Thoughtprints

Well, so far my sister has received some good news, and not any news at all, with regard to her friends and family down in New Orleans and Mississippi. This is what we know so far:

All of her in-laws made it out of New Orleans before the hurricane hit, but sadly their homes have been destroyed. They still sit underwater today. I think the whole lot of them are going to be moving out of New Orleans for good. Her parents-in-law have already bought a new house in Lafayette, Louisiana. It's just so sad, because not that long ago their house was destroyed by fire while they were traveling out of the country, and now this. It's almost more than a person can bear. They've lost everything - again.

Just a few days after Katrina hit, she was able to locate a long-time friend called Jonesy, and was completely overjoyed. Then, about a week ago, she was combing through the web sites where people leave messages to report someone missing/tell people where they are, and saw one from someone named Pat, and believed it to be another friend of hers, so sent off an email immediately. Just a couple of days ago she received an email telling her that she had indeed found her friend! She was overwhelmed with relief! Last night she received another from her, detailing what they had been through. With her permission, I share an excerpt of that email with you:

"We made it to my sister's in Tenn. God that place was like a war zone. I'm still traumatized. i dont know about anybody else there. i sure hope they got out & are safe. We stayed in Picayune during & after it. we were in the eye. i was never so scared in my life. We lived in the woods & i thought i was going to have a heat stroke. Finally the military got there so we had ice, food & water. I'm so glad to be away from there. I just dont know what we're going to do. Red Cross has been helping some. My main thing is i can't get the meds i need. We lost it all due to the high water. we had at least 30 ft. water or more. waiting on FEMA to go see it, but they have condemned our whole town. just living minute to minute, i wake up to a nightmare every time i go to sleep."

That's just one person's horrific experience with Katrina. I can't even imagine. Anyway, my Sis and her friends are still looking for several others whom they are extremely concerned about, as no one has heard from them since the storm. They are James (Duck) and Jacquie, Jack, and Michael (Xavier, aka Xaves) and Brenda. Please keep them in your prayers.

Thank you!