Hurricane / Tropical Storm Isaac | Pray for Haiti, Dominican Republic and New Orleans

(Our toddler baby in his life jacket. He can finally fit it now).

We had quite a scare this weekend. They said to prepare for a hurricane! It ended up being Tropical Storm Issac ...

At first, Bay News 9 said that we were to expect a hurricane over the next few days. They said that "Hurricane Issac" would go through Florida and might end up as strong as Hurricane Katrina; they just weren't sure how bad it would be.

My heart dropped to my feet in fear while my husband went into MEGA survival mode. He filled like 30 gallons of water from our water filter; he had my 13 year old son get into geer and they ran to the store to buy candles, diapers, batteries, canned food and junk foods that did not need cooked. He was worried that our water might become contaminated again (happened earlier this summer) and that we might end up without electricity (as always happened when we have bad storms).

I worked hard to hide my fears. We watched the Lorax while my husband stayed on the radar website.

Our greatest fears came from memories of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Those thoughts alone had my husband glued to Klystron 9 reports while chatting live with them online. I tried to make sure everything was organized enough to handle a toddler that does not swim and a teen that is not as strong of a swimmer as I would like him to be. I was REALLY worried that a hurricane would be the first and last time our baby would wear his life jacket. I felt sad that this might be his first experience. I started to think that if the hurricane was not too bad, we could all camp out in the bathroom until "things" settled down. Yet, what would we all do in there with an energetic toddler? Read by candle light while the baby bathed for hours? How would be keep a toddler entertained during a hurricane? The kids and I ended up watching Dr Seuss's The Lorax to take our minds off of things. Cute movie!

Hurricane Issac became Tropical Storm Issac ...

Fortunately, the radar predictions shifted from Hurricane Issac to Tropical Storm Issac, and they were still not sure what we should expect. I felt a little relief as we had a tropical storm this summer and we managed just fine. Regardless, some of our local counties shut down schools for Monday and some post offices were closed (depending on which county). All of this going on while the Republican National Convention was taking place in Tampa, FL. I prayed to God, though was still scared. There is always the ULTIMATE wonder about "THAT" time being here. I went to bed resolved that "thy will be done" ... it felt Titanic like until I fell asleep.

I was relieved to wake up and find just a few cracked tomato branches in the yard. It was breezy and cooler outside, though nothing even close to what the last tropical storm was like for us. I watched the Klystron 9 weather radar soon after waking and saw that Tropical Storm Issac would go up the gulf coast to the west of Florida, though my heart felt burdened by the fact that the storm will end in New Orleans. I am equally sad for the people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. There were more deaths as a result of this Tropical Storm Issac.

I am asking all of my friends to pray for the families in Haiti and Dominican Republic, and that God will protect those in New Orleans. Pray that Tropical Storm Issac will not be a category 2 hurricane once it hits New Orleans.



In Motherly Love,
Mother Baby Child