The Mustangs defeated Texas City last night in a very exciting game with the final score of 27-22. This makes the 2nd time in a row this year that Friendswood has beat the #1 team in the area. What a great way to begin district play. We will see Angelton next Saturday to hopefully continue the success.
Jamie took this picture of Bailey and I. He loves the fact that Bailey is a mama's boy. :) And there I am blogging! LOL
Jamie and I learned today that a couple we are friends with who live in Seabrook got 4 feet of water and sewage in their home during Hurricane Ike. They basically lost everything in their home and will be displaced for around 3 months until repairs can be done. Praise God that they had flood insurance. They are currently staying with family in League City for the foreseeable future. Please send prayers to this couple - they are newly married (less than one year) and have lost everything they own.
Jamie was over at the high school yesterday checking things out, and there is still no power. The word going around town is that classes are going to resume on Wednesday, and Jamie has a meeting at the school on Monday morning. So, I assume they've either gotten it fixed or it will be fixed by Monday. He's relieved that school will resume next week, because district play begins for football this coming Friday, September 26. He is still not sure if there will be any power to the stadium, so they may have to play on Saturday afternoon if the lights aren't working. Either way, we're thankful that the season will go on! For a while, we really weren't sure if other teams in our district were going to be able to get back to school and play their games. I think Jamie is going a little bit crazy with this long break in the football season. Having more than week off in the middle of football season is simply unheard of. It's been really weird.
We finally went grocery shopping today, and the shelves are mostly restocked. I've tried to go to the store 2 other times this past week, and they've either been out of everything or closed by the time I got there. We are still under a curfew from dusk till dawn, so most businesses are closing early. It's been a slightly frustrating experience. Still, I have to keep in mind that we are lucky to have electricity right now - that really helps to keep things into perspective. We made a really big haul at the store today, so our fridge is full again. It's a good feeling.
My building at work has been closed for the past week, so we've been relocated to temporary cubicles in another building on campus. That has also been frustrating since a huge part of our job is reliant on our files, which are back in the other building that we cannot access. On top of that, my work laptop was locked up inside the building as well, and I wasn't able to retrieve it until Wednesday. It made for a pretty interesting day at the office on Tuesday - no computers, no files, and no phones! We will be allowed back into our building and our usual workspaces on Monday. I'm unsure of what we will find when we get there. From what one coworker told me who was in the building last week, there is a lot of water damage. Quite a few of his files were wet. I assume they've addressed those issues if we are being allowed back in the building.
We still have storm debris lining the streets of Friendswood. Greenbriar is particularly bad - you can't even fit 2 cars down the road at the same time. Here is the huge pile sitting outside of our neighbor's house:
As you can see, it's taller than me! We were outside chatting with the neighbor yesterday, and he said that he is hearing that it could be up to 3 months until the city is able to pick up all the trash. I really hope that isn't true! It's making me sad to see our nice little city so trashed with all these piles of limbs, broken fences, and other debris. Still, I understand that it is a huge job to dispose of all of this junk, so I'm reminding myself to be patient and thankful for all the workers who are undoubtedly working major overtime right now to get things cleaned and power restored.
Okay, so my last post indicated that we would be staying in town for Ike. There was a change of plans on Friday morning when we woke up to see the storm surge already flooding Galveston Island more than 12 hours before the storm made landfall. The pictures were scary enough to us that we weren't willing to take a change on staying with Elise, so we packed up and drove to Nacogdoches to stay with Jamie's cousin Richard, his wife Sarah, and their 2 boys, Cade and Tanner. They were so kind to take us in on a moment's notice. We are incredibly grateful!
We rode out the storm there, getting frequent text messages from mom and dad who stayed behind. Ike made landfall in the very early hours of Saturday morning, and the worst was over by around noon on Saturday. The high winds were far-reaching, and the power went out in Nacogdoches early Saturday morning. At that point, we decided to head back to our house to assess the damages. If we were going to be without power either way, it didn't make sense to stay at Richard & Sarah's any longer. Plus, I was very anxious to check on the house.
We were fortunate beyond words. We did lose parts of our fence, and there was some pretty extensive debris to clean (a lot of broken limbs and fallen trees). However, our house did not sustain any structural damage, and there was no flooding on our street. Our electricty was restored on Sunday evening. This was a HUGE blessing, because over half of Houson is still without power even this evening.
We really felt like God was looking out for us throughout the whole ordeal. My parents did not get power until yesterday, however a very kind friend and old neighbor loaned them a generator so they could keep their refridgerator and some fans running in their house. Perhaps the biggest blessings are those that are less tangible. We have met neighbors that we had previously never spoken to. We have joined together to help one another clean our yards. And best of all, Elise has been totally unphased by the whole thing! She had a wonderful time playing with Cade and Tanner in Nacogdoches (I think she thought she was on another vacation!), and when we got home, she was able to spend some time at her dad's with a generator running her TV set! She never missed a beat. Jamie also got to take us for a quick but fun tour of Stephen F. Austin State University, his alma mater, while we were in Nacogdoches. It was neat to see where he used to live and go to school. Someday I'd like to take him to Southwestern.
We are still having some issues finding a grocery store that is well stocked and gasoline. But in the big scheme of things, these are very minor inconveniences. We are just giving thanks and also praying for those who were not as fortunate. I am looking forward to seeing our streets cleaned and things getting back to normal. This experience has made me realize how much I take the simple things in life, such as running through the McDonald's drive thru, flipping on the light switch, and filling up with gas for granted. We are definitely pausing to be more thankful for the small things in life.
I put together a slide show of some pictures I took both before and after the storm.
Just a very quick post for our families who may be reading from out of town...
As Hurricane Ike rapidly approaches, we are making preparations. We are in a mandatory evacuation zone, but with 2, 90-lb dogs our options are drastically limited. We really don't have anywhere to go, since all of our immediate family lives here in the Houston area. In speaking with our neighbors, it appears that most of our street is planning to stay and ride out the storm, so at least we will not be alone.
I am freezing water, and we will fill our bathtubs tomorrow morning. I'm anticipating a power outage, but the main question is how long will we be without power?? Jamie heard someone on TV (I believe it was an interview with a representative from Center Point Energy) saying that worst case scenario would be a loss of power for 18 days. Please pray we don't have to experience the worst case!
Our cell phones are charged, camera battery is charged, laptops are charged, and gas tanks are full. We have a nice collection of non-perishable food items, flashlights, and batteries.
Poor Jamie has been outside boarding up the windows all day, and he still has quite a bit to go. He will only be able to board the downstairs windows, so we are hoping for the best. We need to secure everything in the back yard and bring in plants, but I'm waiting until tonight when it's a bit cooler outside. I also need to go help mom bring all of their plants indoors.
I am trying to consider everything in advance, and I feel like I'm going to forget something important. I'm doing the laundry in case we can't wash clothes for a while. I put all of our photos in plastic tubs and up in the top of our closet.
We will go over to mom and dad's tomorrow and prepare to stay there throughout the storm. Their home is new, well-built, and has double-paned storm windows. They also have a HUGE walk-in closet where we could stay if needed. Plus, it is just good to be together during an event like this. I'm so glad that I will have all the most important people with me during the storm.
Prayers are much appreciated, and hopefully our homes will make it through Ike with minimal damages. Of course our safety is the #1 priority.
Jamie wasn't in any of the pictures this time. However, he did stack these footballs during warm-up. :)
Some other cool shots:
Finally! It seems like the team has been practicing for days on end, so it was great to see them playing on Friday night. The Mustangs defeated Dayton, who before the game were ranked 4th in the state. It was a fantastic win for us.
Last night we joined my parents for a rare adult dinner at Gaidos. We had a great evening and really enjoyed it.
Today Jamie and I will be traveling to Beaumont to attend a wake for my college roomate's dad. I'm so saddened by his passing. I have such fond memories of going home with my friend for the weekend during college. He was a wonderful man. I'm nervous about the wake, because I don't deal well with death, but it will be so good to see my friend and her family. It's been a long time, and I really miss her friendship since we've grown apart. I will get to meet her son for the first time today (assuming that she brings him). I think he's around 6 months old, and I can't wait to see him in person. We will be leaving Elise with my parents, because I am not sure if there will be an open casket, and I think it would scare her if there is. I am not ready to attempt an explanation about death just yet, but this event has really made me begin to think about how I am going to do that with her in the future.
Jamie has never met the family, and he's having to leave work early today to go with me. I was telling him last night how much I appreciate him coming along, because I know it makes him a bit uncomfortable to be thrown into that type of situation (trying to express condolences to people you have never met). He said, "That is what partners do for each other." I thought it was so sweet. It means a lot to me. I really didn't want to go alone.
While we are in Beaumont, we are going to drive over to Candace & Jeremy's house (in a nearby small town) for a quick visit. As luck would have it, they are having Reese's birthday party today, so we will be able to stop by and wish her a happy 3rd birthday. I wish Elise could come - she still talks about Reese a lot since our vacation together this summer. We will have to try to get together again another time.
I am currently drowning in laundry and lacking in motivation to do anything about it. In an effort to further procrastinate, I am going to go pull some pictures from last night's game and post them.
