their son's bed. If they wouldn't have evacuated, their son would be dead. The 3 men, including my dad, who walked in on this site were really shaken up by it. My dad said he will never stay through another storm again. Thank you Jesus for sparing the life of this young boy and for allowing his father to know they needed to leave town.

Brent and Leigh Ann came to Bryan and stayed here a couple of days. They have no power or water, but were able to go stay with some friends this week so Brent can work. They have no damage to their home either and should be able to get home as soon as the power and water are restored.

Other members of my family have some damage to their homes, but nothing devastating.
Thank you Lord for keeping our families safe through this. There are so many who have lost everything and have no homes to return home to. Our church is full of evacuees with heart wrenching stories and weary hearts. It has been such a blessing to see our church body in action as we work to provide shelter, food, ears to listen and shoulders to lean on for these courageous people.

Since we had a lot of time on our hands with a storm headed our way and family in town, we hung out at Matt's parents with Brent and Leigh Ann. Here are a few photos from the weekend.

It's that Time...AGAIN!

This time it looks like Ike is going to have a major impact on Bryan/College Station. We're doing all we can to get ready without going overboard and being too paranoid. Can you be too paranoid when the forecasters are saying we are going to have strong winds, tons of rain, flooding and tornadoes? We have food, water, candles and flashlights. All of our patio furniture is in the garage. We will fill the bathtubs with water so we can flush our toilets and give our baby a sponge bath. We might not even sleep in our bedroom tonight since we have a huge sliding glass door in there. I just want to snuggle with my husband and baby so we can all stay safe.

It looks like Galveston is going to get hit HARD! Keep the residents in your prayers..hopefully most of them have evacuated. But pray they have homes to come back to.

My family in the Beaumont area decided not to evacuate this time. I think everyone has "hurricane fatigue." Plus, their county wasn't under mandatory evacuation this time. Please pray for their safety as they ride this one out.

Also, pray for our dear friends the Kramers. They have an amazing "grass-fed" farm that is up and coming. Like Lynsey said on their blog, what do you even do with a herd of cattle, a bunch of pigs, chickens and more! You can't just haul them into your bathroom with you while your hunkered down in the tub. (I am just picturing Jason doing this and it's cracking me up!)

Everyone stay safe!