Tuesday, September 20th: We learn that a hurricane just might be headed our way. We are advised to fill up on gasoline just in case. After finding one gas station out of gas already, Erin sits in line for half an hour at another while panic sets in. People are angry because your line is in their way, they're frustrated because the person at the pump is filling up a gas can, too, they make hand jestures at each other that don't need to be repeated. We're all in this together, right?
Wednesday, September 21st: A category 5 hurricane is definitely headed our way. Houston sits right smack dab in the middle of the dreaded "cone of uncertainty." We hit the grocery stores to find the shelves scraped clean of almost every nonperishible item they once held. We gather some canned green beans, mixed tropical fruit, apples and Propel water (which if you're wondering, we found the strawberry-kiwi flavor isn't bad!) No such luck finding a flashlight, batteries, and other items for hunkering down. People have reverted back to pushing and shoving, jumping in line, it's mass chaos... and this causes us to feel stress. In bed that night we say to each other, "It's like the movie Armageddon... As if the end of the world is coming tomorrow and their is nothing we can do to stop it, so we'll just try to get some sleep so we'll be awake when it happens."
Thursday, September 22nd: The associate pastor has invited us to evacuate with his family to a town near Dallas. We look at our belongings and decide which items are irreplacible and imperitive for us to have on our person should we come back to nothing. What a sobering experience that was! After some futher discussion, it's decided that we should head to San Antonio to stay with Kari instead. As we learn more about hurricanes, we are told that to be on the west side means to be on the "safe" side. Pastor Al gives us back road directions in an effort to avoid the wall to wall traffic along I-10, the main road to San Antonio. Despite contraflow lanes being opened, people are moving nowhere. We depart at about 11:30 a.m. Half an hour later we're still in Kingwood. We aren't getting anywhere fast. With the windows rolled down to save gas and temperatures hitting record highs of 100 fehrenheit not counting humidity, we trudge our way west accross Texas averaging 10 mph. 10 hours and surprisingly only half a tank of gas later (it's amazing how far you can go when you don't have to press down on the gas pedal), we find ourselves just outside of Giddings, TX. We've seen cars out of gas, engines overheat, animals left on the side of the road to die. Despite trying to keep ourselves hydrated, we have yet had the need to use the restroom. It's 9:30 p.m. and we're ready to be done. Pastor Al's parents live in Giddings and low and behold they would love to have us stay with them. Curtis and Ruth Doering become our angels and take care of us as if we were their own grandchildren.
Friday, September 23rd: We wait... and get to visit the Wendish Museum just outside of Giddings. The Wendish people are strikingly similar to our Slovak friends. We think that's great! The Texas Department of Transportation gives us 5 free gallons of gasoline. Yes, free.
Saturday, September 24th: Rita passes Houston to the east leaving Matt and Beth's home virtually untouched. As Kingwood has no power, we make the drive back to Houston, this time in 1 1/2 hours, to stay with Matt and Beth until our home is up and running. Later that evening we are blessed to be able to return to Kingwood... power, water, unspoiled food, everything we had left behind, was waiting for us unscathed. How good God is!
Sunday, September 25th: We worship God with about 350 fellow believers and thank Him for his mercy. Later that afternoon we wish He would show a little more mercy by turning down the thermostat while we're cleaning up the yard. It's another 100+ degree day...
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!
The following is a glimpse of the clean-up that awaited us upon our return. I've never seen so many pine needles in my life! Well, maybe on a tree, but not in my driveway. Our measley five "bags-o-fun" were nothing compared to other homes with fifteen or twenty!
By the way, if you're wondering, if God ever blesses us with a little girl, we won't be naming her Rita...
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