Thoughts on Hurricane Laura

 This is my third summer in Louisiana.  There are many things to love about Louisiana.  Hurricane season is not one of them.  We have been threatened by approaching hurricanes before.  They either changed course or fizzled out.  Even if we received the winds and rain, it wasn't bad.  This time was different.  I knew it deep within my bones that Laura was going to be different.  The first predictions were we would get it hard.  Even when the hurricane veered to the west and we weren't in the direct path, it was going to be bad.  The east side of hurricane is a lot worse than the west side.  

Wednesday as I worked, I kept the weather channel where I could check on it frequently.  We were under tornado watches and warnings all day.  I started to get a little scared.  

After I finished work, I checked my facebook.  There were several messages from friends that said they were praying for us.  That eased my anxiety.  I posted saying please pray for Louisiana and Texas.  A lot more of my family and friends sent messages.  That really helped ease my mind.  Until bed time.  Then I began to get scared again.  Could I really sleep through damaging winds and pounding rain that was expected.  Probably not.  But, I did.  I slept like a baby.  We lost power around 1:30, but I didn't know it.  I didn't know it until around 3:00 when I woke up.  I was hot.  The wind was howling and the rain was coming.  I was quite sure that Laura had made landfall some where in Louisiana and Texas.  

At 6:30 my alarm went off and still no power.  I slept another hour.  I then texted my boss to say I wouldn't be working.  

Power was restored around 10:00 a.m.  But no wi-fi.  That was restored around 11:30.  I logged in and worked from noon until 7:00.  

I began to see the pictures out of Lake Charles.  It was so sad.  Unsurvivable storm surge had been predicted, I was upset at a national news report that almost sneered and said that was certainly survivable.  She could have said "thankfully, the storm surge was not as bad as predicted.  This was my state she was talking about people had lost everything, even if the storm surge was not unsurvivable.  I know people over there.  I have friends that have family there.  

The Baton Rouge news said if it had been just 40 miles more to the east, we would have seen a lot more damage.  The rain and wind continued most of the day Thursday.  School was cancelled again on Friday because so many people in Baton Rouge were still without power.  

The Cajun Navy was on its way to help early Thursday morning.  

Locally, some of the sugar cane fields have been flattened.  Just a few weeks before harvest.  I can't imagine what crops look like on the west side of the state.  

Today, in Baton Rouge there are signs with numbers that evacuees can call for shelter.  Almost every restaurant had a parking lot full of utility trucks that are heading west. 

It could have been much worse in Baton Rouge.  I am thankful it wasn't.  But I wish it didn't have to be any where.  This whole thing has been very sobering.  

Please pray for all of the people that felt hurricane Laura directly.  They have to go face what is left and then attempt to clean up and rebuild.  Please pray for all the volunteers and utility workers as try to restore some normalcy.

Adoption Day

On January 17, 2012 we were still in Honduras.  That day three little boys arrived and called Casa de Esperanza home.  The two little ones were twins.  They were 2 months old.  One weighed six pounds and the other weighed 4.5 pounds.  I had never seen babies that small.  They had been left to die at birth.  They were rescued and taken to the public hospital.  Both of these little guys had a lot of health problems.

When we got to DINAF and I saw how tiny they were and how sick they were, I wondered what on earth we were doing.  I realized they were not out of the woods.  I vowed to myself that they would not die.  At least on my watch.  The medical costs were enormous.  Our Casa supporters just kept coming through.  They began to grow and thrive.

Sometime later, Stephanie Rhoton came to Honduras on her first mission trip.  She fell in love with all of the children of Casa de Esperanza.   She began to help us financially and other ways.  And, was later added to the board.  Sometime over four years ago, Stephanie listened to God's voice that she was to adopt those twins.  She shared this with us and we said go for it.  For an American to adopt a Honduran child almost never happens.  And, when it does, it is a long hard journey.  Add to that, Stephanie is single.  But, Stephanie prayed and we prayed.  Soon others began to pray as well.  It was never an easy or cheap journey.  Stephanie remained steadfast in her belief that those boys were hers.
Thousands of prayers have been prayed.  As setbacks came, thousands of tears have been shed.  There has been uncertainty.  Fear.  Frustration.  Anger at a system that moved so slowly.  Emotions that we don't even know.

Today, in Honduras, this long hard journey ended as Stephanie and both boys signed papers officially naming Stephanie as mommy to Olman and Josue.    Today, thousands of prayers have been answered.  A few hundred more tears were shed.  This time they were tears of happiness and relief.

Congratulations Steph.  Congratulations to Olman and Josue also.