LisaCarey said…

Hello all, the Carey family got a chance this week to put it's money where it's mouth is.  Yes, we evacuated today, we are all safe and sound.  I know that there is now no power in our neighborhood as well as approximately 31 mph winds.  It's not landfall in Galveston yet, so I am staying tuned in with puter and tv, unfortunately not able to concentrate on anything except this drama.  We had prepared to stay, with water and food and all, but decided last night not to chance it.  The girls are not scared as we decided to treat it as an adventure.

Going west would have been nice, but at the time we got a room there was nothing in Austin, Brenham or even San Marcos, San Antonio was possibly going to be hit just as bad almost with it possibly coming in Freeport.  We are in Dallas now, they say that yes we will probably have some pretty bad winds and rain Sat. night but by 1 on Sunday all should be fine.  I have been through a tropical storm before, so that doesn't scare me as much as Ike does.  We worry for our home and our friends we left back there and pray everyone will be safe.  Don't expect to be doing much viewpointing, as I honestly can barely spell right now with staring at the tv screen.  But they have sleep number beds here, so could be a good review coming.   

You know I thought I was a stuff person too. But we left with a rubbermaid container of food, a cooler, one suitecase of favorite toys, my laptop, clothing, my grandmothers quilt, my rosary (made of pressed roses and given to me by my MIL, and the family photos (ok my laptop). Dont' worry I am practical too, I brought all the important papers. 

Thanks for many of your well wishes, the Carey family is safe for now and will check back in when we return home. Please pray (think happy thoughts, send good energy) for the safety of our friends and our home.

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Happy thoughts and prayers coming your way!  Glad you got out of harms way and I  hope the damage is limited or non-existant when you get back!  I was on Guam for Typhoon Omar in 1992, it was a cat 4 with 145 mph winds.  We had no where to go so just had to hunker down and take it.  It was nasty, but nobody died and we are here to tell about it.  Hope this doesn't turn out as bad as eveyone thinks it is!

I am thinking of all of you in Texas as well. I am watching CNN and thinking how dumb they are to send their people right into the eye of the storm to report. It looks really bad out there. Category 4 winds at building height in Galveston. ACK! They are saying people are calling for help and there is no way that anyone can get to them. They refused to evacuate and now they are stuck. :(

Prayers - and positive energy - to everyone involved in these hurricanes.

Good luck, Carey family.  I wish you well.

Speaking of storms does anyone know if Bryan and Lisa are ok?? They live in TX (Houston I believe) and does anyone else here live in the hit area and are you ok?

I would definitely pack up my most important papers, pictures, and jewelry along with my husband and dog and get the HECK OUT!! A home can be replaced, but lives can't. I've got family all over the states, so we'd shack up with them until it's safe to go back and see what kind of damage was done. I have a sister who lives in Savannah on Tybee Island (1 way in, 1 way out) and every time  there's a hurricane headed their way, they come to Alabama and stay with us.

I think it must also be hard to leave if your work hasn't officially closed, b/c then does work allow people to leave if they have fear that it's coming closer.  I'm saying if there are not yet warnings of evacuation, but you have a feeling it's coming... in that instance, would your job be A OK with you evacuating your family?  Just curious as we have nothing like this around here.

Also, Jo, Lisa posted something a page back about going up to a hotel in Dallas.  I don't know if they are still there or not but I would think it's a safe bet that they haven't gone home yet.

And redfire, does your sister ever think of moving?  I guess if I had to evacuate many times like that, I'd start to reconsider where I live.

Hello all. the Carey family is back in Houston, safe and sound!  We are truly blessed to return to our home to find the electricity back on and the food in my fridge (which has been carefuly stored and quick frozen in the freezer before we left) still in good shape even after a power outage.  Our neighborhood took quite a hit, with uprooted trees, leaves and debris.  Several houses, including the one directly behind us lost all or portions of their roofs.  We found shingles in our pool! 

We are back to basics though.  We are using a friend in another county for internet service since we don't have any, nor any tv, or telephone.  So, we have been reading, but not commenting, reviewing but not participating much as we try to get as much accomplished as possible in the little time we have there.  So many of my friends have been incredibly generous!

One house in our neighborhood had the uprooted tree land on the car next door, so that is causing problems.  We had a guardian angel, good karma, or whatever you want to call it, and especially lots of our friends well wishes, warm thoughts and prayer protecting our house.  We are still doing clean up, downtown is closed so Bryan is out of work for awhile, and we are trying to spend lots of time outdoors enjoying the pleasant weather and letting the kids play.  Visits to the library and other places work too, but much of the area is flooded and many stores etc are still without service or power.  Several churches in our area have started shelters, as the needs increase with the longer it takes to return to their homes.  Collections are being taken for food and clothing, personal items, etc and fun things for the kids to do as they are all out of school and many out of their homes. 

Hopefully we will recover quickly, but I have found that it all depends on the people. So many have been kind and caring, sharing what they have and others are selfish, grabbing the last can of spam off the shelf (not that I wanted it but no need to be rude!).  One moment you encounter panic stricken people demanding food and gas and that is causing some of the problems, but mainly it's the flooding and out of work (ness).  We hope things get better soon.  BubleFan is Houston also, and I haven't heard anything of her, going to go check her home page.

Thanks all for your warm wishes!  We hope to be up and writing at full capacity real soon!

LisaCarey, glad your family is safe and able to return home. I know what it's like to go through a hurricane and the aftermath is a lot of hard work. Hopefully Houston was prepared and can start getting things back to semi-normal soon. Your family is in our thoughts.

Hi Lisa and Carey family, so glad you are safe and sound!! You have been in my thoughts. Hope things get back to normal for you soon. Take care and let us know how you are doing. 

So glad to read your update, Lisa Carey! I saw that you posted a review on a cleaning supply--how fitting after all of that. Sounds like you guys have some great people around, except for those "spammers."

To any others who have been affected by a hurricane, I sure hope everyone made it through OK. I know it must be hard to try to pick up the pieces, but it looks like Lisa and her family are a great example of how to enjoy what you have and to "roll with the punches."

So glad you are back safe and sound, Lisa Carey.  I spoke with my cousin who lives in Houston and he said the power outages are the worst part of the aftermath for the people in his neighborhood.  It could have been a lot worse!

Hey Lisa, hope to see you back online and in the mix soon!!  Glad you had some good luck.

CNN.com had a poll on this last week, I would gooooo!