Back!!!!

Well, I would like to start things off by saying that your concern and prayers and packages were greatly appreciated by my family! While I was doing my share of complaining to Steph, I never imagined that people would send things to us. The first few days after the storm were miserable, to say the least. It was hot, traffic was horrible, lines were long and life here was altered. Things are slowly getting back to normal. For those of you that have never experienced the after effects of a hurricane, let me tell you that even a few days of "altered" life is difficult!

We went through Katrina with Jake, but my parents never lost power and so, once the storm was over, we were able to stay with them and Jake never really knew anything had happened. Not so with Gustav!! It was EXTREMELY hard on Isabella. She has been with us a little over 10 months now, and I can attest to the fact that change is hard on adopted children. This hit her really hard. She has shown alot of regression. She will not let me out of her sight, is having many meltdowns, is aggressive and experiencing night terrors. Her appetite has changed and she is just not herself! After our Easter break and my being with her for that week of vacation, she showed a few signs of regression, but it only lasted a few days and then she was back to normal. After summer, it was a little worse. But this storm and the uncertainty of our days and nights, as well as her daily schedule being disrupted, has really taken a toll on her.

On Friday of last week, I was told that it would be 21 days before the power guys would be able to get to our lines. All of our lines are buried, but we are hooked to an older neighborhood and that neighborhood was hit hard. It was unbelievable to see... BIG oak trees uprooted with the ground underneath still attached to the base, trees through houses, power lines twisted into a huge mess of tangles. Anyway, I could tell that Bella was having a hard time and that it was escalating. I KNEW something had to give and so I began praying HARD. I reminded God that the report may not be good, but that HE was more than able to give us favor and have our electricity restored quicker than the 21 days. My daughter needed it for her emotional well-being more than we needed it for our comfort level! Well, within a few days, we saw a DEMCO worker in the other neighborhood and stopped to ask if they were still assessing the damage or coming to work. He told us that this was one of the hardest and worse hit areas he had worked. He did not understand why, but that someone decided to call in 30 trucks to work it and that they wanted it done fast. He said that those guys descended on the place and got busy. Well, I just smiled knowing that my prayers were heard and that my God had answered!!! God knows a mother's heart and he moved mountains for us! I know that He will continue to be there and give us wisdom in helping Isabella feel secure again and see us through this time.

Also, our governor, Bobby Jindal did a fantastic job with his recovery plan. He would not accept anything less than over 100% and required that everything was done to speed things up. I truly hope he runs for president one day! Things are still not back to normal here, but they are getting there. Traffic lights are still down, making it quite difficult to get around. Some people are still without power and emotions are running a little high. But... we will survive. Hopefully, we will not get a visit from another hurricane this year!

The care packages that we received from some of you meant so much. The stores that were open that first week were limited and the lines were so long. It was good not to have to put Bella through waiting in them because we had what we needed and more! I truly don't know how she would have handled it. Terry, Tommy's mom, was so incredible to us. She brought us a lot of things a few days after the storm and it really meant so much to me. We have never met, even though we live near each other (it just hasn't worked out yet) and yet, she thought of us and met a need. I am so grateful for all of you in blogland that reached out. While, we were not hit nearly as hard as others in our area, it was hard on our family because of it still being in that time of transition for Isabella. You all will never know how much it meant to us to open those packages and realize that people were thinking of us and hearing the comments you posted as Steph read them to me. She was so great to me... listening to me many times a day. I pray that God blesses each of you in a GREAT way!

Please pray for the residents of Texas over the next few days. They will need it. I just found out that one of the levees in New Orleans has been broken from the storm surge and houses are flooded. I don't know that many people evacuated New Orleans because it was headed to Texas, but please keep them in your prayers. I know some of them are feeling some of the feelings that experienced in Katrina.

Jake is in New York this weekend. He left with my Daddy today. I was supposed to go with my mom and Isabella, but the storm and the uncertainty of Ike changed our plans. I talked to him tonight and he is BEYOND excited,. He will be seeing the Yankees play the second-to-last game in Yankee stadium Sunday. His dream is to play for the Yankees when he grows up! "Thanks, Daddy and Mom, for making part of his dream come true!"

Please keep Isabella in your prayers... that she would be comforted, feel secure and get past this. Both her and Jake will have their birthday next Saturday. She will be 2 and he will be 9. This will be her first birthday party. Last year she was still in the orphanage. Jake decided he wanted to do his party with her this year, so we combined them. I think it will be FUN!!!

Have a great weekend!!