yIKEs

12+ hours of hurricane force winds and rain. 4 leaks. 6 days without power. $200+ worth of food that had to be thrown away. $3.49 ... price we paid for gas ... had to throw in something to make you a teeny bit jealous of us! And, we only had to wait in line for 25 minutes to get it!

This has been one of the most exhausting weeks of our lives! We are home now and the lights are ON! The fridge is restocked ... I about did a hallelujah dance in the middle of Target when I found half and half! Hey! A girl has to have her coffee!

We made it through the storm with minimal damage. We are so thankful to everyone who prayed for us ... we know that because of those prayers our trees stood, the dog was calm and the damage to our house was minimal. Our neighborhood lost hundreds of trees ... big trees snapped in half, uprooted, and/or tossed around like toothpicks. The power of this storm was sobering and mind boggling. We have heard that winds were clocked at 90 mph west of us ... they would have been higher where we are. One only has to drive around town and see roofs with blue tarps or to see any picture of what is left of Galveston to be thankful. It was hard to complain about "no power" when homes were washed completely away.

In the midst of the scariest part of the storm we were thankful for many things ... our trees were still standing, the dog was calm and Torrey SLEPT SOUNDLY! I tried to sleep, but it was difficult. Our power was out and all you could hear was the wind and rain ... I found myself saying over and over again "We are in Your hands, We are in Your hands." I did try to calm the storm by saying "Peace be still" ... didn't work for me like it did for Jesus! I also sang the chorus of Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Yours" ... I had to release it all to God knowing that it was all His anyways. So thankful when morning came and the winds subsided ... even more thankful when we drove the neighborhood and couldn't get down streets because of the trees. Knowing it could have been so much worse made us all the more thankful!

We did lose our power for 6 days. Sunday morning we piled in the car and headed to Linda and Paul's. Words cannot begin to express how thankful we are to them for opening their house to us and for making us feel so welcome. And for sharing their power! When we left this morning to come home, it was a bit sad!

We do have a bit of damage to our house. Nothing that can't be fixed and nothing is damaged that was important to us. Water came in through a roof vent and was discovered as it made its way down the ceiling fan in the family room (freaky at 5 am!) There were a few other leaks too ... all fixable. We have been out of school since last Friday ... Torrey and I head back on Monday (WAHOO!) We are celebrating any bit of normalcy right now!

Thank you for standing with us and praying for us ... is it wrong to say that we are a bit jealous you got to stand so far away?! Please continue to pray for Houston ... the clean up is and will be massive. So many are still without power and without the resources to replace what was lost. We know that in time life will be returned to normal ... is it wrong to hope that the community we feel will continue long after the last fallen tree is picked up?