After Katrina, family calls Indiana temporary home

Three-year-old Grace Ramsak wants to play a game to pass the time.\n"Will you play 'Go Fish' with me, Daddy?" she asks.\n"Wait just a little while," her father, Rob Ramsak, responds.\nGrace sighs and walks away, unaware that her parents, Rob and Ronda Ramsak, understand now more than ever how hard waiting can be. \nBefore Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the Ramsaks left their home in Gulfport, Miss., to stay with Ronda's sister in Bloomington. They arrived Sunday morning after a 12-hour drive and, two weeks later, are still waiting for answers to how and when they can start picking up their lives again.\nIn all, the group that traveled to Bloomington numbered 10: Rob and Ronda, their three children, plus Matt and Derek -- Rob's brothers -- and Derek's family. Derek's family and Matt are staying, free of charge, at the Brownstone Terrace apartments where Ronda's sister, Jane Lyon, works. \nNow the families are trying to cope, enrolling their children in Bloomington schools, tracking down news of their homes and friends and making tentative plans for the future. Armed with few absolutes, though, the Ramsaks often have just one choice: to wait. \n"Everything right now is just like a waiting game," Ronda said. "We're just waiting to see what happens."\nDriving away, Rob and Ronda never thought their home was in serious danger. They left, not in panic, but to avoid traffic and use the chance to visit family in Bloomington. They only packed enough clothes to last a few days, some important papers, pictures and a couple of family keepsakes. \n"When we're taking off Saturday night, I'm thinking, 'I'm coming back Tuesday night,'" Rob said. "We didn't think it was any kind of long-term deal." \nRob, who grew up in New Orleans and has lived on the Gulf Coast off-and-on his whole life, admitted it's not hard for people who have lived on the coast to underestimate hurricane warnings because sometimes hurricanes don't come or don't cause the damage expected. \n"It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf," he said. "You just don't know."\nThis time, he didn't know until he and his family were already on the road. After driving all night, the Ramsaks stopped at McDonald's, where a TV news program spelled out the true scope of the storm -- a category 5 hurricane. For the next two days, they all watched, shocked, as Katrina tore through the coast.\nInitially, Rob feared he might not have much to come back to.\n"We had a big pine tree in the back yard, and I was pretty sure it was going to be in the middle of my living room," he said.\nNews trickled in, though, once cell phone service was restored, that their house seemed in good condition, and they already had the comfort of knowing their family was safe. \nRob and Matt went back to Gulfport Thursday to see the damage firsthand, but also to see if Rob, an accountant, could help his father and stepmother start up their family medical practice again, in which case he would stay until Ronda returned home with the children -- probably later in October when the schools open again. \nBack in Gulfport, Rob was blown away just seeing Katrina's aftermath.\n"I've never seen anything like that, and I hope never to see anything like that again," he said. "I was just not as mentally prepared as I thought I would be." \nRob called Ronda Friday to tell her he was coming back that night. The clinic -- and the house -- had sustained more damage than they had thought. \nRonda vented her frustrations, disappointed about the house and wondering where money would come from for the next few weeks.\n"I am very fortunate to have my whole family and to know the house is standing," she said, "but it's still heart-wrenching. It's still my home. We've worked really hard over the years, and it's really hard to think about losing what's been established." \nRob and Ronda plan to return to Gulfport when the schools open again. Matt returned to his home outside New Orleans, and Derek is considering re-locating to Bloomington. \nFor now, the Ramsaks handle the situation by drawing strength from faith in God, Rob said, and finding joy in the little things. \n"There've been times enough in the last couple of weeks that were really tough," he said, "But just little things, like Grace coming up and saying, 'Will you play "Go Fish" with me?' make it a lot better"