After meeting at Trinity Klein, gathering our tools & supplies, (I always grabbed Clorox wipes!), and being assigned to our work team, we were briefed on our next job. Our next house had not been touched since the flooding. As we drove up, we observed the "snow piles" on both sides of the street at every house except our work site. Nothing. Walking up the the house was 85 year old Ann & husband, Roland. After thanking us profusely for coming, they announced, with smiles, "We have been married for 65 years." Priorities! More important than the fact that the flood had washed away life as they had known it for so many years was their married life together. I asked if I could give them a hug & they both responded with a resounding, "YES!" Then I asked if I could pray with them and they responded, "Please!" I prayed aloud. They cried silently. ( I prayed silently, too.) And then opening the doors, we got ready to do battle against what the flood water had done to this house. Ann said to me, "I just hope, I can find some of my china dishes. They were from my mother."
It is just breathtaking, in a very bad way! Unfortunately the flood waters had risen to 7 feet in this home and although the waters had receded, the damage had not. I can't even quite comprehend it. Apparently anything that floats (like beds) knocks everything else It all becomes a twisted tragedy.
In the living room and dining room area, big pieces of furniture were turned on their sides. Broken pieces lay askew. A broken table leg, a piece of a chair back, a cushion. In the bedrooms more of the same. An earring entwined with a towel. The broken top of a knock knack on a bed pillow. A wall hanging covered by an overturned chair.
My assignment was to help Ann walk through the house and find some treasures. In the antique desk, now on its side with broken drawers, Ann found a few items she wanted to keep. We could not get all the drawers opened and as the guys helped us, the water logged drawers just fell to pieces. Ann & I carried a few papers, her "favorite picture" of Roland-a young handsome man with twinkling eyes, a picture of their son who had died, and some glass bowls out to the drive-way. As we walked back up, we linked arms & literally marched together & I loudly yelled, "We are doing this. We can do it." We both laughed. Inside she continued to pick out bits & pieces of treasure. We went to the poor china cabinet with broken doors. I grabbed a box so we could pack up her china. Amazingly even with the broken doors and broken shelf, none of the china was broken!!! Ann was so happy. And as we packed she told me of being rescued in a big pick up. "The rains were so bad we couldn't even open the door. Someone with a pick-up truck came. I rode in the cab, but poor Roland had to ride in the truck bed with the 2 cats & the driving rain. And now we have a leased car and a leased apartment. Nothing's our own anymore."
After a few hours, Ann & Roland suddenly decided to leave. I think they had hit a wall emotionally. I asked Roland if there was anything special he wanted us to look for and save. "Actually, I sure wish someone could find my oil paintings," he responded, We dug through the room & took out different pictures. Then he told us they were oil canvases that he had painted, but not yet framed. "This is a lost cause." I thought to myself. Like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But with determination kept digging. Under a pile of stuff, I pulled up a bag & sent them out to him. Bingo. Oh my, his eyes lit up! "My Blue Bonnets! I can't believe you found my Blue Bonnets!" Amazingly, it looked perfectly undamaged, his beautiful oil painting. (We later found a large case of oil paints, that also appeared to be undamaged.)
Two boxes of unbroken china, pictures, some yard flamingos that Ann wanted and the Blue Bonnets oil painting were safely packed in the car. "Now we have some familiar sights with us!" Ann joyfully declared as they left.
Meanwhile, Sam had helped move out big pieces of furniture. Also, he worked a lot on clearing out the kitchen. He hauled out pots & pans; all were filled w stinky flood water. He carried out kitchen drawers. Most of that was set on the driveway, so the owners could later decide what to pitch & what to disinfect and keep. Into wheel barrels, he shoveled out cupboards full of water soaked, noxious smelling food to be dumped into the "pile". The morning was the hard work of emptying the house. After lunch, we got to what Sam calls the fun work: demolition. Everything has to be torn out of the house so the house can be rebuilt. After lunch Sam worked on tearing out the kitchen for a bit.
Another home owner needed a brick wall to be torn down. Being young and strong, Sam was just the man for the job. Another sad story. On August 18 this couple closed & moved into their house. When the flooding started coming on August 25, before they left, she said that they put all their unpacked boxes on the counters. "But it was not enough. The water came above the counters and everything was damaged." This house had been all cleaned out. Everything torn out. Except a few brick walls. I was surprised they had to be torn out. The home owners explained that the inspector had already been there & told them the brick walls had to be torn down because there was wet insulation behind the wall. This brick wall had been built to never come down. (Sam can give you the details on the construction of that brick wall.) It took many many blows to knock down that brick wall!
Thankfully HOPE came in found treasures, laughter, strong arms and so many other ways! But if we have learned nothing else this week, we have learned that true hope is not in earthly measures, but in God who loves us and sent Jesus, His son to pay the price of our sins so someday we can live in Heaven with Him, where there will be no more sin, no more tears, no more hurricanes!
1 John 4:9 (NIV) This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Thanking God for:
found treasures
chlorinated hot tub
people who know how to empty a house
no bugs today!!
loving family
all of the people who have sent encouraging notes to us & who are praying for us
AND SO MUCH MORE
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