Remembering Ike

This is the backyard of our former home in Houston one year ago today when Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and Houston...and we had it good comparatively. The first two photos show the destruction by a fallen tree of a playhouse that came with the house when I bought it...I always intended to turn the playhouse into a cute potting shed, but, oh well, so much for that idea. You know what though, the Lord was not only meciful to us and my whole family through this ordeal, but a year later He even gave me something better than a playhouse-turned-potting-shed - He gave me a storage-building-turned-studio, and let me tell you, it's a real dream come true! I can assure you, in the midst of chaos, wreckage, loss, and brokenness, there is something better, sweeter, and more beautiful around the corner when you put your trust in Jesus. You cannot see it just yet, but you can have faith that it is there and that He has you in His loving arms, carrying you over the wreckage and into your promised land. He's all about beauty from brokenness...

Here's a link to a series of posts about my remembrance of the approach of Ike, our evacuation, and the aftermath of the storm. It was quite an adventure. Please keep the region in your prayers - there are still many folks who are impacted by the losses they sustained even a year later....thank you.

By the way, after we returned from evacuating, my Hubby faced the arduous task of tearing down the playhouse - it was a lot more work than I ever dreamed it would be...

...but we were able to salvage a lot of the wood and we have it here at our new place. I plan to make some handpainted signs and other projects for the boutique from the salvaged wood. I'll keep you posted on my progress...  Hopefully it will be more beauty from brokenness...

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One quick note about progress on furnishing and setting up the studio - it is going GREAT but it still has a ways to go before I can share photos. I have spent ALL of my time this past week and today working on it and I'll be at it again all this week I'm sure...but I am loving it! However, since I don't seem to be able to blog and chew gum at the same time, I'm afraid my posting will be sparce again this week...sorry about that. I always miss you guys so much when I'm away from Blogland for any significant length of time. I'll be back just as soon as I can with an update and photos galore, I promise!  Meanwhile, take care and God bless you friends!