recovering from a hurricane...

this is my second day back to work and i'm a bit pressed for time, so my apologies in advance as this may feel random and erratic...

the hurricane was scary, but tolerable. the aftermath will drive you insane. i mean that in the most literal way. we lost power around 3am on saturday morning during the storm. i took some pics of the minor damage on our property, which i'll post below. when i walked outside saturday morning i was just speechless. our fence was down (as well as everyone else's), shingles off the roof, vents bent, trees down. but then we ventured into the town, and it put things into perspective... pearland was torn up... power poles and lines down everywhere. just crazy. we checked out a couple more streets then went back home. our place wasn't so bad afterall. by saturday night i was ready to cut all my hair off... seriously... i think justin even hid the scissors because i can't find them anywhere. sunday evening we got word that justin's older brother had power restored so we stayed there sunday night. i can't thank betsy and brian enough for taking ALL of us in! total, there were 7 adults, 5 kids (ages 1-7), and my dog. things went more smoothly than expected considering we're all family. ;) we finally saw what happened on galveston... so devastating. since everyone's having so much trouble with phone lines right now too (the reason for this blog!), betsy's mother and sister, in mexico city, couldn't get ahold of anyone until sunday. her sister said her mother was literally on her knees the entire night before praying... since all she saw was what the news was showing, she was scared half out of her mind, poor woman! we stayed at brian's until last night... when our power was restored! oh the things we take for granted! justin's younger brother, aaron, lives two blocks down in the same subdivision but doesn't have power. they're staying with us (with their two kids). justin's mother is staying with us too. this whole ordeal has been a lesson in tolerance, and thankfulness. i think i needed it. it felt so great to sleep in my own bed. my poor dog was so excited to be home too... don't know if i'll ever get him in a truck again! geez... i feel like i just had shock therapy to remind me of what's most important in life... i'm very much at peace right now. :)

so here are the pics of our property and the retention pond kind of across the street the morning after the storm...























so that's it. on another note, danelle and i both use the same hairstylist, and she had her shop open on wednesday! so we both went in... and i got all my hair chopped off! i feel much better now... pics of that later. ;)