If you have been living on another planet for the past few days, then let me give you an update. This little thing called a hurricane (this one was not so little, as it was around 900 miles in diameter) made it's way through Southeast Texas early Saturday morning. Early last week, it didn't appear that Hurricane Ike would make it to us, as it was well south of our area. However, as the week progressed, Ike's path made its way further north and a direct hit on Galveston was definitely a possibility. Mandatory evacuations started Wednesday for those living in Galveston and surrounding areas. With Ike getting closer, and the path not changing, more areas were told to evacuate. While all the surrounding school districts were cancelled for Thursday, my lovely school district decided to stick it out and hold school (as you can tell, I was THRILLED about this). Well, once I got to school, I got a call from mom saying Clear Lake was a mandatory evacuation area. I stayed at school for a couple of hours and then left. Thirty minutes after I got home, we left for Rockwall, Texas. The trip took around 7 hours. We kept the TV on for a good part of the day while we were there to stay updated on what was going on. Ike was forecasted to produce some serious storm surges (20-25 feet) and winds up to 110 mph. Though Ike definitely made his presence felt throughout Southeast Texas, it could have been a lot worse. As for us, it looked like our house lost power for a short time, but not for an extended period (as of now, there are still over 1.5 million residents without power). We made the trip back to Houston this afternoon to see our house still standing (others were not so fortunate). Only minor issues occurred, with the backyard patio covering coming down, as well as many tree branches, which is small compared to what happened to many, many other people's homes. We are thankful for still having a home, no one was injured or hurt, and that we have nothing to clean up, save some tree branches. Unfortunately others were not so lucky and our hearts go out to them, as we pray for them that they will be able to get through this tragic event. As you can see from the pictures of our yard, we were definitely lucky.
