We're home, safe and sound! Our power is on, our water is potable, and our house is just fine! Our big shade tree in the back yard was toppled in the storm, and it could have really smashed our house, but miraculously, it did nothing more than bend our gutter and rip a screen...it didn't even scratch a shutter, or break a pane in the window! Our fences on either side of our house are gone, and perhaps most tragically, we lost ALL of our frozen breast milk. :( As far as we can tell so far, we didn't have any water damage, didn't lose a single shingle, and our windows are all intact. Amazing!
In all seriousness, we are SO fortunate... so many people lost so much in this storm, and we ask that you keep them in your prayers.
We were incredibly blessed throughout the whole process... first, Sybil stridently insisted that we not try to ride out the storm at home. Dan went to work for about an hour on Thursday morning, and I tried to prepare for both the "hunker down" scenario, and the "run for the hills" scenario. The girls were amused by my frantic movements throughout the morning!
Finally, Sybil's urging convinced me to come with them and take Sarah and Xavier up on the offer of the use of their home in Denton. They extended the sweetest hospitality ever... in all, we had 6 adults, 5 cats, 3 infants, 3 dogs, and a parrot at their home, starting last Thursday! We had so much fun there!
Dinner time!
Play time, and chilling with Nathaniel.
One of the most exciting moments happened on the way to our refuge... we were stopped at an intersection, and Dan noticed that there, in front of us, was a Wienerschnitzel!!! This is one of our favorite hot dog restaurants... we had one in Champaign, and were dismayed when we moved because the nearest one is in Victoria, almost 3 hours away! Soooo... we made the most of our evacuation and ate THERE for lunch twice :) Nathaniel, Abby, and Izzy were more or less nonplussed by the event.
My birthday was Sunday... Dan had planned to take us to the Astros game on pink jersy giveaway day. Alas, the fans in Milwaukee got my pink jersy that day. Boo! But we did have a great day... we went to P.F. Chang's for lunch, and the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. The girls got to taste a little chocolate, and it ended up being a very nice day. Then, we got home and sweet Sarah planned a perfect birthday celebration, complete with chocolate cake and chocolate covered strawberries. So sweet! Thanks to all who made my first birthday as an evacuee so nice!
The girls are loving having their daddy home with them all day. Abby gave dad one of her rare giggles this morning before we headed home :)
We saw a lot of debris by the side of the road as we got further south, and we had to wait in line for gas for 55 minutes when we were still an hour north of Houston. We know that we have been spared a LOT, and that the people on Galveston Island are really hurting right now. There is a curfew in almost all of the greater Houston area, and people are only allowed onto the island to "look and leave," and have to be back off of the island by 6 PM each night. (Dan just told me that they suspended the look and leave program because it was a "complete debacle" today.) The power and water are both out on the island, and there is still a lot of flooding. Dan's building is really high up, but until the infrastructure of the island is back online, he won't be going back to work there. ANICO has an office in League City, so he'll probably head in at some point to do the more critical things. Texas A&M at Galveston (where I worked before the girls arrived) is exploring the possibility of finishing the semester at the College Station campus... the damage to the campus was not completely devastating, but again, they can't let the students back on the island until things are cleaned up, and that might be weeks, maybe months.
Our plan is to sit tight as much as possible. We have three gassed up cars, power, water, and each other :) We'll need to venture out to get milk and other perishables, but we stocked up on non-perishables before we left, so we have enough food to get by for a while... the grocery stores are only open on limited status, and many/most aren't selling perishables, so we'll just eat dry cereal for a while. At some point, we'll need to go get a chain saw...
Anyway, we'll keep you all updated. If you're in the area and need us to help with anything, please let us know!
We saw a lot of debris by the side of the road as we got further south, and we had to wait in line for gas for 55 minutes when we were still an hour north of Houston. We know that we have been spared a LOT, and that the people on Galveston Island are really hurting right now. There is a curfew in almost all of the greater Houston area, and people are only allowed onto the island to "look and leave," and have to be back off of the island by 6 PM each night. (Dan just told me that they suspended the look and leave program because it was a "complete debacle" today.) The power and water are both out on the island, and there is still a lot of flooding. Dan's building is really high up, but until the infrastructure of the island is back online, he won't be going back to work there. ANICO has an office in League City, so he'll probably head in at some point to do the more critical things. Texas A&M at Galveston (where I worked before the girls arrived) is exploring the possibility of finishing the semester at the College Station campus... the damage to the campus was not completely devastating, but again, they can't let the students back on the island until things are cleaned up, and that might be weeks, maybe months.
Our plan is to sit tight as much as possible. We have three gassed up cars, power, water, and each other :) We'll need to venture out to get milk and other perishables, but we stocked up on non-perishables before we left, so we have enough food to get by for a while... the grocery stores are only open on limited status, and many/most aren't selling perishables, so we'll just eat dry cereal for a while. At some point, we'll need to go get a chain saw...
Anyway, we'll keep you all updated. If you're in the area and need us to help with anything, please let us know!
4 comments:
We are so thankful you and your home survived so well in all the devestation. We are especially thankful for the family that took you ALL in. What a blessing.
I can tell you are a bit stressed. You made a 'there' miatake on the blog and I know how you hate them.
Keep those babies and yourselves safe.
GPA
How embarrassing! It's now fixed... I MUST be stressed!
Nicci, Dan and the girls,
we are SO glad to hear that nothing happened to you guys and your house and that you have such good friends that took such good care of you all.
Happy (belated) Birthday :-)
Jeane
it's so good to know that your house hardly had any damage! i was praying that you guys wouldn't get hit bad and God answered prayers! yay!
Post a Comment