Not so fast...

Apparently, we were a bit quick in announcing our good fortune in surviving Ike. Another friend (and neighbor) offered to go check out our house again this morning, after hearing that our street had experienced some flooding. And unfortunately, our house did indeed flood. I guess a huge storm passed through after Ike (yesterday, then?), and dumped a ton of rain. So while we were celebrating our good fortune from surviving Ike with no troubles minus a bit of inconvenience, our house was filling up with water. I don't know exactly how much it flooded. Sounds like at one point there were several inches of water - but now it's not actually standing water - but the carpets, etc are saturated - including everything on the floor (right now I'm saddest about all of Ben's glorious board books - how this child loves to read)...

We have the most amazing friends - we just received a call from our fourth friend who has headed over to help start cleaning things up. We are frustrated and worried being so far away from what is happening, but also so incredibly humbled by the love our friends have shown us by jumping to our aid over the last few hours.

It sounds like power may still be days (I'm afraid to say weeks) away, so Benjamin and I are jumping on a flight this evening to visit my parents in Oregon until all this gets sorted out. Mark is driving back to Houston tommorrow morning to assess the scene and figure out what needs to be done to get our house liveable again.

Please send him good thoughts and prayers as he works over the next few days in what is likely to be an uncomfortable situation - and that the current cool front that will make it so much more bearable lasts...

Thank you Dan, Robyn, Josh and Nathan for being such gracious hosts, and allowing us to share your home with no notice for several days. You guys are awesome, and we had such a fun time visiting with you...

Waiting

We're still waiting to go back to Houston. Seems that power is still out across much of the city - including the water plant, so our house currently has no power and no water. Consequently, we're not planning on going home until that changes.

A friend stopped by our house to check it out - and it looks like we escaped without damage. We have some large limbs down - including one that will prevent us from using the driveway (until Mark breaks out his chainsaw, that is) - but none that fell on the roof. Also, part of the fence got disconnected - but looks like it's still hanging on (didn't get blown totally away). From his walkthrough (thanks Joe) that sounds like the extent of it for us. Sounds like many, many trees are down all over though.

So now we're just waiting for the power and water to be back and then we can go home! No idea how long that will take - could take a week, I hear. In the meantime, we have the news on almost 24/7, and we just keep waiting...

Ike Update

As I am sure many of you are, we have been monitoring Ike via the news for the last couple of days. Today we spoke with a few friends who stayed behind in Houston - and it looks like everyone is safe - with some minor house/property damage. It seems like the damage, though, is hit or miss - ie one house is spared, but another one has trees knocked down / shingles blown off...Power seems to be out all across Houston, and no one is sure when it will return. So we may be staying put for a while (sorry D&R, we'll try not to get on your nerves too much :) )

If you have been watching the news, the downtown building with all the windows blown
out that they keep showing is across the street from Jones Hall - where the Houston Symphony performs. Officials are advising folks to stay put for a while, but we've had a couple of friends offer to go check on our house when people can go out and about again. Looks like the phone lines are down too - as we've been unable to reach folks via land lines.

We're in a suburb of Dallas now - and it looks like the remainder of Ike will be passing through here in the next few hours. We've had lots of rain and some wind, but nothing serious yet. Benjamin and I enjoyed running outside in the rain for a bit a few hours ago, and all three little Griffith boys are asleep now, so Mark and Dan are working on a home improvement project together. So this evacuation hasn't been so bad so far! But we are hoping to go home before too long - and get back to our lives...

We'll update you when we know more.

Hope all you Texans out there are all safe & dry! :)

We're Here!

Sorry - forgot to post earlier. We made it to Dallas with very little (thankfully!) drama! A bit of traffic coming out of Houston, but we mostly used backroads. Took us 6 hours instead of the usual 4 - which certainly beats the 12 hours it took us during Rita to get to Austin.

So now we're enjoying a fun-filled weekend with the Other Griffiths!! Hope Ike isn't too mean to Houston...

IKE!

Yikes! We have a hurricane headed our way! It wasn't supposed to hit Houston, but last night it turned...

We're packing up our stuff, and planning to head out within the hour. We'll be enjoying an unplanned visit with The Other Griffiths (thanks for taking us in, D,R,J&N!) in Dallas. Our biggest worry right now is the traffic. For Rita, it took us 12 hours to get to Austin (should have been a 3 hour drive) - and that was difficult enough WITHOUT a toddler in the backseat! But, hopefully "they've" learned from the Rita experience, and it won't be so bad...

Wish us luck! I'll try to remember to put up a post when we arrive in Dallas to let you know we made it there safely...

Our Trip to Jacksonville

Mark recovered our photos from our trip to Jacksonville, FL in August!!! Our trip included a visit to Starke (our old stomping ground while I was in school & Mark with the JSO), Ben's first trip to the beach, and our friend Kevin's wedding. I've uploaded the photos to our Picasa site. Enjoy!!

Promise

It's been a hot, long and hard summer. But this morning, Benjamin and I stepped outside first thing in the morning to hit the park. First thing in the morning is the only time it's been bearable to go outside - so we've been trying to take advantage of that lately, as there are relatively few inside places you can successfuly take a toddler to burn off some energy. And when we stepped outside, what did we discover? That it wasn't horrible! Then just now, I stepped out to our carport to grab a few things from the car, and I was struck by the lack of humidity - the absence of hot, muggy air assaulting me. It was refreshing and gave me hope. Hope that this summer might finally come to an end. Hope that we'll be able to someday soon go outside without slathering on sunscreen, without being consumed by misquitos. Hope that the Fall may really arrive, and end this summer that seems to never end.