Need a boat or jet ski?

You would think that the hurricane rained down boats since even two weeks after the storm the island is littered with vessels that used to be in the water.

This is just one of many along 61st street on the way to our house.

This is the Flagship Hotel (which you may have already seen on tv) It's out over the water on Seawall and if you look closely you can actually see into a couple of surprisingly well preserved rooms.



This is a church at the end of our block whose brick facade crumbled, and whose pulpit is in our backyard (which is over a block away)

This is actually leaving Galveston, but shows a piece of the massive cleanup effort that is taking place. I can't imagine what this all must have looked like immediately following Ike.

Sorry, it been awhile since the last update but we'll have limited internet access and even more limited time. This is just one pile of everything that they are doing a very good job cleaning up.

We've removed all everything out of the house. We were able to pull up the carpet yesterday thanks to Stephen's help. We're planning on staying down there tonight thanks to the wonderful existance of MREs (see below)

The walls are starting to bulge from the retained water. We have contractors coming by tomorrow to hopefully begin work next week.

After pulling up the carpet and padding we got the surprise that there were tiles under that and so I made this pattern on our bedroom floor as we were peeling back the pieces.

Random Facts

• Galveston is not being overtaken and ruled by mosquitoes (at least where we're at) as some news has reported. Although we still do have fire ants (I hate fire ants and I can't believe but am also not surpised that 3 feet of water did not kill them but instead actually helped them thrive due to all the new debris and mud)
• Charity organizations are handing out meals and other essential supplies all over the island, the most impressive of which is the MRE (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) This is a "full course" meal which is cooked with a included heating element where the only other required ingrediant is water. Very impressive and more pictures to follow, it can't be described in just words.
• Lastly and most importantly, many of you have asked if you'd be able to come down and help. Our church is rushing to setup housing facilities for volunteers to come down and assist with clean-up efforts which will be ready soon. If you'd like more information regarding this opportunity to serve please email or call us or even just leave us a comment and we'll get back to you. I'll work on getting additional details and update you when they're available. Then you too could hopefully experience MREs (they rival McDonalds, and that's a huge compliment coming from me)

Thanks again to everyone whose been thinking about us and praying for us. We really appreciate all your support.