Surviving Hurricane IKE

We Survived!

We are all safe and our house made it through.

Some of our friends and neighbors were not as fortunate as we were.

It is complete devastation here. Ike was an enormous storm with a lot of rain and wind.

When it reached us, it was still a Category 2 hurricane, and we are an hour from the coast.

It went like this.

Winds started about 5 p.m. Friday. We stayed outside for awhile talking with neighbors not knowing IKE was going to be so ferocious. We stayed up watching IKE make landfall anxiously awaiting. Still only a little wind so to bed we went.

About 3:00 a.m. Saturday, Brent woke up and turned the T.V. on. We still had power and Dish Network. So we watched how bad it was, and we could hear it outside. The power started blinking. We then decided to lie down and watch the storm out the window. The power went off shortly after that. We could see the blue, green and pink light displays of transformers blowing. We saw trees bending to the ground and could hear them snapping and falling.

As daylight approached, IKE was still hitting us hard. We listened to updates on the radio and knew that we would still have wind and rain for the majority of Saturday.

When things became safe enough, Brent headed out to access damage. The report was bad.

A little while later when we heard big trucks and chainsaws, it was safe enough for the Family to go out. I could not believe what I saw. Houses with trees on them and in them.

There were no lives lost in our neighborhood, and that is a blessing. Brent has been able to physically help some of our neighbors with their damage. It was great to see our neighborhood come together to help each other in so many ways.

We stayed in our very hot home until Sunday evening late with no cell phone

service. We had to borrow friends phones in order to reach at least one person to make a contact. PawPaw and GiGi Estes called Sunday to tell us they had power. We went directly home, loaded up and came to their house. We had many offers from family to house us, and

we thank you. Upon arrival, we had two very grumpy children, two ear aches and two fevers.

Monday morning was spent finding a pediatrician in the area. The closest one with power was in Shreveport, LA. They are now medicated and not so grumpy.

They both did very good during the hurricane.

Our plans are to stay for awhile to regroup and get kids well. If power is still out at the

end of the week, we may head back with a generator. Their estimation of power restoration is 2 to 4 weeks. That is a long time with two kids!!

We are very blessed!

Thank you for your prayers!

Continue to keep us and others affected by IKE in your prayers.

This a long way from being over...