Thursday Update

Exhaustion has set in (we really haven't slept much over the past 5 nights)....It's almost midnight, but we have been dragging all day long. Our emotions have been especially raw. Today has been a tough day. We just want to go home.

Dave and Danny went to work today. I could barely function. Stefanie and I tried to run errands and we checked up on the neighborhood. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the insurance adjuster, utilities, etc. So far so good. Except that the insurance adjuster won't be able to get out to our house until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week---his truck died and he commutes from Mobile, Alabama. However, he has told us what we need to do so we can start working on it. The work never ends.

The trailer with our retrieved belongings sits awaiting us to unload it---that will be my job tomorrow.

Since a state of emergency has been declared for the area, we finally saw assistance from others other than us, the neighbors, friends and church family, and the frequent looky-loos. The Red Cross was out distributing flats of bottled water, clean-up kits (bleach, bags, mop, brushes, broom, squeegie, bucket, sponges, etc.), and snacks.

Hoses have been run from the subdivision all the way out to the highway where 1200 gallons of water per minute (?!) are being pumped out south of us. This really will help so that we can get back to our house without using a boat.

A couple of neighbor families were out trying to retrieve what they can, otherwise the neigborhood seemed a bit quieter.

Dave was interviewed by the local news station yesterday and that was broadcast this morning. Unfortunately, we didn't catch it. :-(

One sad bit of information was relayed to us. One of the assessors (not sure which government agency) reported that he believes our house is caving in on itself. That's what Dave was thinking yesterday. How sad!!!

We have had some interesting things happen since the flood:

Stefanie's dryer died (it broke a belt).
Stefanie's laptop hard drive died.
A couch fell off a truck while Dave was driving home from work.
The bank across the street from the restaurant where Dave went to have lunch was robbed and was surrounded by police cars.
A truck and trailer were hanging over an overpass (again while Dave was commuting home).
Linda burst into tears at the sight of the green peppers in the produce department of the grocery store---a reminder of the wonderful peppers we grew in our garden this summer.

Today's small miracles:

The dryer repairman came the same day we called. We were told he would arrive between 4pm and 5pm ---he arrived at 3:45pm, had all the parts needed, and repaired the dryer in less than 25 minutes.

More offers for help.

More kind words.

I have taken over 450 pictures which I got on CD (but will not post--sorry, too tired today)

We are blessed.

Tomorrow Dave and Danny are headed back to the house. I am headed to unload the trailer and begin to sort through what has been pulled out (everything is in garbage bags and there is no rhyme or reason to how things were retrieved). Stefanie will dog sit. She's been working too hard and I think she needs the rest (if you can get rest when you have a 2-1/2 year old running around.)

We are going into the labor day weekend with lots of memories---on September 1st we will be celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary---and will probably spend it sorting or retrieving what we can from the untouched barn. Yep, the barn is still filled with stuff.

That's about it. I think it's now just past midnight--so it's an early Friday update.

We will try to get more pictures posted.

Hope everyone is well. Thanks again for all the love and supportive words. You have no idea how much they mean to us!

Good Night!
Linda and Dave