Gustav Aftermath - Saturday update

More of the city has some power restored, I'd say we are getting closer to half, and about half of gas stations are operational thanks to the swift and strong hand of our governor taking the situation by the reigns to assure the people of this state they have adequate access to essential needs. His actions and public statements to the power companies that four to six weeks to restore power was not acceptable I think has helped calm the fears and anxieties of the people in this state. It's at times like this you see the best and worst in people, we have seen both ends of the spectrum, but mostly we are seeing be extra kind to one another. I am hoping the city of Baton Rouge will rise to the occasion and refuses to host a setting to the likes we saw post-Katrina, we are determined to make things better than that.

Our house is surrounded by restored neighborhoods to power, but our one little patch remains in the dark. Our house would lose power about 3 times a week for no real reason, so we are hoping that whatever small issue was creating the frequent power loss has been broken in a manner that will allow it to be fixed at full capacity without the inconvenience of resetting the clocks all the time.

I was trying to come up with language to accurately describe what we have seen, as the pictures just don't do it justice. It's like we got a huge hailstorm of very large tree branches - they were EVERYWHERE. Most of my pictures are post-storm and after some clean-up has already taken place. But you couldn't look anywhere without seeing huge tree branches everywhere, like some kind of tree-branch forest for miles. Neighborhoods that looked perfectly normal at one time, look like overgrown dead-end country roads, resembling nothing like they did pre-storm. You can see just how some of these HUGE trees have roots as tall as a house, and they still toppled in the storm! It's surreal in some ways, like you woke up in another country with new landscape, new politics, no power, no food, crumbling homes, and an uncertain future for improvement.

Braden is scheduled for surgery Monday mid-morning, so we can really use your overtime prayers during that time. He will not likely be taken to "recovery", since he won't be waking up for four days. They will be giving him muscle blockers to keep him perfectly still while the trach heals in, so he will be "out" for about five days or so.

God continues to bless our family with the fortune of the love of friends. The Heckerts brought Braden a new monkey and a new frog friend to keep him company in his crib. Tonight as he was awake until almost 11pm, he was getting friendly with his new monkey, while enjoying his old one too. We are most grateful and overwhelmed by the love the Breaux family has showered upon us. The trach surgery brings more responsibilities and is more involved than Braden even is now. It wouldn't be fair to assume that Latacia and Kidz Korner would be willing to accommodate to Braden's new level of needs. But God wrapped His arms around us tonight as when they were given the news about the trach and we asked them if they would still be willing to care for him, the response was, "Don't you dare take our Braden from us, he's our family too". The worry we had about the burden this could be, was immediately lifted in love by our extended family of friends here. Without a doubt, we are blessed beyond our own comprehension.

We thank you for your notes of support, posts on the blog, phone calls, cards, and all that you do to let us know we are not alone in our journey of uncertainty. We hope by sharing our story with others, that just maybe others can be blessed too. Thanks for sharing the journey with us,
The Wilson's