Back Home in Port Arthur!!!

You never know how much you really miss something until it is taken away from you for a while. This is the way that we felt upon returning to our little glorified dorm room, otherwise known as the Econo Lodge. Yesterday (Saturday, September 20) the city of Port Arthur lifted the mandatory evacuation at 6am. So I was able to talk Anissa into ridding with me back to take a peek at the damages. She was hesitant since she had just got back from California at 7:30pm the night before and I wanted to leave by 6:30am in case there was traffic.

While driving (and as Anissa slept) I saw a lot of damage between Houston and Port Arthur. It really brought back memories of what the gulf coast looked like after hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. Since the ocean water came on land, many fields that had cattle & crops were flooded, therefore, I had to take an alternate route into town because HWY 73 (that we normally take) had roaming cows on it looking to stay dry (lol). When we arrived in Port Arthur, we found that the Econ Lodge and our “glorified dorm room” were fine. The building only lost a few pieces of siding and roof shingles and the fence around the pool blew down. They even went into everyone’s room to clean out their refrigerator so that people would not come back to a stinky room or a moldy fridge. We also received electricity early that morning. After checking out Port Arthur, we drove to Beaumont, where Anissa works. They had electricity, but the building had a few windows blow out. As for the rest of Beaumont’s downtown, glass covered many of the streets due to the windows being blown out of other buildings. Finally, we left back to Cypress, where we were staying for the week, so that we could rest, get our luggage and come in this morning.

Once again, we left at 6:30am, so that we could try to beat the incoming traffic back into the city. Also once again, Anissa slept as I drove in to the city. If you have not already figured out, Anissa loves to sleep. Sleep is her favorite pass-time (lol). We got back in town just in time to change and make it to a local church service near the edge of town. The service was just what I (we) needed. I was so excited to go to a church service and worship with other followers of Christ, that I wanted to skip showering, but I thought that might curse the saints rather than bless them!!!! After the church service, they fed everyone breakfast and we went grocery shopping and are home safely getting things back in order. There is also a mandatory curfew where no one can be out & about from 8pm-5am, except restoration workers.

On a side note, things have been so crazy since we left Grand Rapids that I know God is about to do something. I got a vision for a community outreach that I will tell you about in a later blog, but it is going to be HOTT!!! Anissa and I have been through so much transition, that I am not even sure that I would recognize what normal was, if it looked me in the eyes (I was told that this is what ministry is). Therefore, please pray with us for the following:

1) The catching up of “church starting” work
2) Hope & Encouragement for the devastated communities & residents
3) A second vehicle for Anissa & I
4) Our house in Grand Rapids to sell
5) The finding of a nice house in Texas
6) That the love of Christ will bless all who continue to pray for the work that He has sent us here to do.

Love the Eddies, servants of Christ!

PS These pictures are at our hotel and around Port Arthur - damage was minimal

Never a Dull Moment...

Our city remains under an emergency evacuation and we still cannot return. We are able to continue staying at this retreat center, but the new dilemma is that I am supposed to fly out of Houston tomorrow (9/17) to a conference in Anaheim, California for my job. We are 10-12 hours away from Houston at this point, but the airline (never fly US Airways!!!!!) has been entirely less than helpful and will not adjust my flight to a closer airport without astronomical fees. So, we are scrambling to figure out where we could stay overnight in Houston. There are very few hotels with vacancies and the ones we are finding don’t have water or you can’t call b/ c the phones are down. Frustrating! We will find some way to get me to the airport and then Jermale might have to go 5 hours away to Dallas or something. I will be back on Friday (9/19) and we will go from there.

The storm blew through Arkansas on Sat. night with 55mph winds and it was still really scary even though it was only a tropical storm at that point. Port Arthur is still without power and sewer services, but thankfully the actual damage is minimal. Praise God! I had a break down the other day, but am doing better now. Jermale has been really great through all this and helps keep me calm. Stay tuned...

Hurricane Ike Update

It is hard to get completely current information since we are in Arkansas, but we are able to access our local, Port Arthur/Beaumont news stations online. This is the link to one of the sites if you want to see video from our area. http://www.kfdm.com/ It seems like both Beaumont and Port Arthur have had some serious damage. Most people are without power (and are predicted to be without it for several weeks) Lots of phone lines are down. The sewer and water services are limited, if available at all. There was some flooding, but the levees in Port Arthur held, which is very good news. Again, news media is just starting to get out and access damage, but some of the surrounding areas in neighboring Orange County and Sabine Pass are very hard to get to at this point and there are reports of waist deep water in some homes there.

We have no idea when we will be able to return to Port Arthur this time. The weather should clear up in the area within the next few days, but they might not lift the mandatory evacuation until electricity and sewer systems are back up and running and all the major roadways are cleared of trees and debris. We haven't called to check on our hotel yet, but we brought all our important things with us, so there isn't much to worry about. We are thankful we didn't have a house yet at this point. This whole thing may just be why God hasn't allowed our home in Michigan to sell yet! As far as my job, we get "hurricane pay" sort of like Michigan snow days. So, I will still get paid for all the days we are evacuated. This is just another example of God's faithfulness, as all this evacuating was definitely not in the budget!

So, we will plan to stay at the retreat center in Fayettville, Arkansas for now. We ended up here because we were originally headed to Dallas, but we couldn't get a hold of Jermale's Aunt who lives there. Pastor Noble was at this retreat center for a conference and he had chosen to stay after the conference was over b/c the storm was coming. He told us he could get us a complementary room if we came there. So, we adjusted our route and headed to Arkansas. It was a 12 hour drive, but we were stocked up this time with a cooler of food and a 5 gallon gas can. It actually ended up working out better that we came here b/c even Dallas was feeling some effects from the storm. Plus, Jermale's Aunt said that so many people evacuated to Dallas that food and gas were starting to get difficult to find. We even saw on the news that gas was at $4.85 a gallon and prices were still rising.

This is crazy! But, God is in control and we are at peace. We will do whatever we can to help the community when we are able to go back. For now, we prayerfully wait...

~The Eddies

Evacuating again...

Hi all,

We have evacuated to Fayetteville, Arkansas due to hurricane Ike. So, we are safe, and will keep you posted.

~The Eddies

In the clear!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the prayers! We are clear to return to Port Arthur. The hurricane only caused some heavy rain and strong wind in our area, but as far as we know there was no significant damage. We are very thankful for that, but Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas, and Louisiana were all hit pretty hard, so continue to pray for the residents in those places. Jermale and I are actually still in Houston b/c we are flying to New Jersey tomorrow for a friend's wedding. So, we won't go home until Sat. evening, and by then everything should be back to normal in our city. There are 3 more storms in the forecast, but we know God is able! I think hurricane season ends by October. Then we can relax and enjoy the Texas winter!

Love you all! These pix are from our San Antonio pre-anniversary trip.

~The Eddies