HOME

Well, here is our new home. It is in a "Front Porch Community" in Seabrook called Mystic Village. It looks like it shouldn't be on the gulf coast. No houses in this neighborhood had any damage, they all still have trees even! After a storm is a good time to look for a house, you can tell where not to buy if there is a pile of debris on the street. Sorry the blinds are all wonky.. I have been cleaning! We have 4 bedrooms and all the formals, thought they will be empty for a while since I have no furniture!! ;) Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes! God is good and we are on the road back! It'll be good to sleep in my own bed for the first time in over a month! Will have a huge housewarming party in November!! Look out for the invites! Back to moving!

Home Sweet Home

We got a house! Moving now and will put pics up later tonight hopefully! We were so lucky to find something since everyone is looking at the moment, but like I have said before, I was trying to trust God and wait on Him and His timing and He heard us and found us a home. I have been tellling Trey that "home" is wherever we are together as a family and since Ike we have had many "homes" but this will be our real home! The neighborhood is awesome, doesn't look like it should be on the Gulf Coast, none of the houses are damaged or had water, the roofs are great and they are all decorated for Halloween. It is gorgeous and I can't wait to show y'all, but I have to get moving, literally! Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes! Thanks most of all to God....
now just give me strength to get this part done!! ;)

Favorite Song

I love Third Day and today I really listened to the words of this song, and it might be my answer... I've been asking God what to do in our situation and I realized I just have to trust He'll bring us thru. I got a comment from a friend the other day and it is so true,
"The bigger the mess, the bigger the message"

"Revelation"

My life has led me down the road that's so uncertain
Now I am left alone and I am broken
Trying to find my wayTrying to find the faith that's gone
This time I know that you are holding all the answers
I'm tired of losing hope and taking chances
On roads that never seemTo be the ones that bring me home

Give me a revelation
Show me what to do'
Cause I've been trying to find my wayI haven't got a clue
Tell me should I stay here Or do I need to move
Give me a revelation
I've got nothing without you
I've got nothing without you

My life has led me down this path that's ever winding
Through every twist and turn, I'm always finding
That I am lost again
Tell me when this road will ever end
I don't know where I can turn
Tell me, when will I learn
Won't you show me where I need to go
Let me follow your lead
I know that it's the only way that I can get back home

Fed Up

Frustrated, anxious, stressed, worried, fearful, man what else... since the day or 2 after the storm I have been all of the above and more. We have moved our belongings all over the place and torn out all the walls that were saturated and moldy. Just in cast they decide to rebuild. My hope is they don't. We would never be able to afford it. Since Katrina, our flood insurance went up $400 and now with a direct hit, we wouldn't be able to get insurance unless it's way high. The complex is over 40 years old and to fix it would cost more than just to tear it down and sell the property. Just say a quick prayer that it will all work out. I know God is in control, and His way is not my way, but I'm getting so impatient and I'm on the verge of tears 24/7. I am trying to be strong but my faith is weak. I know it will all work out, but starting over is scaring me to death. Not having a home is beyond stressful. If you know me, having my stuff scattered from here to Kingdom Come is driving me crazy! I am a neat and organized person and I am not that way at the moment. Waiting on Flippin FEMA to reassess our case file so we can get some cash and get a place. We have a nibble on a house but can't move forward until we have a bit of money. At least Trey had school all week and had some kind of normal. Except that we had to get up at the crack of dawn to get him there since we are 30 minutes from where were were and it's another 30 minutes to school from home. I'm still around, don't have my own computer yet, don't have a plcae to plug it in, so I'm not ignoring you if you have emailed me, I just can't get those yet. You can email me at kstrat33@yahoo.com and I can check those! I miss all of my blog sisters and what is going on in your lives. Hopefully soon I can get back! Hugs from here. Oh and I got a new link for more pics if you're interested. They are from a few days after Ike and taken from the water in Clear Lake . For you out of towners the towns are League City , Clear Lake Shores , Kemah, Seabrook, El Lago... all Texas of course. Clear Lake is one of the top three areas for privately owned yachts and water craft in the nation.
Clear Lake pics

Now I know what HELL looks like

Just to let y'all know we are alive and ok. We won't have power for maybe months... even when the city is back on we won't be since most of our transformers are under water and it'll take so long to remove all the debris. First off, thank you for all the prayers, I know that is the only thing that kept me and all of my loved ones here, it was hell friends, I was beyond terrified and wasn't sure if we'd make it, seriously. We started getting wind around 8:30 pm, not bad just blowing and by 10:30 it was on... and it didn't stop until 8:30 am. It was coming thru like nothing I have heard before and imagine it is what hell sounds like. Nick has stayed at home to put more things up and decided at 11:30 to get a nap and slept thru his phone ringing, thank God the dog, our hero, licked him in the face until he woke up and when he swung his feet off the couch they were under water to his calves. He grabbed the dog and took off, he looked out the front door and my truck was up to the tailpipe in water. He decided to try to start it and it did and he got the heck outta there. But.. this was in the midst of the storm at 3:30 am. He called me and I listened to him drive to my parents and I never want to do that ever again. I was physically ill the whole time. I taked him into the driveway and I could see & feel the rain and wind finally and it stung like a thousand bees, but he had made it. We just collapsed into each others arms and cried. Thank you Jesus. He managed to get some sleep finally, but I could not. I thought the house was going to come apart and I was terrified. I had been thru Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and this was 10X worse. We never got he eye wall so it was 10 hours of 80 mph wind steady and gusting to 100. Thank God my son slept thru it, if he was awake and scared too, I wouldn't have made it. We had TV until midnight and could see what was going on by the news cast. Then when it went it was really scary. We could hear things hitting the house but not see it since all the windows were boarded up. It was the longest night of my life and I have never prayed so hard. When we were able to come out the next morning there was hardly a tree with leaves. Limbs were everywhere, trees uprooted, just trashed, but the roof was fine and all the vehicles made it. Then we went home. I'll keep this short and you can look at the pics, it is undescribable....you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it. We were lucky, we had only 10 inches after all, and all of our "stuff" most of it was already upstairs and all the boards held. But our new wood floors are ruined, furniture desks, kitchen, my drawer in my stove was full of water...I could go on, but the valuable scrapbooks and all my scrapping stuff were fine. ;) Our parking lot is supposed to be for cars, but now it is full of boats. Just go take a look at my Shutterfly and see for yourself. These are the places I could get to, I will get more today. The pavilion that sits waterfront was totally underwater and it is harly recognizable and I didn't have my camera yesterday to get pics. We have had news crews from all the local national and even Italy and the UK. I believe NBC Nightly News will be broadcasting from our place sometime, maybe tonight. They were scouting for a dry place to set up yesterday, so keep an eye out. I'm going to go for now, not sure when I can check in again, so keep praying for those we haven't heard from yet. Thanks again friends, I can't stress enough how grateful I am for all the thoughts and prayers.
Go check out the pics, there are lots (157)so beware! I'm a scrapbooker after all! Love from Texas!

Hurricane Ike 1
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It's been 2 days

Well, the weather guys said on Monday we should know better where Ike was going, well... guess what? they don't!! It is all depending on the HIGH that is floating around. Well, I like to know what I'm gonna do before I have to do it, just A+ like that... sorry. So I'm sitting here acting like it's a normal day, laundry, making muffins, cleaning a bit, scrapping some and watching the tide rise already, that is a bit unsettling. Well, that's all we can do, we're hanging in another day!
All my friends, be safe and check in soon!