After Ike

As everyone knows, after many false alarms and close calls, Houston finally got in the way of a bad storm on Friday night. Billions of dollars of damage; thousands without electricity; many dead and injured. And now that it's all said and done, I only have one thing to say -

I am very thankful.

Our house sustained very minimal damage (just some fences down and some trees bent), and the homes of my family members seem to have fared pretty well too. I know this to be a huge blessing, considering I still remember Alicia in '83 and how it ripped our home apart, sending us to live in an apartment for months while everything got rebuilt. This time, one or two trips to Home Depot and a good house-cleaning, and we'll be right back where we need to be. I can't tell you how thankful I am to God for sparing us a major disaster.

That being said, I know not everyone was that fortunate, so my thoughts and prayers go out to them. I hate that anyone has to wake up to water in their homes or trees on their roofs. Witnessing a hurricane is like witnessing the very power of God right outside your window, and that can be a very humbling thing.

We're still without power at the Ryan house, but praise God, my in laws have had power since Saturday and have allowed us to stay with them. Yes, these are the same in laws that we just spent nine full days with at Disney World, so it amazes me that they're still willing to be around us. :-) Again, another huge blessing to be thankful for.

My parents and my siblings still don't have power either, so please pray that everything would get restored quickly. And, this is so small in the grand scheme of things, but Ike ruined our plans to have Gideon's 2nd birthday party on Saturday, so we need to figure out how and when to reschedule that. I know it's not that big of a deal, but he's my baby and I want him to have a great birthday party!! Also, I had an appointment scheduled with my doctor on Thursday, but have been unable to get a hold of his office since all this started. I still have not gotten the official results of my ultrasound from 2 1/2 weeks ago, and I am very anxious to hear that baby Canaan is doing well. This waiting thing is starting to get to me a little. (But again, I'm very blessed in that it could be worse - I could be one of those poor women going into labor at a time like this! I can't even imagine what they're going through!)

Anyway, for those of you who are out of town and able to read this, that's how we weathered the storm. Thank you, God, for keeping your hand of protection on our family!