On the Road with Rita
Hey guys! Well, I got a hurricane for my birthday! Wow, what a week; here's a play-by-play if you're interested. If not, skip to the bottom!! It won't hurt our feelings; besides, how would we know?
Wednesday 21st, 11pm: packing to "voluntarily" evacuate to Jeff's mom's house in Lumberton, 40 minutes north. The plan is to ride out the storm there for the weekend and then leave on our P237 trip on Monday.
Thursday 22nd, 5:45am: Rita has changed her course. Jeff is waking me up to tell me we're heading further north to Shreveport to stay with his uncle. All i can say is "My Picture Albums!!"
9:30am: We're on the road. Jeff's Mom and sisters with their four dogs and two cats are following behind us.
12:00pm We're on the road.
2:00pm: We're still on the road, about 30 miles from where we started. Sitting on the interstate, walking the dog on the side of the road.
8:00pm: Still evacuating. Stopping for Taco Bell. The group has decided to go even further to Arkansas; better safe than sorry.
2:00am: Finally! We arrive at "Uncle Jimmy's" camp near DeQueen, Arkansas.
Friday: spent the day at the "camp" in Arkansas. Beautiful sunset on the lake.
Saturday (My Birthday!) 9:00am: re-packing to head to a friend's house in Texarkana. Rita is coming on strong, and we're afraid the dirt roads at the camp will flood.
Saturday evening. Our pastor and some friends are staying 30 minutes away and meet us in town for dinner, a slice of "birthday" cake at Starbucks, and a movie at the theatre - Hurricane? What hurricane? We're celebrating! It's the first time in 19 years(?) I haven't had chocolate cake with rainbow-chip icing on my birthday. I'm not disappointed, though.
Sunday 25th: Looks like we won't be able to fly out for our P237 trip; it will be rescheduled.
Monday 26th: We re-pack our belongings and head back to the camp, which did not flood afterall.
Tuesday 27th: we pack up (AGAIN) and head to Tyler, Texas, where our church staff are convening. We spend the night in Tyler in a hotel room with six adults (including a pregnant woman), two kids, and a dog. (We left our Tucker with Jeff's family at the camp.)
Jeff drove through the night with our friend Lance to rescue their great dane, which was left behind in the evacuation. They encountered 3 road blocks, before finally finding a way around the blockades and rescuing "Dane". Yes, that's the dog's name. Jeff makes it in the hotel room about 6:30 in the morning, and laid on the floor with nothing but a pillow for 3 hours.
Wednesday 28th 11:00am: packed up again, headed to Baytown, outside of Houston. Has it really been only a week that we've been living like nomads? We are staying at a house with 3 other families, including 5 kids, all under the age of 11.
Thursday 29th: Jeff drove into Beaumont this morning to help set up our church as a distribution center. He called to let me know our apartment suffered a little water damage in the entryway and kitchen, causing a little sheetrock to fall off, and some mold to start growing. But other than that, our home is untouched. Thank you, Father!
We'll keep you updated as to where we are. Our cell phones are working most of the time, if you want to call us. I'll post again a little later with pictures.
Wednesday 21st, 11pm: packing to "voluntarily" evacuate to Jeff's mom's house in Lumberton, 40 minutes north. The plan is to ride out the storm there for the weekend and then leave on our P237 trip on Monday.
Thursday 22nd, 5:45am: Rita has changed her course. Jeff is waking me up to tell me we're heading further north to Shreveport to stay with his uncle. All i can say is "My Picture Albums!!"
9:30am: We're on the road. Jeff's Mom and sisters with their four dogs and two cats are following behind us.
12:00pm We're on the road.
2:00pm: We're still on the road, about 30 miles from where we started. Sitting on the interstate, walking the dog on the side of the road.
8:00pm: Still evacuating. Stopping for Taco Bell. The group has decided to go even further to Arkansas; better safe than sorry.
2:00am: Finally! We arrive at "Uncle Jimmy's" camp near DeQueen, Arkansas.
Friday: spent the day at the "camp" in Arkansas. Beautiful sunset on the lake.
Saturday (My Birthday!) 9:00am: re-packing to head to a friend's house in Texarkana. Rita is coming on strong, and we're afraid the dirt roads at the camp will flood.
Saturday evening. Our pastor and some friends are staying 30 minutes away and meet us in town for dinner, a slice of "birthday" cake at Starbucks, and a movie at the theatre - Hurricane? What hurricane? We're celebrating! It's the first time in 19 years(?) I haven't had chocolate cake with rainbow-chip icing on my birthday. I'm not disappointed, though.
Sunday 25th: Looks like we won't be able to fly out for our P237 trip; it will be rescheduled.
Monday 26th: We re-pack our belongings and head back to the camp, which did not flood afterall.
Tuesday 27th: we pack up (AGAIN) and head to Tyler, Texas, where our church staff are convening. We spend the night in Tyler in a hotel room with six adults (including a pregnant woman), two kids, and a dog. (We left our Tucker with Jeff's family at the camp.)
Jeff drove through the night with our friend Lance to rescue their great dane, which was left behind in the evacuation. They encountered 3 road blocks, before finally finding a way around the blockades and rescuing "Dane". Yes, that's the dog's name. Jeff makes it in the hotel room about 6:30 in the morning, and laid on the floor with nothing but a pillow for 3 hours.
Wednesday 28th 11:00am: packed up again, headed to Baytown, outside of Houston. Has it really been only a week that we've been living like nomads? We are staying at a house with 3 other families, including 5 kids, all under the age of 11.
Thursday 29th: Jeff drove into Beaumont this morning to help set up our church as a distribution center. He called to let me know our apartment suffered a little water damage in the entryway and kitchen, causing a little sheetrock to fall off, and some mold to start growing. But other than that, our home is untouched. Thank you, Father!
We'll keep you updated as to where we are. Our cell phones are working most of the time, if you want to call us. I'll post again a little later with pictures.
Comments
I love coming and checking out what is going on in your life. So thankful that you all are okay. Have suffered through a few floods myself here in T-land lost a ton of stuff but it was a bitter sweet blessing, atleast the Lord chose what things I didn't need. :) - anyway, Col. 3:1-2 really was the word I claimed: "...keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." helps doesn't it that we know where our treasures are! :)
love you both and we pray for you often- write if you get the chance, hopefully you still remember our email address or check out our blog: http://www.growinguphughes.blogspot.com
talk at you later~ Dwayne, Melissa, Josh(now a college student-ouch), Justin (17)and Kayla,(soon to be 16)