2 Adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs, 1,000 miles, 26 hours

It's funny really. Hurricane Rita psyched everyone out. At one point it was forecasted as a historic event, headed towards Galveston/Houston area as a category 5 storm... even a category 6 if there was such a thing. What ended up being the historic event was the 2.5 million people that evacuated for a category 3 hurricane. Don't laugh too hard. But hey, at least we get to visit the Longs!

We were part of those 2.5 million people and a now resting comfortably in southern Illinois now. There were moments along the way when we thought we were crazy, that we should have stayed in Houston but that wasn't possible. When we went to get supplies to be able to stay we discovered that there wasn't a store in Houston with the most basic of supplies. Water, batteries, non-perishable food was all gone and so it was decided, we'd be leaving. We weren't sure where we'd go. To my parents was considered but then we'd have to take I-10 through New Orleans so that was out. Jeremy's family in Colorado was briefly considered but his mom is out of the country on a mission trip and that seemed like a really long drive. We thought of friends in Dallas and then heard reports of I-45 being closed to new traffic as all of Galveston headed up that way. Our friends in IL whom we haven't seen in 3 years was the only real option we had- and we're thrilled to death to be here. We've been saying for so long now that we wanted to drive up here and visit with old and very dear friends, friends that were a very important part in shaping our lives and us embracing the call to ministry. Hurricane Rita may be a devastating hurricane but we're grateful for her forcing us to do what we'd only talked about for 3 years. So, with 2 adults, 3 kids (ages 2, 4, and 6), 2 dogs, a Honda Accord, 1,000 miles ahead of us, and a full tank of gas (THANK YOU GOD! We filled up Monday before we even really knew the storm was headed our way!) we began what ended up being a 26+ hour trip. As we started out on I-59 we initially thought we got lucky with the minimal traffic on the road but that was short lived and the first leg of our trip took 12 hours to go a misley 230 miles and finished our first tank of gas. It was depressing to realize that in the time our entire trip should have taken (15 hours or so) we weren't even 400 miles from home. When we finally broke free of the evacuation traffic we started making good time but by the time we were able to actually lay down and sleep Jeremy and I had gone over 44 hours with just a few cat naps in the car. We arrived alive and unharmed only by the grace of God. The girls did absolutely wonderful in the car all that time. Near bed time the second night in the car emotions and patience was running thin but that was the first time we had tears of frustration and general crabbiness and, truth be told, I think I was the first one. We're really proud of how the girls handled themselves and cared for one another on our trip up here. Now they having a wonderful time with Deven and Zachary and have asked if we could stay here all the time.

We're here for a bit, have no idea when we'll be able to get back into Houston so we're enjoying our vacation!