Mama Blog

Pictures from Biloxi

I don't know who to give credit for taking the local city photos I'm about to share. They were sent to me via email from a friend. Mostly the news hasn't shown much about Biloxi but here's a taste of what I've been shown.

(click for larger image)

What's missing from the previous photo....

Control Freak

I've been aware of my need to control things for a long time. Why is it now, at 31 years old, I'm finally figuring it out?

The only control I need is self-control. Once I have that under control the rest becomes much easier.

(copied from wordpad 19 September)

19 September 2005

Today Steven starts training again at Keesler. I still can’t wrap my mind around the base being capable of sustaining students yet. Such is the Armed Forces, can’t lose training days if at all possible.

We’ve been allowed base housing here in Montgomery. We’re in a new housing subdivision. I chose a two bedroom and it’s rather nice. We know we’ll be here until the end of October. We’re planning to reevaluate at the end of each month and see how Biloxi is shaping up. May turn out that the girls and I are here for the duration until Steven’s assignment.

Speaking of his assignment, his RNLTD (report no later than date) is July 30th but he’s asked to come June 1st. That would put us here a bit over eight months. Now that he’s able to come up here and visit us with some regularity things feel a bit more normal. Well, as normal as things can be I suppose.

In other areas, the girls start dance lessons tomorrow. The fantabulous Stacy pulled in a favor and the studio where she used to teach has offered the girls free lessons while we’re here. I can’t begin to thank Stacy enough. How awesome was that?? I thought that getting them involved in dance, Girl Scouts and the homeschool group would add a small amount of stability and normalcy to a very strange situation.

Normal is a word I am having issues with right now. Is it normal that I have no idea if I’ll be living in this house next month? Or how about the next month? Is it normal that I may have to move my children three times in the next year? From Biloxi to here, possibly back to Biloxi and then off to Washington, D.C. all in the space of about nine months.

Honestly though, I have nothing to complain about. All five of us are safe and healthy, our belongings were spared, our home was dry and only slight damage. We have clothes, food, water. We have been so incredibly blessed throughout this entire ordeal. The only things we lost were the shed in our backyard and Steven’s truck.

The truck has already been totaled by the insurance company and we’ve gotten the check. Steven’s already purchased a new car, a silver Toyota Camry. That lil thing is getting 34 mpg on the highway! That’s a handy feature when you’re traveling back and forth from Biloxi to Montgomery just about every weekend.

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ETA: Steven isn't sure right now if they'll have to evacuate for Hurricane Rita but it's possible.

Survivor - the real reality show

A big thank you to Dj for posting to the blog!!

We're safe. I've got a rental car and we're researching the issue of do we move to a hotel or an "extended stay" or just wait. When will we have an answer as to where we're going and when? I don't know. I don't know is my answer to everything right now.

I plan to, at some point, type up an entry about what it was like to go through a storm of that size from my perspective. I want to tell you what it was like to live in a shelter for a week. I want to tell you how good it felt to hold my girls again when we came back. I want to tell you how hard it was to watch my husband pull out of the driveway as he headed back to the base down there to work.

But, for now, I'm surviving. Day by day. Moment by moment. One foot in front of the other. Breathe in, breathe out. Because in spite of all that's going on life has to keep going. I have to get schoolwork done with the girls. I have to help out around here. I have to give my children a sense of stability and constancy in a world that for the time being seems off axis and out of whack.

They are safe

Christy called and said that she and Steven were fine. The girls are with friends in Alabama. The animals are safe as well. Their phone access is spotty at best. She will be leaving as soon as she possibly can to join the girls and will stay there until they can move back to base.

That's really all the information I have. They just don't know what's going on and how things are going to happen.