Saturday, September 13, 2008

We've made it so far

Last night was scary to say the least and we were pretty far from the coast. My brother-in-law said that the winds had gotten up to around 80 mph! I was worried because the wind was blowing really hard and it was raining and it sounded like the windows might break. My brother-in-law said during one time when he checked the windows on the back side of the house he actually saw the glass bow a little in the middle. Then, around 3:45 a.m. we lost power. This didn't turn out to be as bad as I had thought. It did start to get a little warm around 11:00 a.m. The Tilston's were well prepared. We had flashlights ready to go, propane lanterns with several extra tanks of propane, and the best was a little battery-powered TV. It was color and everything! We were able to tune into the news to see what was going on. Note to self: I definitely need to get some propane lanterns + tanks and a battery powered color TV.

This is going to sound weird, I know, but the best part was lunch because we were able to eat spaghetti with meat sauce and the kids had macaroni and cheese! I completely forgot that they had a gas stove and we could still use it! We were also very lucky that we didn't have to go without water. The power came back on around 12 or so.
We still aren't sure what things are like down in our neck of the woods. We've heard reports that the damage isn't too bad - no flooding anyway. I think some of the neighboring towns may not have been so lucky. Houston and Galveston certainly weren't. Our power went out around 6:40 p.m. and I'm guessing it isn't back up yet. We still aren't allowed to go back home. We'll be watching for reports to give us the green light. I'll be sure to report what we find.
Chris has been staying in a shelter in Brenham, TX. They never lost power so that was good. But I think he is anxious to get home and back to work. I'm sure he's got lots of work ahead of him. And I know he's been worried about us. I can't even imagine being away from these kiddos (even as crazy as they have made me the past few days) during a natural disaster like this. He's been strong because he knows its just what he's got to do right now. I hope his company knows what a great employee they have in him.