Our Ike Story

We decided before Ike came that we would stay here through the storm and then leave if we would be out of power for awhile.  And, that's exactly what we did!

Thursday and Friday, we began preparing for the storm by bringing all of our outside stuff inside and stocking up on groceries and gas.  We decided that we'd all sleep downstairs during the storm, so David and Sam slept in a tent and Jacob and I slept on the couch.  I was absolutely glued to the tv until about 4:00 am when David told me to turn it off and get some sleep!  I did and got a few minutes of sleep before the wind picked up.  I just listened and listened.  I heard loud thumps outside, knowing that trees were falling and praying that no one would get hurt.  At about 6, our power shut off and it was pitch black.  I was really waiting for the eye to come through so that we'd get a little break, but it never did.  What I learned after the storm was that the eye went just to the northeast of us, so we had a constant eye-wall here in the Woodlands.  At about 8, we felt a little bit of relief and thought we were through.  I talked to some friends who called to check on us and let them know that we were safe.  We looked outside and saw tons of damage to our neighbors' homes.  One of our neighbors had (still has) four huge pines laying on top of their home.  We have a huge pine outside Jacob's room that didn't even move.  Sam says that God held up our trees during Ike, and I believe that with all of my being.  We do have a little bit of damage upstairs, but we are ok.  We just have some water coming through the ceiling because the attic took water.  But, we caught it pretty quick and David cut holes in the ceiling to let the water come down instead of pooling up in the attic and coming through the sheet rock.   Since we were out of power that day, we just hung out at home, played all sorts of games and then headed over to my parent's house.

 My parents are amazing!  They have a generator, so they hooked up their fridge and their neighbor's fridge so that food wouldn't spoil.  My mom adequately planned for our entire family to have nice meals during the storm, and they even hooked the generator up to the tv so the kids could watch their favorite shows.  We had spaghetti and salad for dinner...while the power was out!  My mom is joking that it took a hurricane to get her to cook.  We hung out at their house and let all of the cousins play together and wear one another out and then headed home for bed.

The next day, we got up and headed over to the Burketts to see how they were ( all of our phones were dead by this point...plus, it took about 25 times to get through because the cell towers were overloaded...and, once you'd get through, you'd lose the call quickly) and played for awhile.  We then we back to my parents for lunch (brisket, none the less) and turned on the news.  The first thing we heard was "power will not come back for 2-4 weeks.  If you live in Montgomery county, don't sit around and think that it's coming back tomorrow...because it's not."  Within about five minutes, we decided to pack up and head to David's parents house until the power came back.  We packed in record time, cleaned out the fridge (except the ice...Bryan and Amy later came over to clean that up and I am forever grateful) and got on the road for a 15 hour drive.  My kids have never been in the car for more than 2 hours, so we didn't know how it would go! (oh, and tex, too)  But, they did amazing.  We made several stops and then they fell asleep for the rest of the way.  They were complete angels! 

We arrived in Columbus around 5:00 a.m. and went to sleep for a little while!  We were so blessed to be there.  It was a fun time to see our Grammie and Diddy unexpectedly.  They of course, received us with open arms, coffee and lots of toys.  I kept apologizing for being there, but they assured me that they were so very happy to have us! They are amazing grandparents and never miss a thing with the boys.  Sam adores them and hates to leave them everytime.  It is such a sweet relationship and I am so thankful that they are my boys' grandparents!  Grammie and Diddy played and played with the boys.  We ran up and down their hill a thousand times.  Jacob played in the grass and tried his best to eat it!  Sam and Grammie looked at music boxes over and over.  We were spoiled beyond belief.  Sam's absolute favorite is "Diddy's playroom" which is a home theatre.  I don't think Diddy ever visioned having Curious George on his movie screen, but he did and Sam had a blast.  We played with tons of toys and had a ball.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  We are so very thankful to have such a loving family!

Wednesday, my mom went over to my house and texted me that we had power!  So, we decided to head back.  The drive was fine and we were so glad to get home.  We planned on working in the yard today and cleaning the house and then having the rest of the weekend to recover.  But, when we drove up, we found a clean yard and a clean house.  My sweet family cleaned our yard, put things back out and cleaned my house.  I feel so blessed.  

We are so thankful that we were safe and I haven't heard of anyone being hurt.  I know lots of people who have severe damage, so please pray for them.  

When we were in Georgia, we saw a full rainbow one night.  It just about made me cry thinking about how sweet our Lord is to remind us of His promises.  His promises are true and He is faithful.  His mercies are new every morning and He is sovereign over all.  He gives us grace for today.  He never leaves us and never forsakes us.  He is worthy of ALL our praise...in the storms and in the calm.  I love Him.