What a week we have had in the Texas Gulf coast area! Hurricane Harvey came for a visit and many of our coastal towns and cities, and he didn't seem to want to leave. So, I have lost track of days, have been in and out of my home, and finally realized, oh, it's Thursday. I need to get a card done for CCEE stampers. So, Ann's challenge for us this week was to use a monochromatic color theme and diecuts on our cards this week. I went with all white.
My husband and I did not think we were in an area that w going to be threatened and we had just returned from a week in Louisiana on a mission trip and just were glad to be home. Hubby had to go back to work on Monday, so we just came home to button down the hatches. We did not get the direct hit of the winds in our area, but we were on what they refer to as the dirty side of the storm. So, it rained, and rained and for 4 days it rained. Harvey just could not decide where he wanted to go. To add a little humor to this disasterous situation someone on FB wrote: " Look what happens when you name a "Hurricane" after a man. He loses his way and he's too stubborn to stop and ask for directions, and he leaves a mess without cleaning up after himself. "
We left our house Monday night fearing our house would quickly be taking in water. I saw water rising higher and closer to our house than I had seen in the 20 years in this house. We had to walk out in the rain, wading through water to get to the point that a friend could retreive us with his truck. What a Godsend this sweet family was to take us in! Our next door neighbor had pets that could not be evacuated easily, and was staying in her house. She kept our cat, and she never lost power while we were gone, so we kept in touch with her. Tuesday, our neighbor informed us that we had not gotten water in our houses. So, Wednesday the water had gone down off the roads into the neighborhood and we returned home. I have never felt such gratitude in my life to be standing in my house with no water. It was a miracle. When we left, it was inches from coming in our front door. It rained the rest of that night, and the next day, so I was expecting all of that to be all it would take. My sister, Lynn and parents live in the city where the eye of the storm hit earlier in the week, but they had evacuated to the city one of my sons lives. So they were safe, but were not sure how their houses faired during the storm. Today they arrived home and found no significant damage at their homes. I thank God for the grace He has shown my family. My parents are in the 80's and this would have been more than they could have dealt with; my sister had lost her husband this past year, and she has already had enough grief for this year, and I am so grateful God had put a hedge of protection around them.
Please continue to pray for many who have not been as fortunate and whose homes are ruined. The love and support of all who have come to be part of rescue teams and put their own lives in danger to do the wonderful job they are doing, have been God's hands and feet.
