Hey everyone,

Thank you for all your messages, prayers and concerns! My family and I are safe and sound. It has been slightly disastrous, but we're taking it in
stride and finding humor and adventures at every corner.

The Woodlands had tons of downed trees from the winds and some flooding in lower areas. Ike hit us pretty hard all night long Fri. night to Sat.
morning. We had a big tree go down around 5 am that broke through our fence but missed the house completely. Another tree broke but fell behind
our fence and a third tree broke in half and fell on our roof. We were wondering what the thumping sound had been all night! It didn't break
through the roof, but we may have some shingle damage. We are going on our third day without power and we have been told that because we are serviced
by Entergy, it may be weeks before it comes back on. Our water is running and safe to drink. Also, God blessed us with a cool front that came
through last night, so it's making the lack of AC much easier, at least for now.

My parents' electricity came on last night so we drove down here today to let the world know we're Alright!

The rescue crews are still rescuing people that are stranded and trying to convince people that remained in Galveston to leave because there will be
no food, water, gas or anything for many weeks.

Lines at the gas stations are insane, many times people have talked about waiting over an hour for gas and the lines have even backed up some of the
freeway exits. Not many grocery stores are up fully, but many have opened on generators. The generator stores, like the one by our house, have
perishable items, but no cold products or water or ice.

Eriek and I ventured to the grocery store and Home Depot today. All the stores are set up the same: you get your shopping cart and wait in line
and when someone leaves, you are allowed to go in and shop. Most of the stores have large sections blocked off as they're trying to keep the people
under control. I guess we're pretty prone to freaking out. Eriek used the example of Black Friday, you know, when people line up 12 hours before the
stores open after Thanksgiving :)

The have several places set up passing out free water and ice though, so that's great. You just have to sit in a long line for that too. We're
also under a curfew while the power is down.

Our cell phones reception is no service with an occasional digital roaming. Text messages seem to work the most often.

It's pretty funny as every time we hear updates on the radio, they say to go to websites to check when schools or other places will be open, but
we're all out of power and can't get on the Internet!

Most of us were pretty prepared for this hurricane, though. And it's actually been quite nice to wake up with the sun and go to sleep just after
dark and eating dinner by candlelight or outside. Everyone is outside cleaning up debris and trees all day that we've had a chance to meet so
many people. All of the community is coming together to help each other out. Eriek and I have enjoyed this time and almost wish it could be like
this more often (except without the disaster part and the lack of AC!).

I'll keep you posted as things get better, but I apologize if it's a few days before I get your e-mail, as I'll have to travel to my parents' house
to check it.

I hope everyone out there is doing great and thanks again for all your prayers and this could have been much, much worse!

Laura

Here's the picture of the WAC_sign- This is the sign at the Woodlands Athletic Center where my team trains.