Life as we know it after Ike

Hello everybody! Just wanted to quickly let you know that we are all ok (thank GOD!) since hurricane Ike slammed into our county and surrounding areas on 09/12/2008. We evacuated to Austin and then took Kyle to my Mom in Brownwood so that we could go home and assess the damage and get back to work. Thankfully, unlike many others around us, our house if fine. Our fence was blown down and messed up, and we lost some shingles on our storage building. My mother in law and brother in law were not so lucky. They both had roof and water damage. We did not have water or sewer for awhile, but we got that back fast. We are still without electricity (like so many others) and are using a generator. We did loose everything in our fridge and freezer, but who can complain about that when others lost family members. Gas at first was hard to come by, but it has gotten better and all the anahuac gas stations are open now. The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at our legion hall and are providing hot meals twice a day and the national guard is providing ice, water, and MREs free of charge to anyone who needs it. I have never witnessed such a disaster and I am very proud of how our country comes together to help each other out. We have churches helping put tarps on people's roofs and everyone is helping out to clean up the town. I had to go back to work as soon as I could get Kyle situated. It has been so hard for us to be away from him for so long, but with no electricity or daycare we thought it was best that he stay with his grandparents. George has been helping around town and keeping ours (and his mom's) generators full of gas and ice chests full of ice. I would like to ask for you all to pray for the victims of this terrible disaster. About 5-30 miles from us (the towns of Bolivar peninsula, Crystal beach, oak island, and High Island) people lost their entire homes, their cattle, and even their lives. They are actually still searching for the lost and attempting rescue missions at this time. I took some pictures of various places in town so that you can see how hard we were actually hit...we got up to 110 mph winds!!! We realize how blessed we are even when we get sick of having no electricity and eating sandwiches and can food. Thanks for all your prayers and concern!