Surviving Ike

Hi everyone.  Thank you for your prayers and concerns over the last week.  We came through the storm well with no damage, but lost electricity.  We have been able to use our water which makes a big difference; although, we were told not to drink it immediately after the storm passed and yesterday they told us to start conserving.  We were able to buy a generator last night and we are using it for the internet, TV, and the fridge.  We can unplug those things to use it for others; we might need to do a little laundry tomorrow.  =) Most of our cold groceries are still in a cooler while the fridge gets cool enough.  We were a little nervous about running out of ice but my parents and C's parents were both able to get us a bag so we are ok with that. We've also been fine with gas but needed some yesterday so Charlton went out about 8pm after it was dark and only had to wait in line about 45 min.  The average wait during the day we've heard has been about 1 1/2 to 2 hours-- every gas station has a long line down the street.  Those are the things in highest demand right now: ice and gas.  

Things have actually been fairly pleasant since Sunday night when we got a cool front.  The weather has been beautiful and made this experience bearable.  We would have left several days ago if it had been hot, but since Sunday night the highs have only been in the low 80s during the day and lows at night have been in the low 60s.  We keep the windows open all day and night which remind us our our days in Philly. =)  Steven has been doing well including sleeping very well thankfully-- we've all been catching up on our sleep.  His window was the only one we boarded up for the storm so he was scared when he woke up Saturday morning and it was pitch black in his room with the wind and rain still pretty stormy outside.  He got a little upset in the car the first few times we went out to explore because there were huge trees laying in the road-- I'm sure the fact we were pointing them out to each other and exclaiming over them didn't help.  We have been keeping him busy though visiting grandparents and neighbors and so he is having a ball now that the weather is good and the three of us do everything together.  It's also been really nice to have to time to connect with our neighbors.  We've been eating whatever we can fix here without electricity.  Also,  my parents have a gas stove and C's parents have a grill so we've scrambled all the eggs we had and grilled all the meat we had in our freezers.  It's great to have hot food.  By Sunday evening a few grocery stores opened and then Monday more commercial areas had power so there are more restaurants open everyday.  Most of the damage in our area was due to fallen trees so there's quite a mess to clean up but we didn't have any flooding which is a huge blessing.  God definitely protected our area from the worst and except for residential electricity things are getting closer to normal everyday.  We were hoping for our electricity to come back on any time but they announced yesterday that the electrical company was hoping to get 50% of Houston's residences electricity by Tuesday.  We didn't feel like that was very promising and while we weren't much more than inconvenienced by the storm (thank you, Lord!), it is getting old not having electricity.  We feel like investing in a generator isn't a frivolous purchase at this point in Houston since we Lord-willing plan to stay here permanently.  I'm sure that will be more opportunities to use it through the years though I hope not soon.  

Charlton has not had to go back to work yet which has been nice-- he had originally planned to take today through Friday off for vacation anyway.  Our home phone starting working today but we have been using our cells since the storm.  Service is spotty so I haven't been able to actually get a call through but I can get my voice mails immediately and texting has been working well too although sometimes there's a big delay.  Keep praying for our electricity to come on and for Houstonians that were more affected than we were.  We are definitely counting our blessings and very thankful for God's protection over our loved ones.