[mammasdawlins]

Hello, everyone ----I soooooo missed you guys!!!!!!! and I have been so very overwhelmed and exhausted this past month and a half. I haven't had much access to a computer and/or electricity. I am so glad I was able to find you guys here and I have GOT TO VENT!!!!!! I am glad to see new faces and I am looking forward to some sort of normalcy around here. I will begin by saying thank "God" we are still here and breathing. I will try to post some pics of our neighborhood after Katrina and Rita on here later. I'll start by saying we evacuated on Sun. morn. Aug 27 and headed for Florida, but sat in 2hrs of nonmoving traffic and made a detour north. We finally made it to Birmingham, Alabama (took 10 1/2 hours to get there from home and normally only takes about 4hours tops). We stayed in a hotel for two nights till the storm passed (it was heading for us in Alabama) (needless to say we were scared and so scared to see home). We had the brilliant idea to head back home on Tues. Aug 30 (my son's 4th bday) - we started out driving south through Mississippi not realizing how devestating the destruction actually was. We were dodging trees in the road on the highway and went as far as we could go Hattiesburg, Mississippi (trees were blocking the entire road and we had to go backwards on the highway since no one could get around the trees and power lines). We started heading north AGAIN and ended up in Jackson, Mississippi where we found one gas station open and waited in line for 2 3/4 hours with hungry children - after we got gas I decided to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the smashed bread my son decided to take a nap on earlier. We had gone to Krispy Kreme donuts the night before we left Alabama and I had a candle (I was prepared, lol) - we celebrated my son's 4th bday in the car with a candle and a Krispy Kreme donut. We had no idea what to do at this time. We didn't have much money for a hotel, but decided to keep driving north till we could find electricity and vancancy. (We had been driving now for about 9hours). We heard on the radio we were not able to return home for possibly 3 months. At this point I totally broke down, but trying to pull myself together so my kids wouldn't freak out. We saw so much damage in Mississippi that we did not know what to expect in New Orleans when we were able to approach home. So we just kept driving with no luck on any vacancies. Meanwhile we had no cell phone connections whatsoever. Apparently the towers blew down with our area code. We couldn't get in touch with anyone to see how our family was this whole time. Finally my dad got through to me on my cell (he lives in Oklahoma) - so we headed there. After a devestating day we had driven a very long agonizing 22hours that day. We arrived at my Aunt's house in Oklahoma at 2:15 in the morning. We were lucky enough to all bunk up in one room at my Aunt's house for almost 3 weeks. Not to mention the morning we arrived my dad was rushed to the hospital for chest pains. So with only 3 hours of sleep we waited at the hospital for any type of news. His blood pressure wouldn't come down and they said he was about to have a heart attack. So after a couple of days in the hospital they let him go with some major heart medication and cholesterol meds. I was so happy he was alive to hug. Meanwhile, there were 12 people in this house for this long so you can imagine our frustration on top of everything else. The kids were starting to go nuts too. WE would sit every night for hours watching cnn and just praying that all of our family and our homes would be ok. We live only 20minutes outside of New Orleans so when the levees started to break we really started freaking out. We thought we had lost everything including family members from what we saw on tv. It was heartwrenching and gutwrenching to watch. My husband wasn't able to work so needless to say we are extremely behind on bills and we had only brought 2 changes of clothes for each of us. Luckily we brought our kitten or she would have starved or had heat exhaustion. Finally we decided to try and head back home when the ok was given for our parish to get in. There are no words to describe the things we saw on the way home. It was so scary - as we turned down our corner to get to our home - we saw rows and rows of trees down in the street, carpet and furniture on the street neverending, power lines roofs hanging, we were actually releived when we saw this because at that moment we said at least we may have something left. We pulled in our driveway and our home looked like it faired out ok. We lost roof shingles, guttering, all the fences are gone, our shed flooded so all the lawn equipment is gone, huge branches are everywhere, and two trees are leaning toward our home, but didn't fall. We had water blown in the windows with some mud in the bathroom and back bedroom, and our air condition unit wouldn't work when we finally did get electricity on. We walked in and I just cried because I was so thankful our home wasn't looted or flooded. The house had a smell like you wouldn't even imagine from not having electricity in over 3weeks. The refrigerator/freezer made me literally gag over and over. We had to throw it out adn all the food in it. (we had just bought over $475 worth of food before we left for my sons bday party) - We are still waiting on hearing from the insurance companies for compensation on the lost items. In the meantime we are about 3months late on bills (mortgage, car note, etc.) My husband went back to work, but isn't making his normal hours which means he is not making his normal pay right now. So I don't know what we are going to do, meanwhile my sister decided to permanently move to Oklahoma with my dad and 2 brothers, grandparents, and aunts. So I'm really upset right now not knowing how to pay bills and get by without my sister. I am pretty depressed right now, but trying to stay on track with my weight. I ate everything in sight the past month, but only gained 2lbs. We have been working on cleaning up around here and helping others in our family. We have 4 entire families (in my family alone) that have no homes or belongings left. I am trying to get as much help for them and us in the meantime. I am having a garage sale with some of my sister's things that she doesn't need or want any longer since she isn't coming back to raise money for some bills and for my other family's needs. If you know of anyone willing to help us out, please let me know. I can take donations through my paypal account using my email address. I am not one to ever ask for money or help in any kind of way, but when push comes to shove and you have no where else to turn - you ask your friends and anyone they know. Thanks for being there for me you guys and please pass this along. My email is ************com ----- I really love you guys and appreciate all the support you guys have given me. Thanks and can't wait to catch up.
hugs----Charlene

[ September 30, 2005, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Jipi ]