The Rains Came Down and…
The floods definitely came up!!
From Chris’ Perspective:
So this Sunday morning started with quite a start. Nicole let the dogs out at 6:45 and came running up the stairs to wake me up! I didn’t really hear what she was saying, but when I got to the window, I found out…
As you can imagine we were a little worried about how much further the water would rise. As the day went on we kept a close eye on it. The water raised a little higher than our pictures show, but not too much. By the end of the day the water had receded and we again had a yard. The very strange thing was how the entire valley was filled with water. If you’ve been to our house you know that the “river” ran right over our fire-pit. The water washed away a 4 foot tall pile of wood, our railroad tie benches, a few cinder blocks, lots of bricks, and a BIG tree that we used as a bench.
A little bit of water came up in our crawlspace. We didn’t have too much stuff down there, and nothing was ruined. We pulled all the boxes out and moved their contents to Rubbermaid containers. When all was done, our storage was more organized, the dog poop was cleared from our yard, and our fire pit was cleaned out.
From Nicole’s Perspective:
6:40 is our typical wake-up time, as determined by our dog’s bladders. Sam nudged me awake, and then persisted until I complied and stumbled bleary eyed down the stairs. As I opened the front door, a foreign sound assaulted my ears: shooooooooooooo. I rubbed my eyes open to see Lexi catapulting toward a HURTLING RIVER…in our front yard! I suddenly realized I was NOT tired, and ran up the stairs 2 at a time. I shook Chris awake and ran back downstairs to make sure what I had seen was, in fact, a reality…and it WAS! What is going on?!
Now, honestly, it’s quite a shock to go to bed with a football-field-sized yard, and wake up with only the end zone left. After the initial shock wore off, we actually started to enjoy the novelty. It was like having lake (river)-front property, without having to pay for it. And, since we couldn’t do anything about it, why worry? I imagined carrying our big screen T.V. upstairs to watch the flood with my legs dangling off the catwalk as our house goes under water. Of course, if that had actually happened I of course wouldn’t have been so calm…but it didn’t, so I was. It was kind of fun!
It was NOT fun to drive around town and see that this “excitement” was actually severely impacting our town and many people. Since Sunday, I’ve talked to people that had to leave their houses at 2:00 in the morning, and haven’t been back. There are still houses under water, and Webster City isn’t even a high flood zone! It has definitely left me in awe of nature’s strength…and therefore, its Creator’s strength. One night, and our stable, comfortable life could be washed away in the nearest current.
So, that’s my perspective. Here are the blessings that we count from this situation: 1) I don’t have to pick up the last 4 weeks of dog poop! 2) The “prairie” won’t have to be mowed for a while. 3) We were forced to organize the junk in our crawl space…something that may NEVER have happened 4) That huge tree trunk…it’s gone! 5) That old water heater that’s been in the woods for the last 40 years…it’s also gone! 6) Everyone that we care about is safe, and everything that can’t be replaced is OK. 7) I don’t have to come up with “small talk” conversation for the next week! I guess I could almost say, yay for floods!
From the Dogs Perspective:
You spend all your time marking your territory then God pees all over it. We’re going to have a busy week.
Chris had a birthday cake waiting for lunch, I finished the day, and then came home. I chose NOT to work out…birthday treat…and got ready for a fun date with the man! 
