It's easy to get bogged down after something like Ike. It's been three weeks this morning since the sky brightened after our night in the hurricane. I was going to say when the "sun came up" after Ike but we never really saw the sun that day and when daylight came we were still being hit hard until noon or later. Virtually nothing has been normal for these past three weeks but you look for blessings wherever you can find them. We had running water, not much at times, but good ole natural gas gave us a hot shower and "the network" kept our cell phones service going the entire time, all night through the storm. Those were blessings.
Our friend Mike, from church, came over to hunker down with us after his power went out. He really helped during those hours we bailed water, and then joined me on the roof, while still under hurricane force winds, to wrestle the roof back down and temporarily put it back in place. We were quite wet but the torrent of rain coming into the house was stopped for the most part. Mike, Wes Zaun, and a neighbors friend worked non stop for two days to help clean up the yard, and the debris. We had a small mountain of limbs and debris to pick up. Just two days following a friend of Kims called to say they had power. They live near the hospital and it was one of the first areas to get power. I suggested we drive that way, just to see, and we arrived at a gas station that was open, and with fairly short lines, and filled my cans and my truck for $3.35 a gallon. We were good to generate for another 3/4 days and gas was scarce. Mike called from church to say he had spare 110 AC unit he could loan me so I dashed over, picked it up, and that Saturday night the three of us slept under cool, generator driven AC and got good sleep. What a blessing.
Tyler, Ben, and a friend agreed to come and help me deconstruct our room that overlooks the bay. The ceiling, insulation, and floor was soaked and had to go. It was a nasty, stinking, disgusting mess to clean up. They worked really, really hard. Our neighbor Monica had a crew with dumpster working on her mountain of debris washed up from the bay and let us get rid of most of that stuff in the dumpster. Debra, who recently came back from a month in India, came by with her friend and worked in the yard for a good half a day while we worked in the house. They also took our mountain of rainsoaked, stinking towels home, washed them for us, and brought them back the next day. (They had their power back already)
While we were gone Monica's handyman brought in dirt and sod and filled in both our slopes on the bay of all the wash out the storm did to the hillside. The man who was working on the church roof, the church is another story, came to my house within a week, removed the roof we had put back down, and got us "dry." He finished replacing the roof we lost just yesterday. Sure is pretty. For some reason, roofing contractors and materials are in short supply but we're blessed already with a new roof. I have a feeling many will live with their blue tarps for weeks/months before finding someone. What a blessing.
Kim was able to fly out the Monday after the storm and work. Not many flights were going that day but where she was going there were mostly military on that plane so it must've gotten high priority. October is one her busiest months and she's not missed a day yet, another blessing.
We've had a crew working at the church for all of this week to tear out all the water damage at the church. When I talked to their crew chief and asked him if he might come to the house to inspect my work, he brought his $1000 handheld gizmo, tested my walls, and determined there was still a fair amount of sheetrock I needed to remove. He then offered 3 of the 20 or so men who were working at the building to come over that afternoon and remove the stuff for me. They came and worked for a couple of hours, did the work, (I worked too), cleaned up what they had removed, sprayed it all with their sanitizing spray, and set up the equipment, 3 big fans, and a dehumidfier. I could let them run at home while they finished at the building. The dehumidifier pulled out about 7 gallons of moisture in two days time. Another blessing.
Needless to say that the power came back after two weeks was truly a blessing. It must be mentioned that the Lord sent us a real cool front right after the storm so we could sleep and night and not have to endure our often sultry days and nights. I had one AC unit down, but after a phone call, techs came the next day and determined the wind had just loosened the freon line and it lost it freon. Just fill er up and we cool again. Now that more summer like temps are back that is a blessing.
Wow, I guess I had not stopped to recount all those blessings and more. There are many more. The cable's been out since the storm. When I called to make an appointment and the guy says two weeks, well that's not good news, then he comes back on, says "wait a minute and let me see what I can do," then he says, "how about Sat Oct 4, but don't tell anybody I bumped you up," well that was exciting. Mum's the word. The cable guy just left the house. Now I have cable, internet, and phone back up and running.
I look back and see just how much the Lord has blessed us during what has to be one of the most difficult times we have ever experienced. Our church will officially gather for worship tomorrow for the first time since Ike. Our sister congregation welcomed us with open arms to be with them till we could get back to our building. We won't be having classes again anytime soon because those parts of the building were hit hard. But we'll gather and give thanks for all the blessings he continues to give us. There's honestly a long road ahead to get H-town back to pre Ike days. In many ways it will never be quite the same. I'm praying for a blessing from the insurance company to cover remodeling our bayroom, living room, and a good bit of the kitchen. It'll cost thousands. I'd be neglectful I didn't mention Kim and Jared and all they were able to do. I'm certainly not by myself in this mess. Having both of them here, Kim physically able to do pretty much whatever she wants is one of my greatest blessings. Jared's been a real trooper. He stayed and watched the house and kept Frazier going for an entire week with no power. All in all we've really been blessed compared to so many who lost everything. We are all blessed, much more than we deserve, and sometimes you just have to set back and look for them wherever you can find them.
Blessings to you!
de
