Phew. Life is almost normal again.

We survived Hurricane Ike. We decided to stay here in Houston during the storm, as well as during those tough days without power thereafter. Thankfully, there was no damage to our home. Phew. We lost one 60 foot pine tree in our backyard, but miraculously, it missed every house it could have hit. Most of our neighbors were not so lucky -- many homes on our street had multiple trees come through the roof, and then had severe water damage when the heavy rains arrived shortly thereafter. A friend showed me these pictures of our area taken immediately following the storm. I think those first 12 pictures are a good representation of what things look like around here.

Lesley had food poisoning through most of the 12 hours of Ike's wind and rain, but the good friends we have staying with us trumped that -- Sarah 'decided' to go be in labor just as the storm hit. Little Andrew arrived perfect and beautiful and healthy though he was 4 weeks early and arrived in the very moment that the eye of the storm was over our neighborhood. We are all thankful that he was born at our local hospital, not here at our house. Double Phew.

We feel that Heavenly Father really protected and watched over us these last two weeks. So much of this could have been far worse. A cold front arrived just days after the storm, and kept us unseasonably cool and comfortable during most of the last 9 days without electricity. Still, poor Ian suffered from the worst case of heat rash I have ever seen.

We got our power back on Monday, September 22. Our Internet connection was restored tonight. Life has seemed almost normal for a day now. I love having cold milk and cheese in the fridge again. However, most of our neighbors are still without power and many stores are still sparsely stocked. And there is still so much more cleanup work to do around here. It has been wonderful to witness neighbor helping neighbor, and I expect the will be months more of that ahead. More details and pictures soon.