Remebering Hurricane Ike

  I wrote this shortly after Hurricane Ike hit the Texas Coast on September 13, 2008. On the morning of September 13, 2008, the eye of Hurricane Ike approached the upper Texas coast, making landfall at 2:10 a.m. CDT over the east end of Galveston Island, with a high storm surge, and traveled north up Galveston Bay, along the east side of Houston. I live along the east side of Houston not far from Galveston Bay. This is my journal of what happened.

Well..I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. We thought that Ike would be hitting a little further south of us so we were only worried about rain but kept a close eye on things. Well that Thursday, September the 18  we woke up to find that we were under a mandatory evacuation for our area. It seemed that the storm turned north and we were now on the dirty side of the storm (for those of you not familiar with hurricanes-the dirty side is the east side). If you are on the east side of a hurricane you always get worse rain, worse wind, and a greater chance for tornadoes. Everything on the east side of a hurricanes gets dirty-hence why it is called the dirty side. Matt and I couldn't believe it that a hurricane was supposed to directly hit our area! . We both grew up in this area and never had be forced to evacuate before. We could not decide wither to leave or not. Well I had a to go to work so I told him to decided and we would go from there. I had a sub job that day. When I got to school I heard we would be getting out at 11 instead of the usual 3:45. Okay, that's good I thought it will give me time to go packed and loaded. Well I was supposed to have 23 kids in my class that day only 12 showed up. By the time school ended I was down to 3 students. Everyone was picking up their kids and getting out of town. Well I get home and Matt suggest going to the high school. I had a dream earlier in the week that we would have to evacuate and we would go to the  High School (where Matt and I went to school at) with my old home ec. teacher and friend Ms. Webber. Well we contact Ms. Webber and we decide to leave Friday morning-the storms not supposed to hit until later that evening we'll be okay. And that will give us time to pack. For those of you who have never had to evacuate before I cannot begin to tell you what an overwhelming task it is to pack. You have to take necessary items such as food, water, toiletries, medication, ect. The hard part is deciding what else to take-if your house is demolished what could you not live without. For me it's my pictures and my scrapbooks. Thankfully I have most of my pictures backed up on my computer. Well we get ready and head out to the high school. The high school is about 30 miles above sea level so we figured we wouldn't get any storm surge that high. At the time they were saying that we could get a storm surge of over 12ft-which would put our house under water. Matt being the optimist was not really worried at all-me not so much. (side note here I am SO thankful to have a husband who is an optimist-he balances out his wife who tends to be a pessimist). :)

We get there and get settled in and things start to get dark. Sophie was really really anxious.

I had never seen her so nervous. I kept thinking of Roise our cat back home. She would not get in her cat carrier for anything and after a scratched up arm-I decided to leave her there. I know, I know, shame on me.  Matt and Mrs. Webber were cooking up some food for us to have before the power went out. I was in heaven. I had two people who like to cook so I didn't have too! :) So I got to hang out with Sophie. She's so fun. She had her tennis ball. Here she is playing with it. Well, she was playing with it-of course she stopped playing when I started video tapeing. Well we played, talked, ate, and hung out and it started getting dark and the wind really started

picking up. We went to bed about 10:00 and shortly after that the power went out. I know this because I have a C-pap machine for my sleep apnea and the alarm with no power went off.  Well there was no way I was going back to sleep then. Matt was still sound asleep. The man can sleep through anything. I got up and read my bible by flash light. I was reading the Psalms and came across this verse: " He hushes the storm to a calm and gentle whisper so that the waves of the sea the are still-then men are glad because of the calm and He brings them to their desired haven. " Psalms 107: 29-30. I kept mediating on this verse and how he showed me in a dream that we would be okay and slept soundly. I think even Sophie finally curled up beside us and slept. Well, Matt and I woke up about 4 a.m and we laid there for quite a while talking and listening to the rain.

Then we decided to get up and explore the damage. The storm had blow the skylights out letting rain pour through the building. Also, the storm have blown one door to the outside in. We had parked our cars there earlier but Matt told us we needed to move them. Thank God we did. Another car was there and it was severely damaged. Here is a picture of the door that blew-they braced it with a table. We decided to wait till the sun came up and explore some more. When we did here's what we found. The trophy cases got wet and some of the trophies and awards were damaged. There was water everywhere. I started calling the school Lake Eagle. It was still really rainy and windy so we went back to the comfort of our brick walled classroom. We hung out and things got a lot better. We decided to out and see how our house along with Ms. Webber's house was. We also took pictures of the damage. Here is a picture of what is left of the construction trailer out back of the school.  

 is a pole leaning on the highway.

Most electric poles were like this.  This is the  Marina. 

, those are the boats on the highway. I was getting more and more nervous as we got closer to our house. This is the house that we are currently living in right now. We are in the process of moving into another house and Matt would go check on it later.   I kept saying "God is in control and I trust you God." When I got to the house here is what I saw. No major damaged. Only trees down and cosmetic damage. 

 we went to Ms. Webbers house. There was no major damage there either. As we were driving we saw other places that were not so lucky. Well we left the school on Monday and thankfully by then we had power back. Unfortunately  most of the town was still shut down due to damage and no power. Thank you Lord for being my shelter in the storm!

Archive: G is for Gluten Free

G is for Gluten Free
Last October my life changed forever. At the time I thought my life was ending but it was just the beginning.... Last October I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. My friend Linda over at Gluten Free Homemaker does a much better job of giving an overview of Celiac disease than I could ever do. I am going to quote her blog.
Celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disease which affects both children and adults. In people with celiac disease, the body reacts to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, setting off an autoimmune reaction. This reaction causes the production of antibodies which attack and damage the small intestine. Specifically, damage is done to the villi which line the small intestine and are crucial to the absorption of nutrients.

This damage to the villi can result in diarrhea or constipation, weight loss, other gastrointestinal problems, malnutrition, and failure to thrive (in children). It also affects other organs in the body and can lead to irritability, poor concentration, fatigue, bone and joint problems, anemia, reproductive problems, depression, and problems of the nervous system.

Celiac disease is not an allergy. Allergies can be outgrown. As an autoimmune disease, Celiac disease cannot be outgrown. There is no cure and there are currently no drugs to treat it. The good news is that it can be treated with a change in diet. People with Celiac disease can lead healthy lives by completely avoiding gluten. Once on a gluten-free diet, the villi in the small intestines will heal over time.

Based on a prevalence study done by the Center for Celiac Research, it is believed that 1 in 133 people have celiac disease. Diagnosis is made through blood tests and small bowel biopsy. The celiac panel blood tests include tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and anti gliadin (AGA) tests. A positive tTG result is very suggestive of celiac disease. A positive AGA result can indicate celiac disease or wheat allergy.

Since going Gluten Free my health has made a total 180. I have more energy, I have clearer thinking and no more abdominal pain. The way I look and think abut food has totally changed too. I try to eat fresh, whole, unprocessed foods such as fruits, veggies, eggs, and rice. This has been a real change because I used to never eat fruits and veggies. I  feel so much better that I don't mind eating them so much anymore.  I am also VERY careful about eating processed foods. Gluten can be in foods that you never thought it would be-like catchup.

If you have any questions or comments about Gluten Fee or Celiac disease I'd be happy to answer them. Just email me or post the questions in the comment section

Words to Live by 9-12-11

Always remeber this.......

This is a quote for the book entitled The Help. If you haven't read it you need to. It's awesome! The movie is good too!

Archive: Remebering 911

Every generation has a defining moment that they will never forget. The rest of their lives they will be able to recall where they where when everything changed. I think the defining moment for my generation was 9-11. It forever changed my life even though it happened over 1600 miles away.
I remember that day starting out grey and dreary and something didn't feel quite right. I thought that it was just because I was have one of my student teaching observations that day. I was always weird and nervous when the university supervisor was there. However, looking back on this day I have a feeling it was something different. I remember having this sadness in my sole that I could not shake. This sadness just wouldn't leave me and it keep urging me to pray. I remember thinking to myself, "Lord I don't know what's going on, why I feel this way but whatever happens-I trust you." Little did I know how much my faith would be trusted-along with everyone else.
So I drove to the school. I was student teaching on Fort Hood in Kileen,Tx. Even on the way to school I could not shake that feel-but I kept saying "God I trust you!" Well I get to school and every thing is going great despite the way I felt. It was my tern to teach the reading lesson. My teacher leaves the room as I am teaching. No biggie I though-she might have gone to the restroom or something. Nothing to worry about right? Well She comes back white as a ghost. I wanted to ask her if she was okay but I was in the middle of the lesson. Next, I heard the sound that I will never forget. ((((((((((ANNNNN)))),(((((ANNNN))))). I asked the teacher what that was. Then she told me that Fort Hood was on lock down! Oh my goodness! She told me and the students not to worry about anything and to just keep on doing what we had been doing. Yeah right. We all tried but we were definitely on edge after that. Well, after I had finished my lesson the university supervisor pulls me off to the side and says that the World Trade Center had been attacked and collapsed. I was speechless! Then she said that since Fort Hood is the largest military base in the world that we were on lock down as a precaution. Then she stressed not to let the kids know. Well, second graders are not idiots and kept asking what was going on and we couldn't tell them. Finally it's lunch time. The principals are talking to the kids and all the teachers are huddled around the tv in the lounge. I will never forget the first time I saw the planes hitting the tower and the Trade Center collapsing. Well, the rest of the day passed in a burr. I remember driving home thinking-God how could you let this happen? No sooner than I said it than my prayer from earlier popped in my mind "Lord I don't know what's going on, why I feel this way but whatever happens-I trust you."
It's been eight years since that fatefully day. I don't know if American society has improved or worsen since then but I do know for a fact that this country will never be the same. We must never forget the men and women who lost their lives that day. Thank the military for keeping us safe! America forever!
4-planes
19-hijackers
2-110 story towers
1-pentagon
1-farm field in Pennsylvania

246-deaths on the planes
2603-deaths in the World Trade Center
125-Deaths at the Pentagon

17,400-people were in the World Trade Center at the time of the attack

1366-deaths came on floors above the impact

200-jumped to their deaths

411-emergency workers died at the scene