This is a recounting of the seven days that took the Baker family from Brazoria to Bell.

The family of three - Sean the father; Nicholas, 11; and Bailey Rey, 5 - are from Angleton but had gone to Freeport to stay with family.

“We lived in Angleton in a small travel trailer, so we went to ride the hurricane out with my mother, brother and his family,” Sean said. “When we heard the storm was heading straight for us, we decided to evacuate. It was the last bus. They told us not to bring anything but a blanket and a pillow - there was no room on the bus.

“When we got on that bus my heart ached,” Sean said, fearing what was ahead.

The Bakers had left during Hurricane Rita for a shelter that offered no food or restful sleep because there were so many people looting stores in the area and evacuees stealing from other evacuees. He expected a similar situation in Bell County, but that wasn’t to be. Officials and volunteers had everything in place to ensure past mistakes in other disaster situations were not going to happen here.

When the exhausted family arrived at the Bell County Expo Center with their beloved furry friend, Lucy, a miniature pinscher, they were surprised at all the help they received.

The family’s story really started much earlier. Sean is a single father who suffered a nervous breakdown in 2007 after a succession of family deaths: his father, who died in his arms, and a brother and a nephew who died before their time.

“I just broke down,” the former chef said. “I was in a hospital and then home. My wife left a couple of weeks after that and we never saw her again.”

Baker cried openly as he recounted her leaving.

“I watched my daughter lay in front of the door, on the floor, for four days and cry. I had to pick up all the pieces and put them back together,” he said as tears fell down his face.

“I am a father. Fathers do that. God gave me that job and that is one boss I don’t want to make mad.”

Sean said his family hasn’t fallen apart because of what has happened to them.

“We do Bible studies together, we play together. I can do the pigtails, I can do the ponytail - I watch moms doing their daughters hair and learn. I am working on learning braiding so Bailey can have her hair braided when she wants.“Spiritually and lovingly we’ve got a real good start.”

Sean said they like to work through things together.

“Someone told me if they (the kids) see you angry or they see you worried or if there is a problem, if they are going to see you emotional then you must let them watch you resolve it. Then you show them how you get back to being happy, or normal, or peaceful,” Sean said.

When the shelter organized for the family to visit Lucy at the Belton Veterinary Clinic, it occurred to Sean they had lost their trailer and all of their possessions in the storm. But they had lost a lot of bad memories, too.

“We were standing at the veterinarian clinic after visiting our little dog. We were looking out over the hills. Right past the clinic there is a little barn painted with a Texas flag and the rolling hills . . . it was green and fresh. It looked new. It looked like a new beginning, then Nicholas looked at me and said, ‘Dad, this is beautiful. I wish that we could live here.’ I said let’s pray on that son - so right there we prayed.”

And they decided right then and there to move to Temple.

“I am a good father. This is what I want for my children. I want them to be happy, I want them to be giving. My boy has a huge heart and I want him to keep that. He is a good boy. He loves football, he loves living. I want for them to have religion in their life,” Sean said.

“I really enjoy being a daddy. It’s not a responsibility; it’s a privilege to me. I wish I could be giving them more at this point, but we’ve got what we need and we love each other,” he said. “Jesus will give us what we need.

“I want to leave the tragedy behind. I want to be happy, happy, happy. We have been sad long enough - we need to be happy. We did the sad thing, we’re going to do the happy thing now and we are going to do it in Temple,” he said as Nicholas looked up, smiling at his dad.