Casualty of Gustav

The only thing worse than your car being damaged when you left it in New Orleans during a hurricane is evacuating it 5 hours away (technically 8 because of traffic) and it being damaged there - when it probably would have been fine in New Orleans. Even worse is not actually being there and wondering if you could have prevented it - and on top of that feeling bad that other people have to deal with the mess. As hurricane Gustav began to present a danger to New Orleans, we were flying to VA to pack up the rest of our belongs (about 1/3 of what we own we had moved to New Orleans when we lived there for 4 1/2 months). If you've ever evacuated from a hurricane, you know that the most important things to take are the sentimental things - those that can't be replaced. It's a stressful time as people have to determine what those items are, pack them up, board up their house, find a place to stay, and fight traffic to get there. So you can imagine how bad we felt that on top of that, they had to worry about taking a few of our belongings that we wouldn't want destroyed (mainly our computer, our filing cabinet with important papers, my baby books & calendars and baby boxes that have special memory items such hospital bracelets, foot prints, etc... as well as a few other small items). Uncle Rob and my dad were wonderful to pack up these things into our car. My parents took it with them up to Monroe, LA - the rest of our "stuff" left in New Orleans. If it was destroyed I was emotionally ready (I think) that it wouldn't be a big deal - God would provide more if we needed - it's just "stuff". The storm hit early Monday morning - thankfully weaker than expected and New Orleans was spared for the most part. Although you don't hear much about the people just west of New Orleans who did get hit and have a long recovery ahead of them. Anyway, all that to say, I was already feeling bad about the extra work our families had to do to evacuate our things. So when my dad called Tuesday morning, I was shocked when he said that some tree limbs had fallen on our car putting a large dent in the side above the window and completely shattering the back window. Since it was raining at the time water got in the back as well as broken glass all in the car. So for about 30 seconds I was feeling sorry for myself. I don't think it was much because of the car being messed up, but because of the extra work it would be during our move. But then I came to my senses and remembered God was in control and everything would work it. And from that point on, we've been amazed at how many people have worked to get it fixed. Our insurance agent at first said that it could be weeks before it could even get looked at, but about 6 hours later my dad called and said the B family who's house they were staying at when it happened had a friend who was a State Farm agent. They took it to the agent, who opened the claim and estimated the amount of price for the damage. They then took it to a glass shop down the street. They ordered the class on Tuesday, and amazingly it might be ready tomorrow (Friday). Even more amazing is that we drive right through Monroe on Friday on our way to Dallas. If everything works out we may be able to stop and pick up our car on our way. Otherwise, we'll have to drive back from Dallas next week sometime. Once we get to Dallas we'll find a shop to fix the body damage. For having the extent of damage that we did, we've been blessed at how people have helpped and worked to get it fixed.