Late Saturday Night from Tulsa, Oklahoma...

Ted and I decided to "get out of Dodge for a while," as the saying goes. Between Mother's sudden illness and ultimate death, two funeral services, the trip to Georgia under a hurricane evacuation and the return trip to Texas under yet another hurricane evacuation, and the total loss of my home and possessions, as well as working with so many neighbors and friends on the Peninsula who have lost everything, too, we are simply worn out. I've been writing, but I have several more stories that need to be told. I have interviewed five people now who stayed on the Peninsula during the worst storm to hit our area since "The Great Storm of 1900."

And then comes the "fun" task of dealing with insurance and the federal government. I thought I was one tough grandma, but I have decided in the last month I am not very tough at all. Because our house is totally gone and we cannot find any piece of it anywhere other than the five broken pilings on which it sat and the crushed slab of concrete, we have nothing to show the adjustor. Our insurance agent (a very good one) on Galveston Island was also under mandatory evacuation and their offices are badly damaged even when they can safely come back. We cannot get through to any numbers we have for them.

We were told to go ahead and call Texas Windstorm, which is a "biggie" out here, and Lord knows, we've paid those premiums faithfully. Trying to do everything by the book, we did call and went through the whole story one more complete time. He said we would be assigned to an adjustor who would call in two to three days. He did call and we again related the story. He was to go to the slab tomorrow for his "investigation" (what is to investigate I ask), and again, I said, "What part of the story did you not get? There is no house. There are no possessions. If you can find it or them, we'd love for you to do so. We can't and we've tried." Ted and I spent the better part of last Sunday looking for just one thing of ours. After going over the details three different times, he again asked me how high the water mark was on my house and how much of my furniture could I reclaim and use. I held my breath until I was calm enough to speak again. I asked him if he had email and could I please send him the photographs that I personally took so he could see the damages for himself. He gave me the address and I sent them on to him marking our property and house site. I also had to do the paperwork again.

On the way here tonight, the adjustor called and said he had been taken off the Texas cases and we would be assigned a new adjustor. I asked if we had to do the info over again and he said yes. I was glad I was out of town.

Now, here's the real deal. If this adjustor rules that the water (surge, flood, rising) came in first, they, nor homeowners insurance, does not have to pay one dime. If this same man rules that wind came in first, we get paid in full for the house and for the possessions inside the house. The only thing is that now I have to list every possession that we wish to claim for their consideration and the approximate replacement cost. I can't even think about it any longer.

I asked how long we would have to wait for the ruling and he said about three weeks. Now, we cannot do anything on the Peninsula because it is still under guard, so Ted said, "Let's get out of here for a few days." We booked a nice condo in Branson, MO just to rest a bit in the edge of the foothills of the Ozarks. Ted has been several times and loves it there, so send good thoughts our way and we'll get geared up for whatever is next.

And, pray, too, please that we get a "fair" adjustor who will rule wind because that is what Ted and others who know more than I do believe it was. We can see somewhat of a northwestern path, but we have never found one thing that came from the inside of our house. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

The most difficult thing I've been doing is working with the lost and missing families. They have now found two bodies that we know about. One was a beautiful woman who worked for Exxon Mobile Labs. She drowned trying to flee her home and her body was just recovered Wednesday night several miles across the bay caught up in storm debris. Every time a new body is found, all of the other waiting families get their hopes up and wait and worry. There's a lengthy list on several sites of folks who have not been heard from since the storm hit the Peninsula. Laura Recovery Center out of Houston is doing a good job of helping. Glennis Dunn's pic is posted on the blog. Her son, Bill, and his five siblings, have not spoken to her or found any word about her whereabouts since Friday morning before Ike landed on Saturday morning and they fear her dead. She had a 15-year-old Great Dane and Bill believes she would not leave her dog alone to face the storm.

The Galveston County judge has said that many of the missing will possibly never be found because they likely washed out to sea or met with wildlife or fish after drowning. My heart breaks for these families who need closure of some kind.

These are good people who have worked hard all their lives and bought the beach property in many cases with an eye toward retiring and living out their lives in a beautiful environment. Please continue to pray not just for us, but for all of the Bolivar residents who are saddened and have so many decisions to make just now.

I do appreciate each of your kind emails, notes, cards and telephone calls. It has been the source of my strength. God is good and this will all be resolved soon.

Photo I took of Ted at the site of our home the first time we saw the damage of Hurricane Ike on the ground. My children said that when they saw this pic, they knew it was bad because Ted rarely ever gets discouraged about anything. He's been a rock for me and for my family during this time.