So Thankful...

We survived, Ike! What a wild ride the past several days have been, but we feel unbelievably blessed.

We ended up losing power about 3am early Saturday morning. The storm was unreal! The wind was crazy strong, and it was quite scary. At one point it sounded like a freight train was heading through the front of our house. (We now wonder if that wasn't a tornado.) We survived, though, and all four of us - Mr. Wonderful, me, Capri and Charlie - are safe and unhurt.

I am so thankful for:

- Our safety. The Lord protected us and gave us peace even if the worst parts of the storm.

- Minimal damage to our house compared to many. Our roof is in rough shape and will likely need to be replaced (i.e. there is a large hole above our garage where you can see ply wood). BUT the worst damage was done above our garage and above our kitchen. How blessed are we that the two places in our house where water came through the ceiling (and with it brought sheet rock and paint) are over our cement garage floor and our tiled kitchen floor! Thank you, Lord! It could have been so much worse.

- Homeowners' Insurance. For obvious reasons (see above!). Plus, we have our insurance through USAA, and in the next few days they will be direct depositing $250 into our checking account for all the food we were forced to throw out of our refrigerator. $250 with no deductible! Thank you, Lord! (Houston Friends & Family - even if you don't have USAA you should ask. All your people can say is no!)

- that I only slipped and fell on my kitchen's wet tile floor once!

- I have a "new" refrigerator! Since I had to throw everything out, it was a good time to give that puppy a good scrub down. It wasn't that bad to begin with, but it's sooo nice now!

- Electricity! We lost power at 3am Saturday morning, and it returned 9pm on Sunday night. Not too bad at all! Both of our parents and several of our friends are still without.

- The beautiful weather! It is truly a God-send. The high was only 76 today...in Houston...in September. This is unheard of. I know that it brings so much relief to our loved ones without power. It has been so cool at night, that no one has taken us up on the offer to stay at our house. They are comfortable sleeping in their own beds with their windows open.

- Our land line and internet started working today! I can finally get caught up on my blogs and my celebrity gossip!! (Nicole - I can only imagine all that I've missed?!)

- Great friends! We have had a blast spending time with our friends during this adventure after Ike. Sunday night (before we knew that power was restored at our house) several of our couple friends convened at one house with power. We stayed up late talking, laughing, and eating junk food. And then sweet Krystal treated us to a pancake breakfast in the morning! Outside of this we loved hanging out with Michael and Jess lots! Michael helped Colin put tarps on our roof, which was such a blessing. Plus, we've had several dinner dates in the past few days. It's all been a wonderful side effect of the storm.

And my list could go on and on. We feel so unbelievably blessed! We may have a bum roof, but will go to bed tonight together, safe in our home, and with A/C. What more could we ask for?

There are so many families hurting and suffering great loss tonight. Please continue to pray for our area - the relief effort ahead is extensive.