Our First Hurricane!

Hello All,

Thank you for your emails, texts, and calls. We are official: We rocked Gustav like a hurricane... sorry I couldn't resist the reference to the Scorpions Song!I always thought that it was White Snake until after Gustav!

So here is what happened...

The Base gave evacuation orders for Sunday at 6 AM. All of our military families evacuated the area. We held church Sunday morning. It was was low key. In fact, we didn't do any children's programming, so I actually got to sit in the service and worship and listen to the sermon, with Shaun!!! I haven't been able to do this since May, so it was very awesome and a much needed day of rest!

As a group, the staff of Mosaic decided what we wanted to do after church: leave or stay. Since the roads were literally parking lots and there was no way to get out, we opted to stay. But, we would all stay together. So, we decided that we would stay at the place where we actually hold church. Many of you know that this place is a skating rink/ day care. Good news about this place is that it is all concrete, survived Katrina and is close to the Hospital, so very rarely does it lose power.

So Sunday night, we gathered all of our important documents, a few clothes, cans of tuna (I literally only had 2 cans of tuna and nothing else canned in the pantry), an air mattress, and the pups.We headed up to the Skate Rink/ Mosaic Church/ Day Care around 9:30 pm. It had just started to rain and get windy by that time.

Each of us set up a room in one of the birthday party rooms. There was Dustin and Natalie and their dog Maggie, Shaun and I, and Nat's parents and their dog Zoey and grandma: Chip, Carmen, and Ma Ma. The Worship Pastor and his wife decided that they would brave the storm out alone that night and come to join us in the morning.

We actually had a good time waiting for the storm. Shaun became DJ DeShauns and dj'd music so that we could all skate. I have attached a few pictures!




For those of you who are thinking, wow, Jessica doesn't look so good... there is no make-up and I just got my hair cut and colored on Saturday. First time it has been colored in 3 years! Sorry, Ashley!! I felt like I was cheating on you, but I couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't the same either!

So, it was an interesting night. When we woke up, it was apparent that the bulk of Gustav was hitting Louisiana, so we decided that it was safe to head home. Shaun and I went home and slept! The hurricane continued. There was a TON of rain and wind. We lost several tree limbs, but luckily that was all. Several homes and places, including the Hard Rock Casino, flooded, but Ocean Springs was okay.

After going through this, I have decided that I will take Texas and tornadoes any day! Hurricanes suck! The worst part is the waiting and the anxiety. You know it is coming, you just don't know when or where and then you feel trapped because your work won't let you leave. And when you finally can leave, you can't get out due to the mass hysteria that everyone is exhibiting as evidenced in the roads!

But, we are okay and are glad to be back to work. Please continue to pray, as there is another hurricane coming our way: Ike. Can you believe they named it that? Crazy! I hope that the next hurricane is named Jessica, that is a MUCH better name for a hurricane.

Much love,
Jessica