Day 15

Jon and Bob reported for work today. Staci dropped me off at the house so I could start working. She planned on checking out what was going on at her work and then joining me; I didn’t see her again until 630 pm, when I finally got back to her house. She was put to work at the pharmacy as soon as she showed up. Jon and Bob ended up staying at work until 3 pm. So I was left alone at the house. I knew it would be hard, but didn’t realize how lonely and how overwhelming. Walking through the house, with all the carpet pulled out and about two feet of dry wall missing on the lower half of almost all my walls, with piles of stuff to clean or sort, mud on the bathroom floors and in the bathtubs, cabinets that need to be yanked out, I just didn’t know where to begin. If asked right now what we need, I’d say help. There is just so much to do and everyone is in the same situation, cleaning up their own messes or just getting by day to day because they have to start all over again.

I spent most of the day out on the back patio with a bucket of Clorox bleach and a bucket of water, scrubbing all the plates, bowls, pots and pans that were submerged in swamp water. I also dumped out Daniel and Jonny’s school work that I had been saving since preschool. Its amazing the stench that swamp water soaked school work makes. Thankfully Heather’s school work stayed above water level. I did manage to salvage my china cabinet and hutch and five book cases. Unfortunately all my books on the lower shelves suffered the same fate as Jonny’s books. I thought it rather ironic that all my home decorating/interior decorating books happened to be on those lower shelves, just when I need them the most.

Jon and Bob showed up around 4 pm, but by that time, there wasn’t much daylight to get a lot accomplished. They’re going to try to get off earlier tomorrow. We stopped by my Commanding Officer’s house on the way back to Bob’s.  He had four feet of water in his house. He has managed to pull just about everything out of the house, but hasn’t started removing drywall. Seeing his home just emphasized the need of how much help people need. The military is coordinating teams of workers to assist in clean up, it just takes time to get organized. Especially when so many have suffered the same fate.

Please continue to pray for us. We need to go back to San Antonio and bring Heather back this weekend, since her college starts Monday. We just haven’t decided when to bring the other kids back. In some ways, it easier for them to stay where they are, but we would also like them home to help with the clean up and healing of our communities.

God bless.

Grace & Peace