Hurricane Harvey 2017

Four days after the 1st day of school, school was canceled. Hurricane Harvey was spotted forming in the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to make landfall on August 25th. While Houston wasn't in the direct path of the storm, we were on the dirty side of the winds and were expected to get record ammounts of rain. After hearing forecasts of "historic," "catastrophic," and "life threatening" proportions, Dustin and I made the decision to pack up our family, a few important papers and keep sakes and evacuate to Dallas, TX until the storm had passed.

When all was said and done, we ended up staying in Dallas for 6 days waiting out the rain and the flood waters. In between watching the news and the weather channel 24/7 we decided to take in a few fun activities to keep our minds off the terrible flooding.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 25th. Heavy rains began falling on the Houston/Galveson area on the evening of August 26th. Harvey stalled and dropped rain for 5 days. When all was said and done, it had dropped over 52 inches of rain, the equivilent of 27 trillion gallons of water. That is enough water to supply Niagra Falls for 15 days. We got it as rainfall in the space of only 4 days. Thousands of homes were flooded and damaged. Many friends and Church members lost their homes in the storm. It was a terrible thing to watch unfold. However, the love and compassion and selfless service that we also watched unfold as the people of Texas extended their hands in love and rescue to one another was stunning in it's profound love. I saw God in the acts and words of the people of Houston and Galveston. I felt pride to live among such amazing people. We'll never forget Hurricane Harvey, or the outpouring of love it's destruction triggered. I'm sure there will be great need and clean-up efforts to go forward as we recover from this massive storm. I'm glad we can be part of it and know such Christ-like people as our neighbors and friends.

Thankfully, we were very blessed and our home weather Hurricane Harvey without any flooding, leaking, or even power loss. We came home to a beautiful and miraculously untouched home. I feel very blessed by a loving Father in Heaven for that tender mercy. Since our return Dustin has been able to go out with Mormon Helping Hands to help with clean-up efforts in homes that were saddly flooded, while I have stayed home to keep up with busy and board kids who suddenly got 2 extra weeks of summer while the community and the school district began the clean-up and rebuilding process.

Here are some pictures of our Hurricane Harvey adventure:

1st Stop - Lunch at Whataburber on our way to Dallas

Medieval Times for dinner. Yes, please!

Check out who got her first flower from a boy! That's right, and it was even from a handsom French knight! Yea, Rebekah! (You should have seen how fast Rebekah jumped out of her seat to catch that pretty pink carnation.:) )