I talked to Matt last night, who had just talked to his dad, and it looks like the Lord had His Hand over our house last weekend! They didn't see any noticeable damage upstairs - not even water damage. And downstairs, where we thought we'd have quite a bit of water from the chimney damage, there was only a small amount of standing water. Can you believe it?! We do have one wall in our living room, the wall connected to the fireplace, that was partially "blown out" (meaning we have plaster and dust covering the living room), but Mom and I can hopefully clean up the mess when we get down there, and I'm hoping it won't take long to find a contractor to repair and repaint that one wall. (I'm choosing that "glass half full" philosophy!) :) Now the chimney could be a whole different story, but at least it's protected from further damage! We also have water and power back to our entire neighborhood, so as long as I can find gas and groceries, we should be all set. Umm, okay, so maybe not ALL set, but at least set enough. Once again, gotta focus on those positives. :)
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Houston has a lot of rebuilding to do, and it's going to take quite a bit of time, and it's not going to be easy; but it is going to happen, and through it all we're going to daily be reminded of God's simple, everyday blessings!
**UPDATE:** (9/19/08) Just got off the phone with Matt's parents; the wall that was blown out was actually a 5' x 3' portion of the ceiling, and apparently we had about 2 feet of insulation and sheetrock that fell through! My wonderful, wonderful in-laws, however, completely cleaned everything up for us so that all we have to do when we get home is meet with the inspector and contact a good contractor! How blessed are we?!
