Yesterday
we spent most of the day watching reports of rescues in and around
Houston. It started getting bad again
here around 9:30 or 10. Pretty noisy
night. The eye was supposed to be by us
by Tuesday evening, and storms fully subsided by Wednesday afternoon. We'll see.
We
have adopted a Dickinson family for as long as they need to stay with us. The rain promises to keep Dickinson under
water for at least another day or two. Yesterday
a mandatory evacuation was ordered for their entire city, because rain bands
were supposed to intensify and drop another 8-12 inches on us.
The
big news from the rest of Houston was the need to release water from
reservoirs. That meant major flooding
downstream in areas that were already flooding.
Many communities received mandatory evacuation orders. The refugees who had already been brought to
Galveston are pretty much all gone.
That’s right. Gone. The Texas Air National Guard sent three huge
cargo planes and took the refugees and their pets to Dallas. They deemed it unwise to use a barrier island
as a point of refuge against a hurricane in the Gulf. Imagine that.
Nathan was on shift at the airport, helping the people check in and get
loaded onto the planes. He even got
pictured on camera by the channel 11 news crew that was there. We divoed (or however you would spell that new technology word) it so we can
show it to Cailyn later. The whole idea
was bizarre. Think about it. The entire City of Dickinson was being
evacuated to Dallas. By plane. I think I saw that movie …
Among
our little Boyer family refugee
group, they all gathered at our house for supper. We invited Houston and Ashley, who were
staying with her sister, and Don came back over from his friend’s house in
Jamaica Beach. Rita and Kelly did the
cooking. Spaghetti, I think. There was probably another Italian name for
what it was but it looked like spaghetti to me.
At least some of it did. The
noodles were multi-shaped. Sure tasted
good.
Josh
called. Seems his church in Waco may end
up being an evacuation site for Houston area refugees. He won’t know for sure for a few days. They would just be an overflow site for the folks
taken to Dallas. Several of the people in
his church want to travel down and help right now, but he has convinced them
not to come while the event is still taking place. There will be plenty of need for help during
the recovery period to follow. Nice
move, Josh.
He
was talking to me from the car as he made his way home. And Zak greeted his Dad in a glorious
fashion. He tossed a glob of mud at
him. He missed and hit the car, but Josh
got splattered. He was very calmly
explaining to Zak about the inappropriateness of the behavior when I interrupted
in his ear. I always wanted to be someone
else’s conscience – a real Jiminy Cricket I was. I asked, “So did you throw some mud back at
Zak?” After a prolonged pause he said, “No. That just wouldn’t have encouraged the
appropriate behavior.” To which the
cricket voice in his ear replied, “And …?”
I can only assume that the anticipated retaliation never took
place. Unless of course it was to come
later, when least expected. Oh, there
was one other detail I failed to mention about Josh’s young attacker. When the mud spray cleared and Josh could
focus on the source of the projectile, he saw Zak. Well, at least he assumed it
was Zak. It seems the child in front of
him was covered head to in mud, and dressed only in his boxers. Josh asked him, “Does your mother even know
you are outside?” See, Zak, and I assume
his brothers, had been hard at work on a feat of engineering. They built a swimming pool. A six inch deep in the mud swimming
pool. Nice. Yet another amenity for their new grandparent
suite.
It’s
still appropriate … 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
Father,
as the storm moves away, please walk with the folks who now have to pick up the
pieces. Amen.
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