After the initial flood I was certain that I was going to rebuild our home. The disaster clean-up crew came and set up fans all over the house to dry it out. The asbestos abatement crew finished the necessary demo and made the flood cuts in the walls. More friends helped us out by loaning me pumps to pump out the water under my house. Some good friends of ours sent their own employees to do all the final cleanup. A huge dumpster was filled with anything remaining on the property that was not salvageable. Water trucks came to power wash all the mud out of the house, barn and garages.
The help of my friends volunteering their time and the use of their own resources was a huge blessing. It saved me a lot of money that would have had to come out of my insurance payout, which was, unfortunately, nowhere near what it was going to cost to rebuild.
After this, the professional clean up crews gave me the okay to rebuild our dream home. It was time to interview contractors. In the meantime, the boys and I were living in a hotel with only what clothes we had been given from friends and even strangers; we were doing laundry at friends’ houses and eating meals that were brought to us. I had no clue when we would ever get back into our house but I knew we could not stay in that hotel room for over 6 months, which was the minimum amount of time it would take to rebuild. I had one son who was having night terrors about the flood and I had another who was terrified of our hotel flooding and both would only sleep cuddled next to me.
From the beginning I assumed I would do the necessary repairs and get us back into our home. What else was I going to do? I couldn’t leave and give up all Mike had worked so hard for. Well, God knew. Mike knew. The storms continued. The levee was still breached. The water had never receded completely. On January 20th, 2017, the day after the cleanup crew removed their fans and gave the contractor the okay to begin, flood #2 hit my home. On January 23rd flood #3 came. But the largest amount of water rushed in and flooded my home on February 7th. I filed my fourth flood claim. And again, on February 9th , flood #5 struck.
At this point, reality struck me pretty hard. I couldn’t even drive out to my house to check on things without getting my big 4-wheel drive truck stuck in the water and mud. Each time I went another window had been broken into and any items left in the attic or barn had been stolen. Copper wire was stripped from the attic. One thing after another. I finally had to stop going there. It was too depressing. I came to realize that this was going to be too much for me to handle. God was making it loud and clear that we were not to go back.
As I was dealing with all the insurance claims relating to the flood, I was still taking care of the aftermath of losing Mike. There were still meetings to attend and paperwork to go through. Huge decisions needed to be made in every area of my life on a daily basis. My husband was gone, my house was sinking and so was I.
Eventually, I had to decide what to do about the house. After much sleep lost, many tears, and whole lot of prayer I decided to put my house up for sale AS IS. God came through and knocked my socks off again. An investor came in and bought that mud filled, bare-boned home for the amount I owed on the house. I was out, free and clear. The boys and I transitioned from the hotel to a 1-bedroom apartment. Because my youngest son was so terrified of more flooding I got a second story apartment and put him on the top bunk. The terror, sadness and worry my boys felt in those months we lived there was devastating. They not only lost and missed their daddy, but now all their belongings and their home were gone too.
But the Lord took care of us, as He always did. He never left us.
A friend of mine told me about a dream she had. She saw Mike, the night of the first flood, whispering Josh awake. Mike covering up the electrical outlets as I walked through our water-filled home. Mike guiding the firefighters down our street in their boats. Mike whispering to me, every day, when things felt too hard. Mike, gentle and calm, with us through every terrifying day and night.
Another amazing friend of ours helped us secure a more permanent home that was perfect for the three of us. Even though it was hard for me to be in my first home alone with the boys, I felt an enormous sense of peace with my decision and there was no doubt God had very strategically placed us in this home. We had amazing next-door neighbors who became like family and this house was even walking distance from the boys’ school and many friends. But most importantly, we all felt safe again.
