Returning to Houston after Hurricane Ike

We stayed in Louisiana for five days. The positive aspect of evacuating was having time to spend with our family and our nephew, Brady!

We got in touch with our neighbors, who let us know that there was no visible damage to our home. They let us know that our backyard had the left side of the fence down, and tree limbs and debris scattered in both the front and back yards. They also told us that our other neighbor's metal-pipe type chimney had fallen off and landed in our back yard.

We also found out that we had electricity, which was a big luxury--considering that a large percentage of Houston did not get power back for up to two or three weeks.

Fluffy was allowed to ride freely in the car for part of the way back down to Houston. She did not tolerate traveling in a cat carrier very well, but was remarkably good when we let her out in the car.

The cats were happy to return home, and we were thankful to have our home. So, many people in our neighborhood had trees on their houses, siding blown away (revealing the beams underneath), and roofs that had leaked. Once we arrived in Houston, the drive was not like it normally would have been. Destruction was visible everywhere. We saw many businesses with their signs blown over, roofs blown off, or debris everywhere with trees down. We saw yards with debris piles 8-10 feet tall.

This is our backyard afer the storm. There is debris that is difficult to see in this photo...everywhere! Also, the left side of our back yard fence is blown down.

Debris piled up in our neighborhood when we got home. These piles grew to 2-3 times this big, and they were everywhere...not just our neighborhood, but every street around in Southeast Houston area.

This is looking at the neighbors directly behind our house--They share our back fence.

Once we arrived at home, we turned on the TV to see what was happening in Galveston. The destruction there was devastating. Many, many people lost everything down there.

The way people responded to the disaster was heartwarming and gave me a deep sense of American pride. American pride came from the fact that people came from all over the US to help. There were hundreds...no maybe thousands of workers and volunteers who immediately came to help and stayed for weeks. Leaving behind their families or other responsibilities, they came to help put Houston back together.

Currently, there are still volunteers and workers who are replacing roofs, building fences, and making life better here in Houston. Galveston is a whole other story--thousands have given aid to the people down there, and have given time and manpower to do as much as possible to rebuild Galveston. The progress there is going GREAT, however they have a long road ahead.

Please pray for all who were affected by Hurricane Ike--that God will bless them and restore their lives to be even better than they were before the storm.