genevieve

3

sitting there in the gravel, i couldnt even bring myself to cry again. i just sat and realized that the sun was getting low and we needed to prepare for another night. once night came you had to be exactly where, or very near to, where you planned on being until daylight becuase you just couldnt see at night. besides, i wasnt to fond of wondering around in the dark trying to navigate a foreign place with only a small flashlight.

i look up as a van is pulling into the gravel infront and i'm thinking i'm going to have to say, "no gas!" for like the hundreth time. manelle's was a store that sold gas, can goods, and misc items on hwy 26 and the house behind it was where we were living. the business had gone under recently and everyone was calling the store the shed.

as the van slides in, the driver shuts the gas off and i think for a minute we might get robbed by some mississippians in a mini-van. i know it seems irrational but, well, i had an excuse for being a tad bit irrational.

This robust sort of woamn hops out of the van and shouts, "I'm Here!" I only brely recognize her as manelle looks up and exclaims. Its her cousin misty. I had met misty once before when i was about 14 and Shaneka and I went up there to spend christmas.

she starts to tell us that she has food, and water and is there to take us back to Sturgis MS to stay with her where there is A/C, electricity, food, beds, and a hot shower. We formulate that we will have to go 4 hours to Sturgis and attempt to collect enough gas to come back, fill the vehicles, (we figured roughly 75 gallons), leave gas for the generator for anyone staying behind in Lucedale and Justin and I will head back to Sturgis to plan our move there on.

We left for Stugris at night piled far in the back of Misty's van. The air got so cold my fingers where numb and it felt so good to be cold. i was actually conforted by my discomfort. during the 4 hour drive there were points that brought certain outbursts of emotions and fear of not reaching our goal. i sat and began to really listen to the message that i was supposed to be getting. i held justin and manelle tight and told them, "You have to have faith with me. This is not a situation we are to controll. Its in god's hands and I need you to have faith with me that he is walking with us."

On the way in i saw a sign on a small baptist, (of course!), church that read, "The Devil attacks those that can hurt him most." And I began to feel a bit blessed by this turmoil. I know it seems very strange, but, it was almost a compliment. the whole way up there i kept hearing it and seeing the sign in my mind. it rang in my ears and i began to know it was out of my hands.

we stayed 2 days in sturgis, with the most kind people on the planet. and determined?! if misty said we were going to get gas, we were going to get gas. On the first day of gas hunting we were in a Walmart parking lot and managed to collect 30 gallons of gas in our own gas cans, and after some begging another 5 in a can we got from someone in the parking lot. then bob, misty's husband showed up with two more containers and we managed 10 moer gallons. Still not 75 though. The Misty said, we will get more cans.

by the end of the two days we had collect 110 gallons of gas, and much needed clothing, love, and support. I was able to contact every company, organization, etc. i needed to contact in order to repair my phone service, settle the payments of debts and be sure that we would be charged lates, etc, and registered with Fema. We checked emails and was finally able to let alot of loved ones know that we were alive, struggling a bit, but making it.

So many of you offered us a home, money, support and i asked for your prayers. Thank you for having faith with me and getting us through.

On the evening of the second day we decided that only 4 of us would return to Lucedale to retrieve vehicles, Justin, Lyric and Grandmaw would remain behind in Sturgis while we did what we had to do.

(Its bits and pieces mainly because there was no way i could convey everything that happened, however i will be so thankful for what i understand now.)

Manelle left Lucedale before me. She as heading back into Westwego to check on her house and access the damage to her life. I told her it wasnt fair that she got to leave first as i sobbed into her shirt in the front gravel. I told Joni (her husband) i loved him dearly and he'd better take care of my Mama or was going to kick his ass. All i could do was stand on the front porch, cry and watch them drive away, like 2 year old longing to go too.

Once we got back to sturgis we stayed a couple more days, collect 30 galons more gas, filled up the truck and set out for Elk City Oklahoma, to meet up with my mother, whom i had not been talking to, father, brother and sister, and stay with my Aunt and her family while we tried to figure life out. there was even hugging and crying when leaving this extended family, of sorts, and heading into 13 hours of unknown territory.

I should tell you though, we were the luckiest refugees on the planet. Misty and Bob where not only comfortable, happy, loving people with 3 of the coolest children, they were also retired truck drivers and gave us a fool proof route to our destination through memphis, and completely across arkansas and oklahoma to get to the most western tip of the state.

it was a long drive and turned into a bit of an endurance trial as we decided we would drive straight through and I decided i wasnt giving up and handing the wheel over from exhaustion. Justin drove five hours, and i took over for the remaining eight.

We've been sleeping in a camper in my aunt's driveway since we got here, (i'm not complaining! We hace A/C and they leave the front door open at night in case we feelt he need to pee!) and have managed to get quite a bit of help from the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Today. ahhhh, today was pink. Today we got jobs two hours away in the city and a new home. Our jobs pay more than the old jobs and they are open us starting whenever we are ready. tomorrow we go back to try and find lyric a school and talk to the red cross about moving. and get this! We're officially Elk City celebrities! We were in the paper today, justin and myself, becuase we stopped in at the local paper to apply for emplyment! The editor stopped us and talkkied to us for a while and took our photo yesterday and we were in the paper today. Weird to see my picture in a paper in and of itself, but with the caption "Hurricane Refugees." under it...