Sorry about the long break, between being busy, and a flood, my poor little blog got neglected.
The flood. Yeah.
The evening of May 3rd, we had a pretty nasty storm. A storm that kept going. And going. And going. I am a big chicken when it comes to anything but clear weather, so sleep was not happening. By 1:30, I'd given up on trying to sleep, and instead tried to watch TV in efforts to keep my eyes away from the lightening flashing through the window. The thunder was so loud though, there was no denying what mother nature was doing outside. Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were blaring across the screen, as well as Flash Flood and Ariel Flood Warnings. I didn't think much of it, we don't flood. Ever.
Or, so I thought. By 3:30am, Amelia and Aubrey started screaming for me, and thankfully I was awake, because I could barely hear them. The lamp in their room had fallen and spooked them. I made my way to the top of the stairs, looked down, and seen water starting to come in. I told them to hang tight for a minute, I was going to grab their dad and some towels, and I would be right back. Seriously, not even a solid minute later, we had returned, and forget the towels! They weren't going to help a thing at that point. The water was already at our ankles. We knew we were in trouble at that point. Ryan went to check on the sump pump, but that wasn't our problem...the water was coming in through the door like a waterfall on each side, and was starting to come through the windows.
There was no time to panic. Ryan grabbed one of the A's, I grabbed the other, once they were safely on the stairs, he went for Gabe, I went for Saphie. By this point, the water was already at our shins, and Ryan said the power had to get turned off from the breaker box. I told him we had to grab the kids mattresses first, and get them upstairs. He thought I was crazy, and that it wasn't likely their mattresses would even get wet, but not wanting to upset me, helped me grab them, and get them upstairs. I still don't know what made me think to grab their mattresses. Looking back, in the grand scheme of things....mattresses?! LOL. I guess divine intervention, because there is just no way we could have replaced them very quickly. I remember thinking, "Oh crap...this is bad. Very, very bad. What will give the kids some sort of normalcy during this? Beds and TV's are expensive! Beds and TV's it is!" Between their mattresses and their TV's, we had gathered all we could before he HAD to shut the power off downstairs.
It took somewhere around 15 minutes for over 3.5 feet of water to turn our lives upside down, and inside out. We lost almost everything downstairs. We live in a bi-level home. When you walk in the door, you either go up, or you go down. There is no living space at the door, just a landing and stairs. There are 3 bedrooms downstairs, 4 of the kids sleeping in those bedrooms. There's also a bathroom, and a laundry/utility/craft room. Did I mention that we've been remodeling that entire area since we moved in? We had JUST finished that bathroom, we had 2 sheets of drywall in Gabe's room that NEVER seen the wall, it was intended for remodeling the hallway from hell (the wall was textured in spikes...why someone would want that is beyond me, lol). It was just complete devastation.
However, we were all okay. Thank God for the falling lamp that woke up the girls, because otherwise, things could have been so much worse. The kids could have been electrocuted, or Amelia and Gabe could have drowned. We still have that lamp, I can't let it go. I call it our 'lifesaving lamp'. I can finally look at it without bursting into tears, so I think that's a step in the right direction. I mentioned on facebook about my inability to let it go, and friend suggested turning it into a flower pot of sorts. Something with meaning, without keeping it around as a broken, and filthy lamp. That's going to be in the works once we're finished rebuilding our lives.
We have had an outpouring of love, thoughts, prayers, and even some donations! How blessed are we?! People ask me, "Well, how do you stay so positive?" I don't feel like I'm being positive, just thankful and appreciative. Besides, being negative, and woe is me isn't helping anything. Why squander peoples positive thoughts and prayers on negative thoughts on my end? Why feel so woe is me, when people are doing their best to help us with whatever they can? Don't get me wrong, I've cried, I've been upset, but those are weak moments when I look at all we've lost, instead of all we've gained.
A friend called me and said to me, "As soon as that water recedes, call me! I'm going to wash all that clothing." Another friend took the kids and kept the preoccupied with fun instead of damage control, another friend who was also a flood victim dropped off a few supplies, and a gift card to help us replace some of our lost things, Ry's friends/co-workers came over and helped us finish demolishing everything downstairs, renting a dumpster for us, and more friends helped us buy building supplies, and even helped us put some of it in. That's only part of it! Just as important were all the kind words, all the prayers, all the positive thoughts, they kept us going day after day, especially in the beginning. The outpouring of love and support has been amazing and overwhelming.
I'll never be able to show my gratitude in a million years. Thank you
just doesn't seem like enough, you know? We've built stronger friendships, stronger relationships with our neighbors going through the same things, and even a better home.
While tearing the house apart, we were able to discover blessings in the flood. There was a big bees nest in Gabe's wall, there were some studs that needed to be replaced throughout the 1st level, there were 2 nails driven through an electrical wire running through the studs (when Aubrey went to pull the nails out of the stud, there was a HUGE flash, and a zapping that scared us all!), things that we would have not known otherwise until it was too late. A flood? We can recover from the flood. We were blessed enough that only the 1st level of the house was affected, and we could still live in it. Things could have been so much worse! It could have been a tornado that just devastated our neighborhood, possibly taking lives. It could have been a fire caused by those nails through the wires, and we could have lost the entire house...and possibly lives. Instead, it was just 3.5 feet of water that did enough damage to shake up our lives, but not enough to destroy it. Have I mentioned yet just how blessed we feel?
Tomorrow will be 6 weeks since this happened. That's hard to believe! 6 weeks feels like so long, and so short, all at the same time. It seems like just yesterday we were wading around hip deep in water in the road, trying to help our neighbors, standing around in shock, not quite knowing how to grasp what was happening. Then again, in that amount of time, we have drywalled all 3 kids bedrooms, most of the bathroom, part of the stairwell, and we have the laundry room, and a closet to finish. We just need to finish putting up mud, sanding, and painting, and we'll be about as far as we can go for now. We were lucky enough to find huge carpet remnants for cheaper than a rug, for all of the kids bedrooms. We won't be able to afford $1500 for new carpet and padding anytime soon, but those remnants give the kids a sense of normalcy. They're all sleeping down there, and are no longer crammed into one bedroom...6 kids in 1 bedroom got the best of us all, lol. Now they have some room to stretch and call their own. They'll just shuffle around when it comes time to fully finishing their rooms.
Our lives are starting to come back together, new and improved, stronger and better than ever before. FEMA decided this wasn't a disaster. Well, maybe not to them, but I guess unless you're living in it, it's hard to fully grasp what not only us, but all of the 1,700 homes and business damaged by this flood are going through. We have been so blessed that we're within home base, here. But, what about my neighbors? How about that business down the road? Or the families in that apartment complex? There are families and businesses that haven't even begun to repair the damages left behind. They aren't as fortunate to have had a savings, or to have such helpful friends and family.
This was not something anyone seen coming...who would have expected 9.5" of rain in 5 hours? Maybe if they could just experience what it is exactly we're all going through, they'd rethink? Maybe not, I have no idea. When they came door to door, that's literally what they did. No one came in to any of our houses to see the extent of the damages. Just stood outside and looked at our personal belongings strewn across our yards. Maybe had they seen the skeleton of 4 kids bedrooms? Maybe if they'd been here when the fear of God was placed in all of us, while we wondered how far the water would come up? Maybe if they were here in that moment when reality set in, after the adrenaline of saving 4 kids, wondering if it were possible we'd end up on our roof? Maybe if some of those officials had been through what we're all going through? Maybe......
We were at least hoping FEMA would help us replace the carpet and padding, and maybe some other things, but even then, we're going to be okay. It's just going to take us a little longer than it would have. I guess maybe that's a way I can repay and thank everyone...to start helping others who aren't as fortunate. I've done my best to this point, but we've been pretty self absorbed into our own little mess, too. Maybe our governor will appeal their decision, but even still, that's no guarantee for any sort of help. Disappointing, for sure, but in the end, I have my husband and kids...safe and sound. I have my friends and family, my neighbors, and unimaginable support. We're going to be okay.
