Post By Travis:
I am sure most of you know that we are safe and sound after the recent hurricane. Jana and Jayden we off on their planned road trip, and so I stuck around to brave the storm alone. We got out of work early on Thursday so that those who needed to prepare could do so.
I got home to find my next door neighbor boarding up his windows, which made me think that perhaps I was taking this storm too lightly. I still would have done nothing, except that he had a bunch of extra wood, so I went ahead and boarded up the four front facing windows on the bottom floor.
On Friday I spent most of the day just hauling everything from the outside indoors somewhere. Most items found a home in the garage, and the dog kennels got moved into the living room where I planned to sleep that night as the storm hit.
Seeing as how the storm was set to hit around 1:00 am, I popped a movie into the DVD player and was just about to hit play when the power shut off... that's right, at 9:10 PM without so much as a drop of rain, or gust of wind, I lost power.
So now, completely unprepared, I made my way to the garage (detached from the house) in the dark to get my flashlight only to find that the chrager had not been plugged in properly and the thing was useless.
So candles got lit inside, but it was only about 9:45 by the time I decided I would just go ahead and try to sleep.
Around 3 in the morning I woke up to the sound of wind, but the experience was surreal. I could not see. I mean, it was darker than ANYTHING I had ever experienced. I literally touched my eyelashes with my finger, and still could not see my finger or even detect movement.
So by the light of my cell phone I walked to the back windows to see out into the yard... but the blackness was impenetrable, so I went back to sleep.
The next morning it was drizzling rain and still fairly windy. I didn't wake up until about 9:30, well after the eye passed directly over Kingwood. So time to survey the damage. I looked out back to see a small tree had been knocked over, doing no damage to anything around. It fell away from the new fence I had built a few weeks back, into the middle of the yard.
Out front, one branch lay in my front yard, along with plenty of sticks, but the typical summer storm accounts for that much. So I thought to myself, wow, all that hype for nothing. I walked my street, and most of my neighbors fared the same. A small tree here or there, 2 fences with segments knocked down or leaning, but on the whole, not much had happened.
Reaching the end of the block I was shocked... literally 1 block in any direction there were HUGE trees laying across roads, cars and houses. One house a block over had 3 enormous pine trees resting on the roof. It was about here that I realized just how devastating this storm was.
Later in the day I drove over to the Woodlands to hang with Mom and Pop. They had a generator powering their fridge and freezer, so it was nice to have a hot meal. I stayed there that night, a night in which we got hit my more storms caused by an incoming cold front.
So the waters rose, but I still thank God for the cold front because it made the next few days tolerable if not down right enjoyable.
I headed back home to start the cleanup, and all of my neighbors were out, cleaning raking, and the kids were playing football in the cul-de-sac.
The next two nights, without power, we had block parties in which people brought watever was going to spoil from their homes and we cooked out.
After that I was invited over to Bob and Teri Ethington's (our preacher) and we ate dinner there with the Mahlers, and Jen DeChillo, and we even roasted Smore's on Bob's fire pit.
On the way home that night I got the call that our building downtown was safe to enter, so I was to head into work the next day (Wed).
I work in the Chase tower downtown, and for those of you who are not familiar with it, it is the tallest building in Houston at 75 floors, and was by FAR the hardest hit buidling in downtown. All of the pictures of office buildings that I have seen from any source are ALL of the Chase tower.
I work on 48 which did not lose a single window. 47 and 46 did, and floors 1-about 35 lost almost every window on the east side.
So as it sits now (Friday) I am in my office, working away, but still do not have power at the house, nor do I expect I will before Monday.
Jana and Jayden are still in OK, and are planning on coming home Sunday if we have power, or Monday if we dont.
I am anxious to see them, but know it would not be comfortable for them to be in that house with no power all day long. My nights since Wed have comprised of walking the dogs and reading books, of which I am about to finish my 2nd.
All in all we made out very well. I can complain about not having power, but then all I have to do is drive through my neighborhood and see trees down, huge holes in homes, store fronts ripped off, and 2 hour lines for gas stations that are operating, and I count my blessings.
There were many who were very adversley affected by this storm, but it intrigues me that the media has given it very little coverage when all we heard for months was news about Katrina.
The difference was poigniently pointed out to me by one of my colleagues. Here we were out in droves cleaning our yards, cleaning our neighborhoods, helping each other, and making the best of what we were dealt. This city came together in a spirit of service and solidarity. There were communities coming together to push through instead of waiting for a goverment to save them.
I am proud of the people of this city, Houston at large, and Kingwood specifically. I ask all of you to please keep Galveston, Houston, and the surrouding areas in your prayers. The need here is great, as you will see from the photos. There were no levees to break, but the aftermath is very Katrina-like and we need to not forget that there are many suffering, and many more "getting through".
If you want to pray specifically for power to come on at my house so I don't go insane this weekend, that would be appreciated to :)
Sorry for the long post.
God Bless,
Travis
Hello everyone! I am going to make this brief...
Yes...we are safe! :) Jayden and I started our Road Trip '08 on Thursday morning to avoid all the hurrican traffic and have been on the road since.
We started by going to Lara Jane's house for a Stamp N' Stack party. It was soo much fun! The cousins loved getting to play with Jayden and we had some great sister time! Dava Lynn and Juli Beth were able to make it too. The only one not able to come was Kari Ann and we all missed her so much!
On Saturday we traveled to Paris, Tx to see Kari Ann. We spent Saturday night and went to church with them in the morning. Again, the cousins had a blast playing with Jayden. That was the first time Kari Ann had gotten to see Jayden! It is so much fun watching my family love on her. After church on Sunday, we headed to McAlester, OK.
So, here I am at my grandma Mary's. We are just playing around today and having fun with my Great Aunt Edna. I am going to go weed Grandma's garden here pretty soon. We are going to stay here until Tuesday and then head to Edmond, OK to see my cousins Mary Ann and Dana. I will post more there if I get a free moment.
**Travis is safe in Kingwood. We lost one tree in the back yard and it didn't fall on the house or anything...just into the yard. He is without power and has been since Friday at 9pm. We dont' know when they will restore power, but he has been able to go to the grocery store to get some food that won't spoil. :)
I will keep you updated as we travel along. Love you all!
After the beach we got back into Kingwood just in time for dinner with Winkle Danny and Aunt Norma. Then, on Friday, we all headed downtown again to eat with Travis and to go to the Zoo. It started raining during lunch so we decided to go to the Aquarium instead. That was a lot of fun... 
Who can tell me the most important tool on my toolbelt?! :)
On Saturday, one of my friends from high school (Sara Jane) came into town with her family. She has two little ones (Ashley who is 3 years old and Zachary who is 3 months). At dinner Saturday night I took Ashley to go to the bathroom. She was taking quite awhile, but as no one else was waiting for the bathroom, I just let her take her time. The whole time she was in there, she was talking in her made up language. It was quite cute! :) However, after some time had passed, a woman walked in and was waiting patiently for the toilet. After a minute we hear, "Poop?! Are you going to be coming out all night?!" It was so hard not to bust out laughing. I love that kid!
I can't believe my baby is already 4 weeks old!! Time has just flown by. She looks completely different than when we brought her home. She has started to get rolls on her thighs (YAY!). She is showing a lot more personality and is on the verge of smiling for us (she is already smiling in her sleep).
Speaking of sleep...we have moved Jayden to the nursery. We had her sleeping in the cradle in our room until Monday. She has done great in her crib this week. We started the new routine of bathtime after her last feeding time and then putting her down. Each night has gotten better and better. The first night we put her in bed at 8:57 and she finally fell asleep at about 9:45. The second night she only cried for about 30 minutes total (it was split between 2 crying sessions). And then last night she cried for about 20 minutes and I went in there only once...at which time she fell asleep. Now tonight...we put her down and she lasted 17 minutes before making a peep. I just had to go in there, but I think she is down for the count! :)
Earlier tonight, Travis let me go get a massage while he watched Jayden. It was great! It is so hard to be away from my little girl though... Tomorrow, Mimi is coming over to watch her while I get my hair done. I am really going to have to start spreading these appointments out because being away from my little girl is really hard!!!!!! Does it get any easier?! Ugh... I am fine leaving her, but then I just can't wait to get back to her. I'm sure she is already thinking, "Come on Mom...you don't have to kiss EVERY part of me EVERY time you come home!"
Ah...motherhood! :)
On Sunday we went to Pleasant Ridge for church and got to introduce Jayden to a lot of people. After service we went to meet Mom and Dad at the airport. Mom was excited to see Jayden again and had fun showing her off to all of her friends from the mission trip. It was so good to see them! I know we got to see them right before they left, but there is just something special about being there when they get back from this trip each year. We took them to lunch at Khaki's and Jayden's umbilical cord came off at lunch! Yay!!! She has a cute belly button! :)
Last night we gave Jayden her first full bath. It was fun! She enjoyed it so much more than the sponge baths we have been giving her. Her hair seems to be getting longer and curlier! Yipee!! :) I love it! Travis took a video of her after the bath...
And the morning after her bath...her hair looks like this...(notice the outfit! "Daddy did my hair") 
Here are a couple that Dava Lynn took of us... 
Travis and I went to the store today and on our way back home he asked, "What is VBS?" The conversation that followed went like this:
JK: "Vacation Bible School."
Travis: "I know that. I mean, what does it consist of?"
JK: "Oh. Well, some churches are different, but I grew up going to VBS where we were split into groups (which might be tribes or families of the Bible) and we would go to different 'stations' or 'classes' to learn a story or concept."
Travis: "Ah...gotcha."
JK: (After a few moments of reflection, broke into song...sing with me everyone) "Booster, Booster, be a booster. Don't be grouchy like a rooster. Booster, Booster be a booster. And boost our Bible school!"
Travis: "You are like having Saturday morning cartoons with me all the time!"
I can't help it!! I blame my family! :)
