All of us on the gulf coast are keeping a very close watch on Hurricane Dean. It's growing a lot, and quickly! Already up to a category 4, almost category 5, with winds of 150 mph. At noon yesterday, they announced on the news that we should begin preparations for the hurricane in case we're hit, stocking up on food and water and preparing to be without electricity. By 7:30 last night, the water aisle at our Wal-mart looked like this:



The hurricane is supposed to be hitting the Yucatan late Monday, and Tuesday, we'll hopefully have a somewhat better idea of what direction it's going. You can't know *for sure* where it's going to hit until it's too late to do anything, so if you're going to evacuate, you have to just make the best guess possible.

We evacuated for Hurricane Rita in 2005, going up to stay with my uncle in north Louisiana. We live in a mobile home on the west side of Houston, and the hurricane was supposed to hit us straight on. It ended up turning "at the last minute" and going up the Louisiana/Arkansas border instead, so we had a home to come back to after all. It was hard packing up, knowing how much destruction it could cause if it hit here, wondering what we would have left when we came home.

So depending on what this storm does, we may be heading out to Louisiana here in a few days. We're getting prepared both for a trip and for being here without electricity for a while, because even if it doesn't hit here full force, chances are we'll at least get bad storms from it.

Please be praying for those getting hit with it already, and those making preparations here in Texas. If Houston has to evacuate, it's going to be a traffic nightmare.