grateful doesn't suffice

I'm missing our Church and my newspaper today, both thanks to Ike. Yet grateful seems too meager a word to describe how I feel. God restrained the hurricane without a doubt, though Ike did do serious damage. Thankfully, as far as we know, our friends are OK. Several are without power and one family lost a beautiful oak tree, but all in all, they are safe with their homes standing. Johnny and I received more blessing than we deserve. Our electricity flickered, but it stayed on. Our backyard cypress took a severe beating, but it will grow back to a better climbing tree for future little Simmonses, Johnny thinks. We lost a row of roof shingles, but not our whole roof. Our windows stayed intact.

Such mercy is very humbling as I look at these photographs. We're about to say Morning Prayer and our petitions will surely include those in Galveston and other devastated areas in Houston. Our home is open to friends who need air conditioning, a hot shower, cup of coffee, or whatever groceries we have on hand. The only problem is, all of our cell phones are on the fritz quite often; even text messaging has proved difficult.

Even so, grace and peace hover over the soft, living room light. I'm sorry that my brother's apartment is not firing electricity (nor is his employment), but it is dry, and he's spent two nights here. The three of us watched Curb Your Enthusiasm and There Will Be Blood (incredible). It's so fun to have my little brother around, making himself at home. This morning Johnny kindly whipped up a Texan breakfast: a scrambled egg-turkey sausage-red bell pepper-onion concoction. A side of tortilla chips for himself and Jody; taro chips for me. I washed it down with cinnamon creme brulee coffee (it never tasted/smelled so good).

We're hoping a movie theater is open, to get out of the house and see Burn After Reading. If not, we will rest, keep praying, keep trying to reach our friends, and continue to thank God for His mercy. I hope to never experience the likes of the Galveston hurricane of 1900 wherein 6,000 people died. Ike was only a category 2-3. Goodness.