Thank you, Lord, for sparing those we love during this terrible hurricane, Gustav!  We are most grateful!

As you all know by know, Hurricane Gustav has wreaked havoc all along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, hitting the small town of Cocodrie dead-on.  Thankfully, it didn't carry with it as much water as expected, but the winds did an awful lot of damage.

Here in our home area, an area that is very rural and filled with trees, there are broken branches, broken trees, broken utility poles, dropped lines, and a good bit of damage to many homes in the area, mostly due to the trees falling on them.

Just in our little family here, a niece had a tree fall into her bedroom (no one was hurt); a sister-in-law had her most productive pecan trees split into three pieces and nearly hit her home; this same SIL had a tree hit a pipe and opened up a water line; a SIL in Baton Rouge had a tree fall into her dining room; our kids in Lockport had some damage to their homes and cars, but nothing too bad; our son in Thibodaux had some damage to his roof and had some siding fly off as well. 

Electricity went out early on Monday, and we just got back on-line about an hour and a quarter ago.  The heat here in Louisiana, as most of you know, is really bad.  Even if the temp isn't as high as in some places, the humidity makes the heat almost unbearable.  In my tv room today, the temp was 86 degrees and rising (right before the electricity was restored).

We have a small generator that we used to keep our freezers and fridge running intermittently.  We also used it to keep a fan going for brief periods along with a lamp.  At meal time, we used it to generate power for our microwave and/or a grill for cooking burgers.  Today, we used our gas grill on the barn patio and, at the same time, Sid got a small bar-b-que pit going (we are NOT good at bar-b-quing, but we did OK today). We tried using it yesterday (or the day before) while Sandie and Ben were here, but we just couldn't get the grill going hot enough.  Today, it reached a slightly higher temp, and we just cooked the food longer.  I think everyone enjoyed the burgers on the Foreman grill the other day, though, so that was OK.

Sid has been working to clean up the yard today--what a job that is--and we don't have nearly the work that others in town have.  When we went into town to get gas (only a couple of stations were opened), we saw downed trees and electric lines all over the place.  Some homes had a lot of damage; others, not so much.  Today, W/D opened; W/M is still not open.  One of the fire stations was distributing water, MRE's (Meals Ready-to-Eat), tarps (for those with holes in their roofs), and other items that people might need. 

Baton Rougeans also suffered quite a bit; a sort-of "doctor's office" was set up on the grounds of Women's Hospital to take care of patients who didn't need to be in the hospital, but who had some kind of medical problem.  I'm sure this was great for them!  Obviously, we haven't been to BR since all this happened, so we don't have any first-hand info, and our cable is still out, so the only news we got during the storm--and since--was from a small portable tv that Sandie had and from word-of-mouth.

I must compliment the folks who work for Entergy and those who did clean-up around here on the roads.  These people are fantastic!  The initial estimate for the return of power was 2-3 weeks; we got it back today!  Miraculous!  From what we hear about New Orleans, things worked out much better than it did during Katrina--there were only about 10,000 people who did not leave their homes; looting was kept to a minimum and the few who tried it are in jail today--no chances given; transportation that was a problem during Katrina was hardly noticed this time.  Our new governor did a fantastic job keeping everyone informed (and us, too, until we lost the cable) about what he was doing, what was going to be done, how looting would be handled, and anything else that would affect the folks there.  GREAT JOB!

That's it for tonight!  Tomorrow, we hope to see if we can find out what's wrong with Randi's computer.  It comes on and goes right off.  Don't know what that's all about, but she really uses her computer a lot, so we'll see what we can do about it.  Wish us luck with that!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."                              --Melodie Beattie

NOTE:  As we give thanks this weekend for our blessings, we try to express our gratitude to God for making Gustav a lesser storm than expected, a storm that we were able to deal with, a storm that didn't take many lives.  We are grateful for His bounty in our lives, and we will try never to forget to give thanks for all the blessings He bestows on us.  We made it through another hurricane--we are truly blessed.  We ask Him to watch over us as the hurricane season continues and that He take care of our friends in the paths of the next hurricanes--Hannah and Ike.

PS:  During the storm period, I received a call from a friend I've been writing to since I was 12 years old, a so-called Pen Pal.  Unfortunatley, Randi didn't recognize her and hung up.  She forgot to mention the call to me until yesterday, so I tried calling my friend.  No luck!  Tried calling International Information.  No luck!  Today, I decided to write her a letter telling her what was going on here and that we were OK.  Right before Sid left to mail the letter, he suggested trying to call her one more time.  GREAT LUCK!  I reached her and we chatted for more than 30 minutes.  What a good friend!

I also received a couple of messages from some on-line friends who were concerned and offered their thoughts and prayers.  Just a few years ago, I would never had thought about having friends I never met (except for my Pen Pal--part of a Girl Scout program when I was a young girl).  I have "met" some great folks here, and I thank them for their prayers.