Old Ike

So, in the grand scheme of things, Ike didn't hurt us too badly. We lost most of our fence and had a lot of tree branches in the yard and Dwayne thinks we lost a couple of shingles off the roof. We were only out of power for a few days. It was restored on Monday evening. Our water was only out for one day. Some people have lost everything and I can't even imagine what they must feel right now. A lot of people in Houston and the suburbs still don't have electricity. Our church is in the same boat. We had to use a generator this weekend but it was still good.

I actually enjoyed our few days in the dark. Thankfully, God sent a cold front through so we didn't have to deal with extreme heat. Our family spent a lot of uninterrupted time together. There was no television to distract us. We all slept in our bed together. Every night, we just talked until we fell asleep. We realized just how silly and goofy our kids are. Danae likes to make up songs and Brayden is just nuts. We also spent a lot of time outside just enjoying the cool breeze. The neighborhood kids had a lot of fun together. Dwayne was off work for a week. It was nice!

Sometimes, life moves so fast and there are so many distractions that we tend to lose focus. We forget how to just sit and talk. We forget how to go to bed earlier so we're not so tired and unfocused the next day. Ike brought a much needed break from our normal lives.

Here are a few pictures from our Ike experience.

Our neighbor called us at 4:30 am to tell us his tree fell.

Branches from the pine trees in our front yard.

My car made it! It sat in the driveway because there's no room in our garage.

Backyard fence down

Fence again

My kids playing with some of the neighbors

Pile of branches that's still sitting in the same position today.

The day after the Ike, a horrible thunderstorm came through. Our street was flooded.

More flood

Fence on the side of the house.