Hurricane Gustav

**Update - 30 August**
Greg (maybe I'll start calling him Moses!) is leading his people out of Beaumont ahead of Gustav. He has a caravan of 41 children from Buckner Children's Home, as well as 30+ people who work with those children along with the workers' families. It is a grand total of 132 people heading to Camp Buckner in Marble Falls to wait out the storm. My sister and the kids (and pets of course) are safely at my parents' house. They moved everything they could, especially their most precious things, upstairs in case of flood. Marci emptied the freezer into ice chests and took their food along in case they lose power for awhile. I haven't heard whether my aunts, uncles and cousins are leaving or whether they'll stay with my parents, but Greg said they are beginning mandatory evacuations, so it is possible that they may have no choice before long. The highways are already backed up. I pray that there will be no lives lost during this storm and that people will make the wise decision to get out rather than staying to protect earthly possessions. I also pray that those emergency and hospital personnel who cannot leave will be under His protection.

Let's pray for those who are being affected by Gustav. So many have lost lives and property already in Haiti, as there will likely be in Jamaica. There are now many people here in the U.S. preparing to close up their homes and head north to escape this storm that is forecast to reach as high as Category 5 over the weekend and make landfall somewhere on the Gulf Coast on Tuesday. I have many family members among them, including my sister and her family, aunts, uncles and cousins. My parents are preparing for a house full of family, as they did when Rita hit three years ago. That was a family reunion of sorts, with 15 or so houseguests staying with my parents and my grandparents who live next door! My brother-in-law will be evacuating with the children and faculty at Buckner Children's Home to another location. The senior citizens at Buckner Calder Woods will have to be evacuated as well, and this is difficult for them, as many are in ill health. My cousin who works at a children's hospital needs to care for her own family as well as her patients and is trying to decide the best way to do both.

Here is a note from my brother-in-law which explains well how we can pray specifically for the children in his care, whose lives have already been so disrupted and filled with loss:

I'm fascinated by the preparation for hurricanes. I grew up with tornadoes, so I'm used to frantic dives into the hallway or bathtub. I'm new to the days of uncertainty and stress, waiting for the chance to leave your home to the mercy of a storm that may or may not steamroll your neighborhood.Gustav's path is uncertain, but I'm pretty sure that we'll be evacuated this weekend, from what I'm hearing. I have heard that the state of Texas will begin an airlift evacuation of medically fragile individuals on Saturday morning, and the new 211 system (for people to call who need rides away from the coast) is overrun with calls. No one has said clearly, but I'm almost certain that Jefferson County will call for an evacuation this weekend - my guess is Sunday or Monday.So, I'll wish Marci and the kids goodbye tomorrow evening and they'll go spend the weekend in Longview. I'll stay back in Beaumont in order to evacuate with the 41 kids we have living on the campus of Buckner Children's Village, as well as our staff and a few of their family members.If we evacuate, we'll head towards the Austin area, where Buckner has a camp / retreat center. If not, I'll hold down the fort here to keep an eye on the campus. Please pray for these children, who have experienced enough anxiety already in their lives. They really don't need another 'escape to safety.' They really need stability, and I'm thankful to the employees of Buckner who will go with us and provide just that.Pray also for the senior adults Buckner serves here in Beaumont. They will likely evacuate as well, and they will be divided among other retirement communities and nursing homes across the state.I'll try to post pictures and keep you up to date. If we do evacuate, the computers (among other things) are most certainly coming with me. You can also check for updates at http://www.buckner.org/.