{florida print by paper please studio}

The name irma means War Goddess, and unfortunately she lived up to her name.  Packing up and leaving our house was surprisingly not so bad- there’s nothing in this world that cannot be replaced other than our people.   We hit the road on Wednesday after school finished, and headed to Louisiana.  I needed to get out of Florida just to have the peace of mind my family was safe.  School ended up being canceled that thursday and friday, so why not make it fun for the kids.  I tried to smile through all of the tears and fears for their sakes.  It was heartbreaking to see what Irma had done to the Caribbean.   Every morning we woke up I would check to see where Irma was projected.  She seemed to go left and right and then finally it was announced that she was headed right for us.  That morning I looked at the news and saw her pathway headed for Longboat Key.  She shifted again, and landed on marco island (where we had our first baby moon).  It’s impossible to celebrate, of course.  I have a lot of guilt.  We have flood insurance due to being on a river and in fema flood zone A.  So I felt on some level, if anybody had to rebuild, we should.  It makes me sad to read people say our area dodged the bullet due to prayer, etc.  … I am sure there were many prayer warriors in Naples. and all over the caribbean.  Not to discredit prayer AT ALL, I just feel it is insensitive.  I also think God gives its toughest battles to those he thinks a lot of.  I saw a few people praying it would go left or right, and I was like???  let’s just pray it fizzles out.

Anyway, it’s ALL so heartbreaking.  That’s the best word I can use to describe all of this.   We arrived home late Friday night (jb came home on monday).  We finally got the word that we had power on Thursday and so we headed out.  Our damage is minimal.  Our 100 foot magnolia tree was uprooted and is now being held up by our oak tree.  It could have easily fallen on our house or our neighbors.  ADT called us just as the storm was hitting our house with reports of broken glass.  But miraculously there was nothing broken in the whole house when our neighbors checked.

People think the world is getting darker, but when I see what people are doing for each other it restores my hope for my boys generation.  I cried watching the convoys coming in to help us all recover as we were driving back.  with plates from all over our country.  I see so many neighbors helping neighbors, and counties helping other affected counties.  And then there’s all that good that isn’t even shown on social media.  It has made me swell with pride for our country – americans are in our hearts responders with tons of compassion that turns into action.  We so desperately want to help, and then we DO.

a few links:

1.  My friend Sarah Hunt listed out a great list of how we can help here.  I started listing out one but hers is just so good!
2.  Emily Ley has this pretty orange print you can get via download for $20 – all of it will go to Convoy of Hope.
3. A truck driver gave out free plywood, and home depot fired him.  here is the whole story and a go fund me page for him.
4. Officer checks on clearwater grandma.  this is pretty darn adorable.
5. If you are local this is a great cause to donate items to help Immokalee!

Thank you so much to all who reached out.  I was blown away by so many and their offers to our family.  Like I said above, there are so many good people in this world.