Hurricane Ike

Hurricane IKE came through early Saturday morning and boy was it scary!  I along with several others in my generation have not been through anything like this before.  I was 6 or 7 during Hurricane Alisha (spelling?) which hit in 1983 so I really don't recall that.  Here are some pictures from Friday evening at sunset...the calm before the storm.  It was very erie outside because it was so quiet.

Chris and I decided to weather the storm at our house which felt like it was going to come down on us!  We have a big field to the right of our house so there was no protection from the wind on that side. That wall was shaking and it was pretty intense!  I stayed in the innermost closet on with all 3 of our K-9 babies and Chris slept in the kitchen and snored right through the worst part of it. I took cat naps Friday night and into Saturday morning but the wind was so loud and was beating on our windows and walls so hard that I couldn't sleep.   

The next day we went over to Chris' parent's house which is not even a mile from ours which was good since there were trees and power lines down every where and it was still difficult to get around them.  Chris' mom's Pecan Tree split in half and fell over just feet from their house...thankfully!  A couple other trees were knocked down and the the big Pecan tree knocked down the fence.  They were really lucky that tree didn't come down in their kitchen!!! God was seriously watching over their house!!!  and ours too!

This was a shot of the Pecan Tree from inside their kitchen window.

My parents had minimal damage as well...limbs down, siding came off the house, and they still do not have power today.  They have been staying with us since Saturday.  We were so blessed to get power back Saturday evening!  I couldn't believe it!  Especially since so many others still do not have power even across the street from us.  Hwy 6 is pure darkness at night still!  

As for our Bolivar beach house which we have had in our family since 1959, it did not make it.  

My brother, Blake sent out an email to my mom and her 2 sisters saying the following...

"I love you all and I am glad that we are all safe.  The house was indeed the object of joy for us over the years and it was the setting of countless memories for us all.  The way I see it, Paw Paw has been fishing on the great gulfs of the Heavens for a few years now without a Fishing cabin.  He decided to go ahead and come back here to get it and keep it on reserve up there until we can all meet again one day in the future.  I was talking to Leah yesterday and told her that the cold front we received, in the days before the storm, could have pushed IKE away from us if it had been a couple of days earlier.  She replied, "Everything happens for a reason."  A few hours later I was watching the news still trying to catch a glimpse of our beloved beach house, and I saw an interview with a very righteous lady that simply said, "I am putting this in the Lord's hands, everything happens for a reason, and I am going to let the Lord tell me why."  This lady lost her entire house and all of her possessions.  We can be grateful and we can thank the Lord that we have our primary homes and our lives.  Let's let the Lord tell us why..."

With Love, Great Sadness and thankfulness,

Blake (The Lawn Man)

I could not agree more!  We are so blessed and fortunate to have gotten through this storm with very minimal damage and our lives!  Thank you Lord for keeping us in the palm of your hand. 

Below is a picture of Bolivar where our beach house was (down in the right hand corner next to the only house left standing).

My heart goes out to all of those displaced by this storm and for those who currently do not have power...hang in there...I have been praying for you and prayer does change things!!!

God Bless and have a wonderful Thursday!

And stayed tuned for the following pictures...Chris is making dinner tonight for me and my parents tonight for my birthday, my 28 week progression pics and from this coming Saturday in which we are supposed to go to dinner at Pappasitos with my friends for my birthday!