Hurricane Harvey

Well the start of the new 17-18 school year was definitely an exciting one. The start of school always has its surprises, but this year had too many. The first day of school involved a solar eclipse, and not to be outdone a hurricane decided to make its presence felt the first week as well.  We made it to Thursday when our school districts decided there would be no school on Friday the 25th so that families could make final preparation for Harvey. So after visiting an almost empty Walmart to buy what little groceries/water we could our hurricane prep was complete. All we could do know was pray and settle in for the night.

We watched the weather reports as they updated so that we cold have an idea of what to expect in our area.  Finally Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 26th. In the end Hurricane Harvey was an extremely destructive Atlantic hurricane which became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at such an intensity in the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (100 cm) of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing catastrophic flooding. With peak accumulations of 64.58 in (164.0 cm), Harvey is the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people, and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.

As a result of the hurricane we learned to work together, serve others, and take joy in the things we have been blessed with as a family.  We were blessed to have received no damage or flooding to our home. However, many of our friends were not so lucky. As a result of the devastation around us school was cancelled from August 25-Sept 5 so that families could begin the recovery process.  One of the blessings of not receiving any damage during the storm was that we were then able to help others. It has been one of the biggest weeks of blessings I have ever witnessed. Yes, Harvey caused a LOT of pain and destruction. However, with pain and suffering of those who lost everything, I have seen lights of joy. There are simply no words to express watching the community come together. People who do not even know others come in lines to drop off food, supplies, and assist with mudding out homes. Hours of labor for other people they do not even know. One of my favorite memories was today when some stranger dropped off furniture to our friend. My friend had to say, "Can you please tell me your names?" Just amazing. People truly have a heart of Jesus during this tragedy and are giving it their all. I know rebuilding our communities will take a long time, but I am blessed to have witnessed what people have done this week thus far. I am also blessed each member of our family to joy in being the hands and feet of Christ personally as we helped others.