Has it been a week already?!?

I can't believe it has only been a week since we returned from our Gustav evacuation. The ride home took 12 1/2 hours but the kids did well. The morning started off much as our trip up...the DVD player stopped working 15 minutes into the trip. After a meltdown, I had to explain for the next three hours that McDonald's doesn't serve Happy Meals this early (7am) in the morning. When we finally did stop for lunch, he was disappointed that they were out of Star Wars toys. I'm still in a sleep deprived haze and Ben is still recovering from working nights in St. Louis. Now he gets to work long days for the aftermath of Ike so it will be awhile before we are well rested. Jacob was able to start school on Wednesday but it was cancelled on Friday. It will resume tomorrow. Jacquelyn is 6 months old today and we have been trying rice since yesterday. I'm not sure if it's the texture or the taste but she doesn't seem to enjoy it. Due to the storm, she gets a reprieve on her shots. The MD lost her vaccines in the power outage following Gustav. We will call back in 3 weeks to see if they are back. Can't wait:)

Plan to return home tomorrow

Ben got home this afternoon. They flew him to the NAS/JRB. When he finally made it to the house, we still had no power. We expected this. From what he could see, we didn't have any damage. There was much debris in the yard but we will clean it up when we can get into the garage. He bolted the wooden door closed since it's rather flimsy. We have to wait for the power to come back on to use the garage door opener. He thought he smelled the decaying food aroma from the fridge. Thank God it's already in trashbags. I would like to wait for the power to come back on to cool the food back down and kill some of the smell before we open the door. Removal of the boards from the windows to allow the house to air out is also a must. The kids and I plan to leave tomorrow and drive back. We will stay with Ben in a hotel downtown. Several of our friends will be back so Jacob will have people to play with if he gets tired of Daddy (or Daddy needs a break?) I think Ben is still recovering from the night shift! The Children's Museum and Aquarium are both open on Sunday. Jacob will spend as much time in the hotel pool as we allow but this will give us other options. This may be my last posting until our power returns (unless I can borrow someone else's computer.) I pray for a safe return for all those on the road tomorrow!

There's no place like home.....

Ben is scheduled to fly out tomorrow after his shift. He should be leaving around 8:30am. Once he gets back to NOLA, he doesn't have to work for a few days. As of right now, we still don't have power. According to the local news website, Orleans Parish can expect 100% power restoration by Sunday. I have no idea what time Sunday or if we will have it back sooner. At this point, Ben will go home to check on things and clean out the refrigerator, freezer, and deep freeze. Trash service was scheduled to resume today but I'm not sure if that is still the case. The Coast Guard will pay for a hotel. Unfortunately, they are all booked. The military bases are also closed. Needless to stay, I will be here at least until Saturday morning.

Still Waiting

I know that we didn't have any flooding but I don't know yet about roof or tree damage. The power was out yesterday and I haven't heard if it's back on yet. The phone was still plugged in but we have cable phone service. Since the cable is out, I can't call home to see if the machine picks up. Now we are waiting to see what Ike and Josephine do before we decide to go home. I hope to be home by the weekend. It's been good to visit family and friends but a little stressful as well. Neither child is sleeping well and Jacquelyn either has allergies or a cold. Makes things a little harder. Since Jacquelyn isn't sleeping at night, I'm not either. This should make the drive home very interesting! Baby is crying now. I hope she goes down for a nap!!
It's many hours later. She did not go down for a nap. We decided to go to the park to let Jacob run around outside. Just as we were leaving, Ben called to see how we were. Jacob was so excited to talk to him and we decided to drive into St. Louis to see Daddy. It was a good visit but too short. Jacob was very sad to leave (as was I). Jacquelyn fell asleep 10 minutes into our drive back to Grandma's and Grandpa's house. Jacob fell asleep 2 miles from their house. I drove around for an extra 20 minutes to let him sleep. It was difficult to get both kids to sleep but they are down for now.
Tomorrow, we hope to visit with friends in the morning while Ben sleeps. Mid-morning, we will drive up to see him and spend the afternoon. The plan right now is for him to return home Friday morning. As of now, we still don't have power. I'm not sure when we will be returning. I will keep everyone posted and pray safe returns for all of our friends.

A waiting game

Ben once said that he wasn't sure if he could stay in NOLA permanently because he didn't want to deal with hurricane season every year. I replied that at least you knew it was coming and could plan. With tornadoes, you got blind-sided. (Both of our families live in tornado-prone areas.) I still stand by my original statement but I'm not sure if I needed this much time to wait for it to happen! Ben got to St. Louis late yesterday morning. He was going to the hotel, to get lunch, and to sleep before reporting at 7:15pm last night. I could hear the exhaustion in his voice. Luckily, he was flying. The other man in his unit had to drive Ben's GV out of the city. Unfortunately, he had to take the admiral to the airport first and wasn't leaving until 8:30 yesterday morning. I'm not sure when he made it where he was going. Ben should be off already this morning but I've temporarily misplaced my cell phone and can't call him. It will turn up eventually. I continue to pray for all of our friends (and the friends and family that have taken in extra house guests.) In a few hours, we should know more. God bless.