(Here is where the fence was about 60 ft from our home)
Many of you know that Hurricane Ike paid a visit through Houston (where we are currently living) early Sat morning on Joe's Birthday (13 Sep). We were not required to evacuate, and we did not consider our leaving an evacuation--it was more of a vacation to celebrate Joe's Birthday. We decided to leave late Thurs night (11th) after Brooklyn went to sleep and headed for Austin. We figured if we were going to lose power as was predicted, we were not prepared to go days without it. I mean I guess we could have survived eating cold-cereal, cold canned food and soup, water, and powdered milk but why live that way if you don't have to. Besides, Joe ended up having a great birthday with not having to go back to school until last Wed (24th).
We spent a couple days in Austin and then my Mom informed me that I had relatives that lived just South of Waco (about 90 min. SW of Dallas). We ended up staying with them until we found out that our apartment had power again which was Wed the 17th. The more stories I hear about the damage that was done from Hurricane Ike, the more blessed I feel. The fence around our complex was about half gone, a few big trees fell down on some houses just right behind us, some people in our ward were out of power for 2 weeks, and many of the buildings in our complex are getting new shingling put on because of leaking problems but there were NO problems at all with our apartment. Well, we did lose all the food in our fridge, but I'm happy to say that we didn't really experience any major effects of the hurricane. We had to watch our use of gas and food until the supply was back up, but we made the best out of our experience.
It was really nice after we returned home, Joe didn't have to go back to school for another week so I had him help me finish unpacking our stuff from our move. I feel like we have finally moved in to our new home--everything is put away, pictures are up on the walls, the floors are clear to walk around, and the kitchen is usable! With the rate I was going by myself (and with Brooklyn's help), it would have been a couple more months before our place looks like it does. But thanks to Joe's help (even if it was just watching Brooklyn at times), it feels like home.
