My house is no longer a third world country...

Okay, I'm finally posting pictures! All I have to say is, September was a CRAZY month. Ike hit Houston on the 12th, and this is what my house and neighborhood looked like when I drove around taking pictures on the 13th...

our fence in the backyard.
part of our neighbor's tree was blocking our driveway.
a couple of houses down...there were a TON of trees like this in our neighborhood.
that's right, the tree is IN their house. Wish I could say that it was the only one I saw...
this was my across the street neighbor's garage.

I still can't believe that my house was literally unscathed. We had a ton of debris to cleanup, but that is really all. When we drove around our neighborhood, it looked like a bomb went off or something. Phones were out for several days. Cell phone coverage was very spotty. Gas stations did not have gas, and stores didn't have power, so many were not open. Trevor got on one of the first flights out after the airport opened back up to leave for France, and so the girls and I camped out on our own...and the power was out for us for two full weeks. That was a bit of a nightmare. Luckily, the weather was unseasonably cool and pleasant. So we were able to open the windows to keep things cool. Some friends of ours that had power restored to their house very soon after the hurricane lent us their generator so that we could keep our fridge and freezer cold. So many blessings to be grateful for. I don't think I realized just how much we relied on power until it just wasn't there. You can't run your dishwasher, or garbage disposal, cooking becomes very difficult, no tv, no phone, no internet, I could go on and on. And it gets very very dark, very very early. My poor girls became very well acquainted with their flashlights. But they were troopers. It was sort of like camping and being on vacation. Everything on our calendar (including school) was just cancelled, so we hung out with friends a lot and played. Slowly more stores opened, and gas stations that had gas didn't have lines a mile long anymore, and the cell phone service improved. Eventually, the city did pick up the mountain of debris sitting on my front lawn. But we are still waiting for them to pick up the mountain of bagged debris that is still out there. But at least we have power...hallelujah! Kind of a surreal experience...one that we survived, but wouldn't wish on anyone. Those poor people on the coast have it so much worse, and it will be months if not years before life is normal for them again.