Monday, August 29, 2005

All together now....Everyone knows it's Windy

The important thing first: Our family is here and safe. Isn't that really all that matters?

Now some information. We live in the Panhandle of Florida. That is where Hurricane Katrina was first predicted to land when it reached the Gulf of Mexico. Since we have 2 young children, the Big Man and I discussed my heading west to New Orleans to stay with his parents who live there. I get on Interstate 10 at our exit and get off at their exit in 3 1/2 hours. So we decided to wait to see what it was going to do. As you now know, it headed west and straight for the city. If you've watched the storm coverage, you have heard endless reports of how it is below sea level, relies on a vast pumping system to send water into Lake Pontchartrain, and has levees all around the city to keep the lake out, and they all hear of how devastating "THE BIG ONE" would be. There were many indications that Katrina was going to be "THE BIG ONE". So, instead of us going there...they came to us. Staying at their house last night...Granny & Pap, the Grillmaster, the Mrs. and Miss, the Grillmaster's mother and father in law, and the Mrs.' sister and her husband...oh, and MK.

Providentially, the Big Man's parents built a house just around the corner from us and moved into it this spring. They use it as a getaway on occasional weekends and just last weekend the Grillmaster, the Mrs. and Miss left after spending a week there. So they have had a nice place to stay and we have shared some meals together and watched a lot of storm coverage together...I mean a LOT!!!

Power is out in New Orleans and phones are not working, so we really only know what most people know by watching t.v. They didn't get a direct hit so it wasn't the BIG ONE but it was close. In areas east, such as Biloxi and Gulfport and some Louisiana parishes, it certainly feels like the BIG ONE. I'm sure we'll know more tomorrow. They are saying it could be a month before power is restored but we also know that if they said a week and it isn't a week, people would go crazy. Hopefully it won't be that long. They weren't able to send helicopters over the area until the winds died down to a certain speed, but I'm sure tomorrow we'll learn much more. What we have heard is that the area where Granny & Pap live may have as much as 3 feet of standing water. It's not for certain but that sounds very bad. We saw a picture of the street behind the Grillmaster's house. There was standing water in the yard and street but it didn't reach the houses so we are very hopeful that their house may be dry.

Here in Florida we had a lot of rain and very heavy wind gusts. And yes, we lost more trim from our house. That is the least of our concerns. We didn't even get it fixed from Dennis yet...we may wait until the hurricane season is over.

In the midst of this, the Big Man received a phone call from work. The 15 year old only son of one of the employees has been battling cancer. Just on Saturday the friends of this family had a huge yard sale and raised over $4,000 for his family to help cover their mounting bills. We've been praying for him with MK and have talked about him often. The phone call today told us that he had passed away. That put a lot of the other things going on in perspective. Due to some acquaintances, we have assurance that Tim knew the Lord and his suffering is over. But his parents' suffering hasn't even begun. The least of their worries is something happening to their stuff. We've tried hard to keep that in perspective.

So I'm going to borrow my closing from Dy....

"Kiss those babies..."

No one ever says, "Kiss your stuff."

Good night

5 comments:

melissa said...

Excellent point." No one ever says kiss your stuff."

Glad that you are all doing well, and are all together. Hoping and praying for the best for the Big Man's family.

Anniesue said...

Melissa, thanks for the prayers. Noelle, I'll put it this way...they are considering enrolling my niece in school here. Looks pretty grim. Many emotions...at one minute practical...we'll take the insurance check and move...other times...memories come rushing back. Please don't forget them...it's going to be a very long process.

Thom said...

Oh,wow. You really did put things in perspective with that final comment.

But it still can't be easy--I'm keeping you and your family in my prayers.

Anniesue said...

Thanks so much for your comments. The news is only getting worse. Apparently this was the big one. As of bedtime, a breach in the levee is supposed to allow 9 MORE feet of water into the area. And they have given up efforts to stop it. We are more thankful than ever that no one in our family tried to "ride it out." For those who did, it was foolish, foolish, foolish. We're keeping a close watch on my niece. She is really brave and they've been pretty frank with her. She left her cat and that's hard.
So, thanks for praying for them and thinking of us. Your comments are most appreciated.

melissa said...

My heart breaks for them. No doubt you guys are such a blessing to them right now. It's good to have strong family by your side as you sort through the grief. We will be praying.