the after party...

The last 30 hours have been eventful to say the least. As I'm sure you've seen on the news, Houston took a direct hit from hurricane Ike, pounding the city for over 12 hours with high winds and rain. About 10 hours before the storm was projected to make landfall, my family was gathering at my parent's home preparing to hunker down for the night. Unfortunately, the air conditioner on their second floor broke and could not be fixed until after the storm. With 13 people at the house, we decided it wouldn't be a very pleasant experience to wait it out in such uncomfortable conditions. Not to mention that due to over dramatic news anchors on CNN and the like, our husbands who were hearing about the storm from afar were scared to death for our safety as they had no idea how we would be affected. So Leah and I packed up the car and in less than 15 minutes we were on the road headed to Austin with kids and grandparents in tow. Uncertain as to the road conditions regarding traffic, we went on a bit of faith that we would be able to make it to Austin before the storm arrived. The 2 1/2 hour trip under normal conditions took us over 4 hours but that's nothing compared to 2005's traffic when the city was fleeing from hurricane Rita in mass chaos. Not long after we arrived at our hotel, the storm started to bear down on Galveston.

Around 1:00am my parent's home lost power. They spent the early morning hours protecting their property from potential flooding by clearing out their drains on the patio and re-routing drainage from the roof. My dad was pleasantly surprised after the storm had passed that it was less dramatic in noise and fervor than he expected. Damage to their property is limited to a small tree being torn out of the ground and ending up on a slightly torn up roof as well as their side fence collapsing onto the patio. We have limited contact with them and only know that their power and water is out for now at least but they have plenty of provisions to sustain them for several days. As for the rest of Houston, I think everyone is still assessing the massive amounts of damage. We believe that there is damage to our office building but don't know the extent as that area is still flooded. My sisters' homes are said to be in good shape according to their neighbors and my grandparent's apartment is in tact with some buildings in their complex with power & water. We are incredibly thankful that we were spared any major catastrophes but know that our friends around the city have not been so lucky.

I am in Austin until the mayor of Houston gives the word that we can come back. Meanwhile, my sweet family is making great efforts to help me celebrate my 29th birthday as much as our situation allows. This birthday will definitely be one that won't be forgotten!

I'll keep ya posted as the days progress...