Katrina

It's a strange thing to see your hometown on the news being ripped apart and drowned from a catastrophic hurricane. Being in California, I feel so helpless to do anything. But I've been praying hard.

My mother, Germaine, lives on the southern coast of Mississippi. She and her husband, Dan, drove north to Vicksburg to try to evacuate but couldn't find a vacancy in a hotel, so drove back home. Nobody has heard from her yet. The eye of the storm would have passed almost directly over her home. I'm choosing to believe that she is just unable to make contact with anyone due to lack of electricity and phone lines. But it's really, really hard to not know if she's OK. My grandmother, Vera, is also unaccounted for. She is in a nursing home in the same area as my mom.

My sister, Michel, evacuated with her family from New Orleans to Shreveport and they are all fine. They've been told that their home is OK as well.

My other sister, Jeane, lives in Memphis and went through the weakened storm last night and lost electricity but that's all.

Friends in Baton Rouge are all accounted for, praise God!

Prayers for my mom and grandma would be very much appreciated! Will try to keep you updated on this blog.