Day two of Hurricane Harvey in Houston is coming to a close. It has been an insane weekend and sadly it doesn’t look like the storm will be leaving us anytime soon. They keep telling us to expect a few more days of rain and I just can’t picture what that will look like when we’re already seeing things like this:
So many have it worse than we do. It feel strange even beginning to write something from our safe, dry home in NE Houston. But for those reading this from afar, I’ll attempt to share glimpses of what it feels like watching this unfold in our city.
Yesterday was the first day that I’ve ever flat out lied to my kids. I never lie to them, not even in little “white” lies like “we’re out of candy”. I always shoot them straight. But yesterday as they overheard conversations about tornados touching down around our city, and looked at me with big worried eyes I quickly assured them that tornados were very far away from us. Flashing them big grins while I texted friends in the part of town who was dealing with not just flash floods and rain but also tornadoes touching down.
I assured them that was very VERY far from our part of Texas, even as I cleared out the storage closet in my home office so we would have a place to shelter in the event the tornados came any closer, because our whole county was on a tornado watch (and flash flood watch).
I lied to them as we happily pulled out star wars monopoly and played a few rounds. Even as I furiously checked updates on my phone and came across photos of local devastation.
I lied to them and I still don’t know if it was the right thing to do.
They know it’s storming. They know there are floods, but in their little-kid minds they don’t quite grasp the reality of what is going on around us. And I don’t think I want them to just yet.
In a few weeks, when we’re left figuring out how to put together the broken pieces of our city, and helping wherever, however we can, maybe then they’ll start to understand.
But for today they are considering themselves “lucky” that their entire first week of school has been cancelled.
Today, they casually told us we are out of apples and they don’t realize that we might not get more anytime soon because all the grocery stores are closed. Today I snuggled and read with them on the couch while their dad crawled around in the attic to check for leaks.
For today, we have power, we have {sporadic} internet access, we have a dry place to stay, we have bowls full of water and cupboards full of unsalted trail mix and other non perishables to last us if we lose power or the grocery stores stay closed.
Having a bag of trail mix and a dry home makes me feel so fortunate when I’m watching so many in our city lose their homes.
The footage online and on the tv doesn’t seem real. I’ve seen this type of thing on tv before. In fact, I was there helping in the aftermaths of hurricane Katrina and then, hurricane Rita after the waters receded. I’ve seen crazy catastrophes like this before. But nothing could prepare me for the mental weight of holding it all together for the kids while watching my city fall.
Images from Houston this morning…
Posted by James Spann on Sunday, August 27, 2017
Living through so many other natural disasters, helping strangers rebuild their own cities…it truly does nothing to prep you for the moments when you are furiously texting everyone you know to be sure they are still okay, still above water. Nothing prepares you for the moments when it’s your own friends telling you about the water in their homes, or telling you about their family members who have lost everything.
I’ve never felt so helpless as I do right now watching all of this take place and knowing there’s nothing I can do to help until the rain stops.
I’m eternally thankful that our home is dry and our kids are tucked safely in their own beds tonight but as I turn to my newsfeed and see so much devastation surrounding me, I can’t help but feeling like I’m on a safe little island while the world crumbles around me.
Tonight we just wait. And we watch the rain fall. And we cry {but only after the kids are in bed}. And we get ready for tomorrow.
Click here to read the 2nd post I made about Hurricane Harvey, including an FAQ about why many of us didn’t evacuate and answering other questions people had about the middle of the storm. This post ended up reaching over 30,000 people during the storm.
“Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief.
But I trust in you, Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hands;”
~ words of hope from Psalm 31
Please join me in praying for our city.
Hannah says
Stay safe lovely lady! I know I’m many miles away but if we can do anything to help = please let me know :)
Diane says
Thank you for writing it right. You truly have a handle on the vibe in the air the emotion, and you are being led by the spirit and teaching your children correct values to live their lives by.
This is my second trip to Houston. Last year I brought my daughter and son-in-law down along with their two babies to help find them a place to live while he went to school at Baylor. They move down here June 1, 2016 their family will be growing to three in February and I came down to help celebrate their oldest daughter’s third birthday. Before I left Idaho
I was privileged enough to see and witness the total eclipse with my family in our back yard and that is how my week started. I got my house in order before I left to make sure my husband had food for his tractorhe I a hard working Farmer, sitting in a big combine six days a week 16 hours a day. I felt a bit guilty about leaving him to fend for himself, however I told him “there is a reason I’m going to Houston.”
I knew that without knowing why. I didn’t know anything about the hurricane The Lord has given me many many tender mercies since I’ve been here. I would have been worried sick sitting in Idaho wondering about my daughter and her family’s welfare. Now …even though I can’t physically be with her because of the flooding I know that she is safe and I have a handle on the situation and I’m in one of the most secure places in the nation right now
This hotel is prepared for any scenario and partly because of the people who are staying here from all over the country.
Just pray to be an instrument in the Lords hands for good and he will bring those people to you even if you can’t leave your home thank you for your beautiful blog ! Diane