Dear Friends:
I would like to thank all of you for all the well wishes and words of encouragement and support. Thank you for thinking of us, I am overwhelmed by your concern and generosity (to my Cajun sisters: thanks for offering us a place to stay

).
I am typing this now from San Antonio TX where we evacuated to yesterday. We were fortunate enough to get a hotel room here. There are so many Houstonians who fleed from the storm who are staying in this hotel.
My auntie MJ who is a RN, had to stay behind as she is on the relief team of TX Children's Hospital. My bro-in-law also decided to stay, to guard our homes and to keep his two giant dogs company.
I cannot begin to explain to you how difficult it was to pack your entire life into several suitcases. For those of you who have had to flee a hurricane, you know what I'm talking about. I almost cried when the boys' Dream Ears had to be left behind as we had overfilled the Tahoe to the brim already. Our pin collection was voted down by DH too, but I snuck them into my carry-on, so it is here with us. Jake's collection of Mickey stuffed toys is here as well.
I just called my neighbor, and she said that power has been gone since 1am today, but the house is still standing. She said the wind is howling, but the lightning and thunder is dissipating. There is still strong rain all-over, but my neighbor said we had seen stronger rain in the past.

There is no flooding in the neighborhood, as far as she can tell. She said the wind is the worst part of it, along with the heat from having no a/c. Some fencing fell, and some shingles came off the roofs, but so far, the neighborhood is OK.
The boys are doing OK. That little Sam loves hotels, so he is looking at this as an adventure of sorts. Jake is scared that their school will not hold up to the storm. I told him that school has been there since the early sixties, and has been thru many stronger hurricanes before. We prayed for God to keep the school safe too. On Thursday I cried when Jake's teacher told me school would resume Monday, if there is no damage. Damage. Wow, what a powerful word that I never imagined could be used to describe a beautiful school building full of my children's early memories.
On a lighter note, the boys are bugging me to go to Sea World today. We will see. I hate to celebrate at this time, but I do not want them innundated by storm news every waking moment as they have already been in the past 48 hours or so.
When I get the chance, I will respond individually to each one of you. For now, let me give everyone a big ole Texan

. I will upate everyone whenever I can.
Thank you for all your prayers. God bless us all.
Jen