No Power Blogging: Ike Sunday 9/14/08 11:50am

so here's my attempt to blog- a written old school account of the next few days. thursday- kids went to school. it was grandparents day for both cayley & travis. tim called that morning and strongly suggested that my mom head home to lv that morning instead of waiting till after lunch time- traffic was already picking up as as few zip codes were being evacuated. so she left for home after taking cayley to breakfast :)

the automated school system called & let us know that there was not going to be school on friday and then a little later called again saying there would be an early release @1145 on thursday. so i rushed around here at home making sure the house was clean & all laundry done. after katrina 3 years ago- i immediately thought of what made having to go w/out power even more miserable- so i made sure we had a clean house to spend the long weekend in with each other. for sure we were better prepared this time around. still no generator, but the house was boarded up, clean clothes were put away, & the fridge & freezer packed with meals for the next few days.

we lost power at home earlier than i thought we would. no wind or rain , but lost it at 6pm! so kids got a shower and i got a margarita :) & all went to bed. the wind and rain picked up around 10pm and lasted all night. knowing our windows were boarded up gave us some peace of mind when we'd hear crashes & banging on the house. the kids slept soundly in our bedroom and i was up around 3am-4am listening to the battery powered radio for storm updates. the eye of ike had yet to pass us- so things were very loud & rough sounding in the dark outside.

i went back to bed and woke again @ 6:30am - everyone was ready to see what was going on and eat breakfast- so pancake day! then the sky began to lighten up so we could see what the wind & rain were doing. we sat by the kitchen window and watched as our back gate was ripped off it's hinges and thrown into the air. besides a few trees down, broken gate, lots of limbs & branches around, & no power- all in all we are doing well. - a tad uncomfortable, but so incredibly grateful that we are safe & well. we can weather this storm , as with God's help in all life's"storms".

thank you family & friends for prayers & concern! tim's back to work tomorrow & by the listening to the radio- lots of businesses are opening & getting our metro area up & running again.

thankful for: a wonderful cool breeze, cold juice boxes & frozen propels, radio stations & tv news that work 24/7, & gas stoves!