We Thank Thee, Oh God, For A Prophet

To Guide Us In These Latter Days

It has been about a week since our life kinda went on break. I will start from the beginning...

Thursday September 11, 2008 1700

Eric was in Chicago on business this week. I hate being home alone. Every little sounds spooks me out and I have the hardest time sleeping. That is the side note. He was supposed to be gone from Monday to Friday, but since Ike was looking more and more possible he rescheduled his return flight for Thursday at 5 PM. Originally I was not happy about this since that would be dead in the middle of rush hour but everyone was getting off early because of the hurricane. Neither I or Eric went to work on Friday. Oh ya...did I mention Eric brought home a nice cute little cuddley bug called a cold...well we'll get to that later. Before I went to the airport I decided to top off the gas tank. I had kept both cars full all week but after driving to work a few days I thought it best to top it off. Gas stations were crazy! Already long lines. The gas station I went to only had premium and the one across the street only Ethonel. Again thank goodness for a husband who had prepared with 10 gallons at home!

Friday September 12, 2008 0800

Even though Eric was sick he was up preparing everything. He packed our truck with our gas and some water and clothes and formula and 72-hour kits and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink...you know just in case we had to make a run for it in the middle of the night. I make light of it but seriously I am so thankful that he is on top of it! Meanwhile I washed all the clothes and went grocery shopping for a few last minute needs...i.e....my birthday cake cake mix. Happy birthday to me! Wow the Kroger was a bit of a mad house. Canned food isle was cleared out! Apparently Walmart closed that friday (before the store came) (thanks for seeing us through in our time of need eh?). Luckily people we very friendly. This brought me to the first thing I put on our food supply list of needs: something sweet. We didn't really have any sweets in our food supply and I could not live without those so I stocked up on pudding...ya kinda a random choice but I figured it was healthier that chocolate.

Friday September 12, 2008 1500

The hatches were battened! We had finished securing everything we needed. This was probably the longest afternoon ever. I felt like I was just waiting for something huge to go boom. Eric took a nap while I watched the trees blow outside. It kinda reminded me about the beginning on War of the Worlds. Eerie stillness outside. People we just sitting outside waiting. Also during this time I got to open my birthday present. I got some sweet purple tennis shoes and a purple sweater/polar fleece jacket thing from REI. Eric went all out. I would never buy myself something that expensive. I'm lucky he did it for me.

Friday September 12, 2008 1800

It was getting a little breezier but nothing really big was happening. We gave Mitchel his bath and started his bedtime routine. Soon he was asleep and that left Eric and I watching the news and still waiting. 11 PM came around and we finally went to bed...way later than normal. Bytheway...Mitchel slept in a make shift bed in the hall to keep him from any harm.

Saturday September 13, 2008 0400

The hurricane finally hit...or atleast I finally heard it. Eric said it had been blowing and raining hard for a few hours but the power had just started flickering now and the fire alarm woke up Mitchel. I didn't hear a thing. So I fed Mitchel and put him back to bed and then we lost full power. It was kinda scary hearing the wind and rain. But seriously if you are prepared you shall not fear. We had everything we needed so I felt safe. I fell alseep and slept through most of the store.

Saturday September 13, 2008 0800

By the time Mitchel and I woke up again the hurricane had calmed down a little. It was still raining and blowing hard. Eric went out to save our little tree in the front yard that was leaning at a 45 degree angle.....a few hours later he had to go switch the support side because the wind direction switch...I guess we were on the back end now. And then came the second thing to add to the emergency story list...rain coats for everyone!

Saturday September 13, 2008 1030

And there was power. I was amazed. We don't get power this soon in normal thunderstorms. We both showered right away just in case. On the news they were saying Houston should boil water. We weren't sure if that included us but luckily my in laws brought us a case of bottled water and I had froze some of it. We do have a 55 gallon drum of water but it is warm. Now comes the 3rd thing on the new list: bottled water. Just a little to get us through small emergencies.

All in all our family was blessed and kept safe during the storm. We all had our food store and emergency storage. My parents lost power and water for a few days. Bryan and Tara lost power for a few days. Unfortunately they got it the worse. Their fence blew down, their a/c moved 2 feet, and their roofing is leaking all over. This led me to the final addition to the list: tarps. But we are all safe. We only lost a few shingles on the roof that Eric fixed the next day.

How thankful I am for a Heavenly Father who told His prophet to tell us to prepare for such emergencies. I saw people scrambling the last second and even though I ran out and bought a few things I was so thankful that I didn't feel anxious or worried that we wouldn't have what we needed. It was the greatest feeling of calm ever!

Now as for that cute little bug Eric brought home...I got it. On Sunday and I'm still getting over it. It stinks. Mitchel is getting it a little bit too but I really hope he doesn't get it as bad as me! Eric and I have been off work all week. Eric painted the outside of the house yesterday. Crazy guy! Oh well it takes a load off his shoulders.

Mitchel is still getting cuter and cuter. He is so smiley the past week. We'll post some pictures sometime soon.