Hurricane Ike

I'm not going to include any photos with this because I'm sure the damage has been seen all over the news, but I wanted to share my thoughts and our experience during the hurricane. Basically, I don't really want to go through another hurricane again, although that's the risk we take living in Houston. If Ike was just a category two (though nearly three), I certainly wouldn't stick around for a four or five. For those who like adventure, it must have been a blast. For those like me, it was pretty scary. I couldn't sleep all night and realized that ear plugs are a necessity in our emergency supplies. Because it happened during the middle of the night and our power went out like everyone else's, we didn't see a whole lot, but we heard a ton. Banging, popping, creaking, crashing--you name it. I was just praying the whole time that our roof would not suddenly rip off. Eli was a little frightened when the eyewall first began hitting us, but we were fortunate that he slept through most of it.

When the worst of it passed, immediately around us the damage consisted of broken branches and fallen trees, ripped off shingles, broken fences, downed power lines, hanging traffic lights, and broken signs. We were thinking that wasn't too bad given what we had heard. Keep in mind that we couldn't see anything on television because of the massive power outage. All we had was a little battery-operated radio. It wasn't until Wednesday or Thursday that I actually saw the extensive damage to Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Of course, the worst for us and the millions of other Houstonians was (and still is for many)probably the lack of power. We were very fortunate that we never lost our water. The pressure was low for the first couple of days, and we were told to conserve, but we were still able to shower. Granted, it was a very cold shower, but at least it was a shower. I was preparing to revert back to my mission days where bucket baths were the norm.

I did, however, have to revert back to the candles and flashlights and lack of air conditioning. I was painfully reminded of how uncomfortable heat and humidity can be without AC. But once again, the Lord blessed us by sending a cold front, so the heat was only bad for the first two days after the hurricane. Once the cold front came, we opened our windows and doors and cooled down a bit. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes then became a problem. Poor little Eli!

One of the families in our ward that Josh home teaches got their power back the day of or the day after the hurricane and allowed us to use their freezer for our frozen goods. That was a blessing! We then put our refrigerated goods in our freezer that Josh had previously filled with ice, and most of our refrigerated items kept okay in the freezer until we got our power back on Wednesday afternoon (a great gift that we were given on my dad's birthday).

Even as I write this, there are many people without power still, even in our ward. Our church building still does not have power. Meetings were obviously cancelled last week, and I hear that they're trying to get a generator so that we can at least have sacrament meeting tomorrow.

Despite the problems, I have counted many blessings that we have received amid the chaos of the storm and its aftermath. Our lives were unharmed. The rain didn't linger, so we didn't get as much flooding as we could have. A cold front came in. Damage could certainly have been worse. Most of our food did not spoil. We never lost our water. Our power came back fairly quickly compared to many others'. Unlike many other emergencies and natural disasters, we were given warning of the hurricane's approach. We were given service opportunities. We got to spend more time with each other. We have a better idea of what we need in an emergency but were prepared for almost everything. We received word that Eli's cousin, Sophee, was born.

Random Thoughts and Photos

I wanted to show a few more pictures of Eli that I thought were cute and/or funny: http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/456459.a6c2a719489/overview He's really trying to crawl; he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. I find him half way under the coffee table or his swing, etc. It probably won't be too long before he makes me chase him down. He also loves his jumper right now. Josh and I find ourselves laughing as we see him jumping like crazy in it. Furthermore, he must be teething because he tries to chew on everything--coasters, coffee table leg, the hard part of his pacifier, etc. He's also showing signs that he's ready for solid foods. I have to be careful when I'm eating because he reaches for almost everything I eat. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks and then try him on rice cereal. He'll be six months by then. Wow!


Well, it looks like Hurricane Ike is definitely headed towards us. Whether we get a direct hit or not, we will certainly see a lot of rain and wind (and possibly tornadoes, they say). I sure hope the power doesn't go out. Fortunately, we are prepared, but I really don't want to use what we've prepared for. I went to the grocery store this morning to do my regular weekly grocery shopping. The stores were crazy. I'm glad we have our food and water storage and don't have to worry about that at the last minute.

Seven Wonders

Then there was one. A couple of days ago, on the 27th, I celebrated my 29th birthday. Only one more year in my twenties. Wow! As usual, my wonderful husband spoiled and surprised me. He loves surprising me; I just have to make it clear that there are some surprises I would not enjoy, which would make for a very unhappy birthday. Fortunately, this surprise was welcome.


After he came home from school, he gave me my first clue and said we were going to see the seven wonders of downtown Houston (according to Josh, of course). After we reached each destination, he gave me another clue and a gift. We ended up seeing some pretty interesting places downtown that I would probably not have seen otherwise. Wonder #1--an art waterfall exhibit. Wonder #2--the underground tunnels that lead to a whole bunch of shops, etc. Wonder #3--an amazing view from supposedly the 2nd tallest building in the U.S. Wonder #4--a beautiful park. Wonder #5--an interactive art bubble, which we actually never found because in typical Houston fashion it started pouring all of a sudden, and we had to take cover. Wonder #6--actually called the seven wonders, they are seven tall artistic pillars. Wonder #7--this was actually a sweet card and a kiss. Unexpected Wonder #8--a parking ticket. We didn't see the very high sign that said there was no parking between 4-6 pm.







At home, Josh surprised me with another gift--a food processor. We've been wanting to make our own baby food, so this is perfect. Plus, I hate cutting vegetables, so I hope this will save me some time preparing meals. Here's a link to what it looks like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magimix-4200-food-processor-white/dp/B000BWH8P2


We had a yummy cinnamon streusel cake. If you like them, you should try this one: http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=12545 The only problem was that we couldn't put candles on the cake because of the crunchy streusel layer on the top, so Josh held some (not 29) lighted candles while I blew them out.

Thanks to everyone on both sides of my family for the phone calls, cards, and gifts! Even Eli tried to give me one of the gifts I wanted the most--an uninterrupted night's sleep. He didn't quite make it, but he did very well that night. The problem is that I've been sick with a cold for the last couple of days, and I've been waking up around 3:30/4:00 every morning with congestion, and I've been unable to get back to sleep. What irony! Even more ironic is the fact that school started this week, and I'm not teaching, but I'm still sick. I guess I can't blame it on my students this time.

I am learning what it is truly like to be a mommy--there are no sick days! Eli has been very good, however. Either he isn't feeling well himself, which is a definite possibility, or he sympathizes with his mom. In any case, he has been trying to let me rest. For example, he woke up this morning at about 7:00, which is usual. I was feeling horrible and wanted to keep sleeping, of course, but I got up and bathed Eli. I started to play with him as usual, but he quickly went back to sleep and gave his mommy two and a half more hours of sleep. I was very grateful, and I'm hoping that it wasn't because he's coming down with what I've got.

Bigger in Texas?

We went to George Bush Park over the weekend. It's about half an hour from where we live. Josh loved it, but I wasn't a big fan of the creatures that were there. I thought my mom would enjoy the picture of the spider since she loves them so much. : ) We actually saw many--too many--but the camera was focusing on the background instead of the spiders on their huge webs, so this is the best one we have. We couldn't believe how big the snail was. Yes, that is a snail, not a small turtle! Maybe everything is bigger here in Texas. And we doubted! There was a dog running in the park that ran right in front of the snake without realizing it. A few more inches and.....well, good thing the dog was fast.