If you haven’t read part 1 of Then Came the Rain, catch up here.
I had both boys sleeping on either side of me in my bed. I thought Josh was just having another night terror, since he had started having them often. I rolled over and told him to go back to sleep, but he kept saying, “water, there is water everywhere”.
Once I woke myself up enough to realize what was going on, I saw it too.
Water was everywhere.
Jason woke up and realized what was going on and he immediately burst into tears because he was worried about his new iPad he had just gotten for Christmas. Luckily, it was on my nightstand. I had the boys stay on my bed and I stepped out of bed in my socks into shin-deep water. I trudged through the water and made my way out into the living room. The whole time I kept looking up at the ceiling thinking there had to be some kind of roof leak. Little did I know that no roof leak would fill my home with that much water.
Then I looked out the back slider and couldn’t believe my eyes. Water was about 5 feet high, everywhere. There was no way in and no way out. Thankfully, our house was on a raised foundation and had steps leading up the back door. Our dog, Roxy, was crying and yelping on the back porch with her head raised high to keep out of the water, but there was no way I could get her in.
I couldn’t even believe what was happening. At that moment I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that our electricity was still on, yet I was walking through all this water that covered the outlets. Never even crossed my mind that I could be electrocuted.
I found my cell phone on the kitchen counter and saw that I had about fourteen missed calls from my neighbor. Obviously, our land line didn’t work so he had been calling my cell for over an hour. I was absolutely clueless and had slept through all that water rushing into our home. Needless to say my cell phone now stays by my bed.
I called him right away and immediately heard the relief on his voice. “Are you guys okay?”, he asked over and over. He told me that the fire department was on its way to evacuate us via boat. We had to hang tight until they could make it down our country road in the boat to get to us. Pretty much immediately after I hung up with him the Fire Chief called me. Amazingly, two months prior, the boys and I had flown down to Disneyland. On our flight we met the Fire Chief of our town. He and his family were so kind, they knew who we were, and we had exchanged phone numbers. This was definitely God preparing us for this night. This man made sure that we were the first in line to be evacuated and he even sent our own San Jose firemen to come get us. He told me it was going to be awhile until they could get their boat out to us but he was so calm and comforting on the phone. He called me back often to update me and make sure we were still okay.
I knew I too needed to be calm for the boys because they were terrified. I wasn’t even thinking of the damage this had done to our beautiful, newly remodeled home. It didn’t cross my mind that the water was cold and I was only in socks and my pajamas. I didn’t even think about how the lid to our septic tank (and everyone else’s in the area) had popped off with the rushing waters, that had also flowed through all the local cow pastures, and the cold water I was trudging through was filled what God knows what.
I was worried about my boys. Yet another traumatizing event for them to walk through.
God, do what you want to me, but why do my boys keep having to go through such hell?!
I put the boys one by one on my back and carried them out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I had them each stand on the kitchen table while I attempted to to find shoes and a bag to put some clothes in.
The majority of our shoes were on the ground, which meant they were now floating in that nasty water. I grabbed whatever I could find for us to wear out of our top dresser drawers. Jason’s drawers were under his bed, which meant all his clothes were ruined. I managed to find a bag on the top shelf of my closet, put a few things in it and tried to keep the boys calm.
But I was pissed.
I was so angry that I was in the midst of yet another hell, all by myself. I had to be the one to stay calm, I had to take charge, I had to carry my children on my back to safety. Why? Why was this happening to us again?
We were still waiting for the firemen so I began to make phone calls. I was trying to keep calm and quickly tell my family and friends who I reached what the situation was and let them know we were okay. But no one knew the severity of what was going on at that moment. I don’t even think I really knew what was going on at that moment.
After about an hour I heard the firemen calling for us on their speakers in the boat out in the front of our property. They were telling me to flash the porch light if we were okay. Once I did, they told us to wait until they could come up with a plan to get us out.
Josh’s room was the newest addition to our house and it was raised higher than the rest of the house which meant his bedroom window was higher. The plan was that they would bring the boat to that window and help us climb out. Once the firefighters entered our house they put us each on their backs one by one. They helped us climb out of the window and into their boat. They even got our dog too.
We were in the boat, waiting for one more guy who was still inside checking everything out, and he finally climbed into the boat and looked at me. He said “I got his flag. It’s on top of the refrigerator.” Out of everything in that house he made sure that the flag that draped Mike’s casket was safe.
We rode in that boat, in the dark, through what once was our front yard, driveway and country road.
It was now a lake.
We were in a daze, my feet were freezing and the boys were upset and confused.
How was God ever going to bring beauty from this…yet another pile of ashes?
Save me, O God!For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Psalm 69:1-3
