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Post by rajrae on Sept 4, 2005 17:43:47 GMT -5
From Margaret for the Reilly family. So glad this was started! My heart has been heavy today thinking about all of you and praying all were safe. I hope we get many more posts.
I evacuated to Houston with son Aaron so he could fly back to Denver. Jim, Ryan, Andrew and Emily drove to Alexandria. On Thursady, I will drive to Alexandria while Jim will drive to Houston to meet with his employers. We will try to go into Kenner next week to get some more clothes and Ryan's school stuff, take him to Ruston, then perhaps back to Houston to get the kids enrolled in school and stay there until Jefferson Parish Schools open again. So very thankful we got out, and also hurting for the suffering still in the city!
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Post by rajrae on Sept 12, 2005 8:55:40 GMT -5
Thanks for transferring it all over here to the MB Doug. Just thought I'd update a bit. Jim decided he didn't want all of us going back in to Jefferson Parish, so I came to Katy and he and Ryan went to the house. The news was very good for us. Very minimal damage for which we are truly, truly thankful. Two sides of the fence down, the chimney blew off, the ridge vents came off in some spots and wind driven rain came in. There are some ugly brown spots on come ceilings. The kids "fort" is sort of leaning sideways now. Of course the best was NO WATER IN THE HOUSE. It came up pretty far in the yard, but stopped just short of the flower beds. I don't know why we have been spared flooding time and time again since we moved here 29 years ago. My heart breaks every time I hear from someone else about the conditions in their house. Doug, I know your mother, father, and Gammie have all suffered greatly. Almost every person we know has had at least some flooding. I'm praying for you all and hope I can help out in some way when we move back. Andrew is now attending Taylor High School, and already making friends and getting involved. He joined the cross country team. They are working him harder and he's limping around. They let him run with the JV in a meet on Saturday. He passed one of the Cornerstone girls (from VBS) in the hall at school his first day there, and went to their youth group last Wed. He also went to one of their houses Friday for a "movie night." And, he's even going to the Homecoming Dance next Friday with a group of kids from his Yearbook class. Emily is going to McMeans Jr. High. She's having a bit harder of a time adjusting to all this upheaval. Mostly, she misses her friends and the "familiar." One of her best friends from our neighborhood is living near downtown Houston, so they spent the weekend together. I think that helped a lot. And she is starting to make friends at the school so she does not "hate" it as much as last week. Jim & Ryan spent last Tuesday, Wed. and Thursday in the house. He brought a generator and an AC so they had it made.  He then took the cats to Pineville to their "foster home" and Ryan up to Ruston for school. He arrived here in Katy on Saturday (10th) night. In two weeks, he went from Kenner to Pineville, to Houston, Pineville, Kenner, Pineville, Ruston, Pineville, Katy... Now he's off at work. He'll work out of Houston for the time being, but will probably eventually have to move closer to NO. They have not been able to go into the facilities yet, but they believe there is about 3 or 4' of water. I have a few errands to run today. Jim did a great job with collecting stuff from the house for us (clothes I mean) but there are still a few things we need. Also, I am going to go paint at my sister's house in Sugarland one or two days this week. I also signed up to help 2 days a week at a nearby Red Cross shelter in a huge Baptist church, but they have not called me yet. This all seems so weird.... I get these really strong feelings at time that I just want to GO HOME and get back into life like it was before. I'm so thankful to have my family here, and their willingness to take us in! But it is strange at times to be living in someone else's house. We're all sort of in the Twilight Zone! Our plan is to go back when the Jefferson Parish schools reopen. |
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Post by Margaret on Sept 23, 2005 0:38:18 GMT -5
In case anyone is wondering, we are going to be riding out Rita here in Katy, TX in my sister's house. Still don't know exactly what's in store for us, but we'll find out in a little over 24 hours. We were able to get plywood for the windows, so that makes me a little easier about it. And as of now, Thursday evening, we are going to hopefully be on the "clean" side of the storm. My biggest prayer is for the storm not so move so far east that it will affect the New Orleans area!
We would appreciate your prayers for all of us. There will be nine of us here, then my sister and her husband will be in their house in Sugarland. Unfortunatley, they are about 20 miles closer to the gulf than we are, and their roof is 20 years old. We have another sister here in Houston, but no one knows where she is at the moment.
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Post by crystal on Sept 23, 2005 14:12:28 GMT -5
praying for you ....
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He then took the cats to Pineville to their "foster home" and Ryan up to Ruston for school. He arrived here in Katy on Saturday (10th) night. In two weeks, he went from Kenner to Pineville, to Houston, Pineville, Kenner, Pineville, Ruston, Pineville, Katy... Now he's off at work. He'll work out of Houston for the time being, but will probably eventually have to move closer to NO. They have not been able to go into the facilities yet, but they believe there is about 3 or 4' of water.