If she had the proper words to say,

Annie & Co. are HOME! She called me at 11:18pm, and they had just arrived back home!

Well, Annie called about 25 minutes ago, and they (herself, her husband and her brother) are on their way out of town and down to Louisiana. This time, though, the mission is slightly different: rather than heading out on a search-and-rescue mission, they are now on a reconnaisance mission.

There have been wonderful and promising developments since they made the decision to go down there earlier this afternoon. She actually got to speak to her dad (vs. a message from her dad given to her through a rescue worker). He called her on a borrowed cell phone, and told her that he had seen and spoken with her mom. She also received a call from her grandpa, and he was able to call from his home phone, even. It seems that the phones in Slidell are working well enough, though they only work for in-city to in-city calls - Slidell is essentially cut off from contact with the rest of the area. Her grandpa has phones, water and gas at his house, though no electricity. Still, that's more than most people. He gave her a route into the area, and Annie feels very confident about the trip, as her grandpa is probably one whose judgment she holds quite high... and he told her to make the trip.

I know all of this because she stopped by my house just minutes after getting off the phone with her family. I kid you not - Annie was literally bouncing with relief. I was so happy for her - like a large number of folks, this week has been hell for her, and she desperately needed some good news. Hearing from her family was exponentially better than hearing from a rescue worker ABOUT her family.

The plan for them is to drop off supplies to her dad, to see her grandpa and family, and to get her mom and get the heck out of Dodge. They plan to already be on the road back home by Sunday. So I feel much, much better. I won't even pretend that I'm still not going to worry like crazy until they all return back here safely. And I will probably have even worse sleep than I have already this past week, but I feel like they'll be okay. Still, they just left, and I'm already ready for them to be back home.

Hurricane Katrina.

Poor Annie. All of her family lives in and around Slidell, Louisiana, and that poor town has been all over the news all day, too close to the mightly Lake Pontchartrain to escape the catastrophic damage. Annie has spent her birthday today under toils of intense stress for her family's wellbeing. It's awful for me watching the news and reports, and I don't have family there, even. It's so devastating.

Not only that, but the Weather Channel *just* seconds ago showed a shot of Hammond, Louisiana, and all you could see in the street was about the top 12" of a truck. My dear chickie Amber lives there. No, she's not there right now - she smartly evacuated very early yesterday - but her belongings, even her car, are all still in Hammond. I know that she and her boyfriend don't have renters' insurance, and I pray they don't take a hard blow... but I fear my prayers are too small, too insignificant. I'd call her where she's at right now, but the cell phone I have for her isn't the right one. :-(