Safe!

Well, the safety guys at Marathon finally heard from Casey! He had been basically trapped in St. Tammany parish with no means of communication (the first few days, this was what we all feared...as the days passed with no word, this is what we hoped.) He said his grandparents had to be rescued from their house in Slidell, but he is fine -- he said that his house even escaped major flooding, unlike many in his own neighborhood, because it had been build up just a bit more.

We are all still well and managing to entertain ourselves. We have heard from several sources that Baton Rouge is essentially "closed" to refugees now, and that our mayor says that "we need to get out of the shelter business" because we are under such monumental infrastructure and business-related strains as many, many companies relocate their employees here. I am glad to hear that, though, because I was becoming concerned our city would simply buckle under the strain of it all. We will yet see.

Continue your prayers, please. They make a difference every moment.