It’s been drizzling on and off this morning since Lila Jane, age 4, woke us up at around 5 a.m.

She crawled in bed with us and told us that she didn’t like thunder.

At 8:20 a.m. the drizzle has already turned to a steady but light rain. You can only hear distant, intermittent thunder at the moment but even little Lila Jane knows that it’s heading our way.

As we await the arrival of Hurricane Harvey here in southwest Houston, Parzen family is hunkered down with plenty of water, canned food, batteries, flash lights, a first-aid kit, gassed-up cars, fully charged phones, and even a whistle (see the check list for hurricane preparedness here).

The big concern in our neighborhood isn’t the winds but the flooding. Our house lies outside the southwest Houston floodplain. But flooding all around us is practically guaranteed (we live just south of Braes Bayou). That will mean that we won’t have access to our local supermarkets. But we should have enough supplies to last us for a week or more and as long as we don’t lose power, we should be just fine.

Thanks to everyone for all the notes of concern and for keeping us in your thoughts. I’ll be posting updates here and social media over the coming days.