Update

I have so much to blog, but only a couple of minutes now. I'm up at the Starbucks, using the WiFi. Oh, I have missed the internet! We still don't have power, but it's nice to think it really could be any day (or hour) now. Of course it may yet be days or weeks... Over the weekend I kept a "blog" in my notebook. I will type it all up and add some pictures when I get the opportunity. I think my mom may watch Joanna for a while today while I run back up here or to the library. We were really lucky during the hurricane and all this recovery business. We were given a generator so we can keep things cold in our fridge! We have also had the most fabulous cool front the past several days. Our house has been very comfortable with the windows open. It's about to start warming up again, which is sad, but I know we'll survive. I've got some other sites to check, so I'm off for now. Hopefully I will be able to catch up some later.

Surviving the Storm

This is Kathryn, Jessica's sister, I just spoke to her on the phone and I wanted to give everyone an update. They are all doing fine...they had minimal damage due to some trees falling but no damage to the house or cars. They are without power making it a little on the warm side, but I think they will survive. Due to the storm they are having trouble using their cell phones...they have been able to retrieve a few calls, but unable to make any. As always keep them in your prayers.

Still Hunkering

Or rather, preparing to hunker. It's just started to get windy here. I'm running the dishwasher and dryer one last time (well, hopefully not); we've got our cell phones and cameras charging. We've started to pile our flashlights and batteries in a central location so we can find them in the dark. I've figured out what I'm going to do regarding sleeping Joanna tonight. I think I'm going to let her fall asleep in her bed like normal then transfer her over to our room when we head to bed. She's got a big 'ol window in her room, and of course I'll feel more comfortable with her in the room with us. I think I might shower and blow dry my hair tonight while I still can! Although with this wind picking up, who knows how long we'll have electricity. I've heard that some subdivisions have already lost it.

I'm a little sad the storm will hit overnight. I have to say I LOVE storms -- the wind, the rain, the lightening and thunder -- it's fabulous. It's thrilling. It's magical. Now obviously I would rather the hurricane wasn't so bad and wasn't endangering people and homes, but since I can't really stop it...

Make sure you scroll down a bit; I've put up about 5 different posts this evening.

Ike

Just a shot from my way home today. LOTS of people getting gas. Matt said he couldn't find gas until Splendora this morning on his way to work.

Even though Ike is still in the ocean, it has already started affecting us around here. We're not in an evacuation zone, and we've decided to stay and "hunker down." My mom is off for the next couple of days so she'll be with us, too. Matt is going to stay home from work tomorrow. We're worried that he won't be able to get home tomorrow afternoon. That would be awful. This morning I headed to the church to bring Joanna to school and get my weekly work done. I worked for about 45 minutes on my bulletin before heading to our Sr. pastor's office for a meeting. We all got together to discuss the church's plans for the weekend. It was decided that all weekend activities would be cancelled with the exception of Sunday worship. However, instead of 4 services, we will just have one service at 11:00, electricity or not. It was also decided that we would not have a bulletin or a media program for that one service. So I got to go home early! I left a little after 11:00 and got to go home for a few hours before picking up Joanna from school. It was such a nice little break for me! My mom braved the grocery store this morning for us, so I spent some time organizing the fridge, freezer, and pantry. It was nice to do this without Joanna's "help." I also emptied the ice maker into bags in the freezer and caught up on dishes and laundry. I'm pretty sure we're going to be looking at living without power for a few days. Obviously, I'm not looking forward to this (!), but I'm feeling about as prepared as I can be. We have a few things to take care of in the morning, but I'm so glad Matt will be around to help. Luckily the storm which may knock out the power will also lower the temperatures over the next couple of days. That will help. I'm also feeling very thankful for our gas range. We should be able to still cook on the stove top, and maybe the oven, too. As soon as I'm able after the storm, I'll post how we're all doing. Hopefully, we'll be reachable throughout all of this. Matt and I have cell phones, but no land line. We're hoping to be able to call or at least text over the next few days.

Everybody try to stay safe! We'll keep you all in our prayers.

Misc. recent pics

This picture was taken after church on Sunday. I love this new little dress on Joanna. I'm excited for her to wear it with tights, a sweater, and little patton leather shoes when it gets cold. So the reason I took this picture is because Joanna grabbed her friend Jacob's Nemo backback and walked around with it forever. She just loved it! I think a little rolling backpack may be in Joanna's near future. :) I like to keep a couple of books in the car for Joanna to read on our drives. Frankly, most of the time I forget to change them out, but we stopped at the library this week, and Joanna picked out a new book for the car. Sometimes she just "reads" and reads while we drive. It is so cute!
Just FYI, Joanna fits in our big pot. I'm probably not going to cook her, though.

School!

So for DAYS my child had been waking up early (okay, 7:15 -- not super-early). Not so on the first day of school. Tuesday Joanna and I were responsible for taking care of a friend's little dog and cat so we had to leave earlier than normal. I also did not want her to be late -- it's hard for the teachers if the door keeps opening after "class" has started. It gets some of the kiddos all riled up. Anyway, I decided we needed to leave the house at 8:15. In my past life this was not hard. It is now. I'd gotten her little bag basically packed the night before, and even had Matt (my alarm clock) call me to wake me up. Normally, I wait for my other alarm clock, Joanna, to wake me up. So I got up first and got all ready (it was kind of nice -- I should remember that!), then prepped Joanna's breakfast for the car! At 8:00, I hadn't heard her but decided to go into her room: This little sweet face is what I found. I guess she'd woken up but just hadn't called out for me yet. Isn't she cute? I got her dressed quickly, put her in the car, and gave her a bagel and some milk.
I tried to get a picture once we got to the church, but she wasn't in the mood. Joanna is so cute when we head over to the office. She loves all the phones and all the people. Several of the ladies (okay, all) spoil her rotten and she remembers! Hmmm... let's see, Miss Paula will let me type on her computer; Miss Barbara will let me play with her pens; other Miss Paula will let me talk on her phone... and so on.
I picked her up at 2:30. She was laying on her nap mat, but was awake and waiting for me. I tried again to get a cute picture, but to no avail. At least in this one her finger is not in her nose.
She had a great day on Tuesday and another great day today. This note was on the door when I went to pick her up. Yes, I'm a dork; I took a picture. And I will take a picture every single time there is a note waiting for us. So there.
It says they sang lots of songs and played outside for almost an hour -- Joanna must LOVE it!