Surviving the Hurricane
 

Well, it is late Monday evening here in Lower Alambama and we have survived the worst that came our way. :eek: We are about 90 miles north of Mobile.
The wind still howls outside my window as I write this to you all, but the most dangerous part of the storm as moved north. We have many large limbs down and have been without electricity on and off all day. It has been a long day with tornados all around us.
I still wait to hear from my youngest daughter that has two small childern and her husband. They live just outside of Hattiesburg where the Katrina's eye made her way across MS. They took refuge in Northern MS, and I can only hope it was far enough away from the storm. I have tried several times to get a hold of her and still wait to hear something. I was able to get ahold of my son-in-laws family to hear they have moved from where they sought refuge, but I don't know when they left, how they are doing, or what condition their home is in, if they have a home. :( I have tried all day long to get through the phone lines. I have been very frustrated as towers are down for the cell phones and the land phones you just get a recording that they are experiencing difficulties with their systems. I know I must dig deep down to find the patience as I am not the only one worried for family members, but I have to tell you it is hard and I am beside myself in worry.
I ask all of you to continue praying for all of those that still have to pick up the pieces that this storm has left for many. As I watch the news and can only imagine what some families will have to go through as they return home, if they have homes. We have many members here that are from some of the hardest hit areas, so please remember them in your prayers. :)

I cannot even imagine the agony of attempting to contact a family member, especially your children, and not being able to get through to them. Prayers go forth and I was wondering about you, so I am very happy you managed to post. :)

This is so terrible, I'm new here and don't know anyone yet personally, but I feel so bad for you and everyone else going through this. I can't even imagine the thought of not knowing if your going to be safe or not and then to not have your family close by and not being able to reach them must be so hard to deal with. I pray the lord will bring the storm to a peacefull rest very soon and that all your family will end up safe and sound. God bless and be safe!!

Sue, I cant even imagine how worry you must be awaiting news of your family. I will have your family in my prayers.

I have everyone that has suffered one way or another from this terrible Hurricane in my thoughts and prayers.

Sue...Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your
family in the days ahead. I am so sad to all that this storm
is causing hardship for.

Thanks for the update. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you in Katrina's path.

I hope that you have been able to get in touch with your daughter and that everyone is safe. We are in GA and we had lots of storms last night and several tornadoes touched down. None super close to us but, you always worry about it. We have lots of those big ol GA pines that have fallen on our house in the past and done damage even though we had several cut last year, we still have plently.

Sorry for rambling. You are in our thoughts & prayers.

This is so heartbreaking...Florida got really lucky!! This was my first hurricane ever and i wish it will be the last...i will keep your family in my prayers!!

Thank you for keeping s informed about you and your family...I have been praying for all those that were in the path of the hurricane and those who have lost everything....I will keep you and your family in my prayers!!

OH my, good to hear you are safe. I do hope you hear from your family members--soon. I will be praying for you and everyone else in the storm area.
Please try to stay calm and pray you will hear from them.
I can't imagine the heartache you must be going thru. I am watching the news and just can't believe.....

My thoughts and my prayers are with you...

-Mandy-

We are so glad to hear that you are safe and we all pray that your daughter and her family are safe as well. We will keep you and all that were in Katrinas path in our thoughts and prayers.

Sue, thank God you are OK! Just saw your post and was wondering if everyone was safe. I hope you will hear from your daughter and her family soon and we will be praying that they are safe! We flew out of Birmingham back to Colorado early on Sunday morning and were so thankful that we did! We have close friends in LA and have no way to find out about them ... can't imagine that they didn't evacuate! One of them had heavy damage when Ivan hit ... they have a condo on the beach in Pensacola and the other has one in Ft. Walton. Other friends live on two houseboats in Slidel and we have gotten word that they went inland before the storms began! Please let us know when you hear from your daughter and meanwhile we will continue to pray for them.

Betttyanne-- I hope you hear from your friends soon. Glad to hear you were able to get out of harms way. I will pray that your frineds will be ok!

My heart goes out to you and yours and I will pray for their safety. I have been heartsick for the past couple of days. I have relatives in New Orleans in the hardest hit area and they, as far as I know, evacuated, but I fear they have all lost everything From what I can figure, they have 8-10 feet of water in their area. I think they are all alive and in safe places right now, but I fear what this will do to them. I just can't imagine how these people can cope with all the devastation.

Update !!!
 

So sorry that this update comes so late. I finally got a hold of my daughter's in laws about 5:00pm this evening on their cell phone. The call lasted maybe one minute.... but that minute was priceless... I heard that my family is okay!!!! :D I don't want to show to much excitement as I know there are many deaths report from Katrina and I continue to feel pain for those families.
I don't know if their home is there or not all I know is that they survived. We can rebuild a home but we can't replace a life. I have lost my internet service due to the storm right after the post, so I haven't been able to reply until now. I can tell you that it was a very long night and day waiting, calling and calling and calling until I had the one precious moment of hearing my family is okay. I want to thank all of you for all your incouraging words and prayers.... I am going to continue to try and contact my family to see if they need us to go and get them. I will keep you all posted if I can get through via telephone or if we decide to see if we can make it through the destruction and get them. Again thank you for all your prayers and support....

Lots of hugs and prayers to your and yours!

I know recovery will take some time, so is there anything that those of us in safe dry areas can do to help you out down there? Make calls, send emails, (send CC products or doggie treats) any thing??? I keep hearing donations are the best thing to do, but please let us know what our YT friends and their babies might need...

I am sorry you have to go through this... Keeping you and all the people in that area in my thoughts...

Sherry Lynn, Thank you so much for your support. Here in Alabama, where I am at we have very little storm damage, considering what those at the coast are having to go through. I think our biggest problem is electricity for most... If we do travel down to my daughter's I will see if there is something we can do. Probably once the phone lines are back up we can find out more.