we made it through

Hi, I'm writing this from my sister's house north of Austin. We did stay in Houston for the storm and lost power at about 3 am as the hurricane force winds hit us. By some amazing stroke of luck, we did get some sleep that night. The wind was howling but I didn't hear or see any large pieces of debris flying around. We got up, deboarded the house, and after hearing that power would be restored between 3 days and 4 weeks, we packed up and went to my sister's house. At that point the freeways were pretty clear, although we drove for more than 2 hours before getting to an area where everyone had power. 30 minutes from my sister's house I got a text message that our power was back on. dh's office doesn't have power, however, and the boys don't have school until Thursday, so we're staying another night here. It sounds like there are gas stations and grocery stores open near our house so we should be ok. I have to say that many people are going through terrible trauma right now. Please remember them in your thoughts and/or prayers. I feel like it was a near-miss for us and I hope to head back and help in whatever way I can. Thanks for your supportive comments and emails. This whole thing is surreal to me. Places I know and love are not there anymore. I don't know the status of the library where I work. It is just unreal to think that such a large city is practically at a standstill. My heart aches for those who chose not to follow the mandatory evacuation order. We've had so many storms almost hit us that they must have assumed this one would change course or not inflict very much damage. This is a sad time for a city I have grown to love.