random thoughts

Today I was sitting here thinking how incredibly blessed our entire family has been throughout this disaster. We have minimal damage, but most importantly we were prepared for this event. Living on the Gulf Coast you must be prepared for the hurricane that might hit every year between June 1st and November 30th. This means keeping your gas tanks full and keeping non-perishable food and bottled water in your house. We have a small food storage and plenty of water. We were lucky enough to have a neighbor bring us back some fresh milk, eggs and meat from San Antonio, but we do miss the fresh produce. Its almost surreal to go to a grocery store right now. First of all, there are curfews in place and most stores are closed by 5pm. The reason for some of them is they are running on generator power and must conserve their fuel for the busiest hours. It's so sad to go to the store and see a line for eggs or milk. People are so desperate...they wait for hours for the delivery truck to be unloaded. The aisles with the frozen foods are all empty, meat and dairy is very hard to come by and the produce department consists of onions, potatoes and bananas if you are lucky.

I have been so lucky to get to go back to my safe home (now with electricity) and the only problem I am facing is the satellite company can't come out until next Thursday. I went to Radio Shack today to purchase some 'rabbit ears' so that we can get the local channels and I am grateful for that.

It's times like these when it feels very good to be in the service of others. Tuesday Jeff was outside cutting up our trees that fell and out of nowhere, 4 men from our church show up to see if we need assistance. That was absolutely amazing! We were so touched by their service to us that Jeff joined them to help others. He is going out tomorrow to continue the efforts to help those still in need. It's sad that it sometimes takes tragic times like these to make us slow down and focus on the things that really matter.

The college is supposed to reopen next Wednesday if they get power. It is still up in the air when Meda's school will open again, there was some pretty bad damage to several campuses in the district.

With all this babbling, I guess what I am trying to say is:

1. be prepared
2. be thankful for life's little things
3. take a moment to help someone in need (it feels good)

Good Night.