Our First Hurrication!

We have officially survived our first hurricane! It's crazy to think that it took 28 years for Derek & me to experience our first storm, and Shelby's already weathered a hurricane before the ripe old age of 2! We are so thankful that the storm wasn't nearly as bad for us as originally forecasted, and we're even more thankful that Derek got to be home with us while the base was shut down. Had the hurricane come in July or September, Derek would have been at the hospital for the duration of the storm. We ended up never losing power or experiencing any flooding in our neighborhood (with the exception of water seeping in through our back door and soaking our carpet!), so it truly was a "hurrication." We even had a couple "hurricane parties" with our friends Ben & Angela and their little boy, Adam.

Although there was no mandatory evacuation issued for us, there were mandatory evacuations for a number of low-lying areas around the MS Gulf Coast. There was also a lot of flooding along the beach-front roads & buildings. Here is a picture of Hwy 90 (which you take to get to base) near the casinos...so hard to believe!

On Tuesday evening, Derek & our friend Ben went out to the Back Bay to explore.

We finally had to go in and wake Shelby up at 10:15 on Wednesday morning.
Apparently, she enjoyed sleeping to the sounds of wind & rain. ;)

We spent a lot of time like this on our hurrication. :)

And here are a few pictures from the Back Bay that my photographer friend Whitney (who also lives in our neighborhood) captured during the storm.

We are so thankful that our home & the base fared so well in the storm. We are certainly thinking & praying for those who were not as fortunate as we were.