Support Josiah

Comfort in Chaos 

Monday morning I went outside to clean the pool. Our son Jack was helping me. He took on the task of trudging around the red clay dirt surrounding the pool so that he could turn on the spigot for me. When he returned, his flip flops and feet were caked in mud. We haven't given landscaping this area much thought yet, because there still has to be a french drain installed near the pool to prevent water accumulation. Had I looked at the forecast yesterday morning, perhaps I would have waited to add water to the pool.....rain was coming.

I took the time to clean Jack's shoes at the spigot in the front yard. As I sprayed the water, a rainbow appeared in the mist. I thought about what the rainbow represents. And its significance hit me in a way that it hasn't before. We all know that, after the Flood, the rainbow was created by God as a promise to His people that He would never completely destroy the earth again with water. I thought about how gracious this was of our Heavenly Father. He knew that, every time it would rain, his people would probably experience fear. How awe inspiring to think that the God of the Universe would care so much for His children to give them, for all ages to come, the rainbow as a reminder of His promise.

Fast forward to that night. Josiah had been up and down some with the barometric pressure changes, but still vastly improved overall. All of this swimming has exhausted him though. He has been going to bed earlier and even taking short naps each day. Around 9pm, I went outside to grab the laundry I had forgotten on the fencing. It was raining heavily, but everything looked calm. I walked inside and worked to get Josiah to sleep. He went out pretty quickly, and around 10pm I went to straighten the therapy room before heading to bed myself. In just that one hour, things had changed dramatically. Rain had accumulated at the spot where the french drain is supposed to be installed. And that rain had backed up into the breezeway. There wasn't standing water, but there was a lot of mud where the water had come in and then receded back as the rains calmed. I tried to call my brother Jon, but he had already gone to bed and didn't get my call. I called my parents who of course offered to come over, but I told them no because I felt I could handle it. I also texted my brother Bobby to see if he possibly had a sump pump just in case the rain got worse. As I was texting with Bobby, the breezway suddenly began to flood. Buckets and buckets of water were pouring in. I told Bobby and my parents that I needed help. (Side note: Jeremy was working night shift so I didn't even let him know what was happened, because I knew he wouldn't be able to leave work.) Bobby said something about digging a trench so I quickly grabbed a shovel and ran around the fenced in pool to the corner where the water needed to flow. Oh if only I had a picture of this craziness. I sunk half way up my calves in mud and started shoveling as fast as I could. All the while, water was filling the breezway and heading for the therapy room. My parents and brother got there just in time to start helping. I also put a plea on facebook for someone to call me if they had a sump pump. Our dear friend Michael Abernathy came to the rescue. He drove the pump over and got shin deep in the mud with us. We worked until close to 1am before everyone felt things were safe enough to go home. I then set my alarm for 2am to check on things. and finally went to bed at 3am when I was sure the rains were departing.

The morning after, we are in repair and planning mode. We believe the breezeway will be fine. It seems to be drying out, and our friend John Triola who laid the flooring for us is going to come and make repairs if need be. The rain in the yard was so bad that it leaked through a portion of the concrete floor in the therapy room as well. But thankfully we caught this early. We removed part of the padded flooring and everything is drying out now. The pool also sustained some damage. Again, the yard was flooded so badly that water seeped in between the liner and the walls of the pool. Our awesome pool contractor David Foust was here early this morning working on the pool, and he has assured us this is fixable. No one could have predicted a drainage problem of this magnitude. The entire slope of our yard looks like the water should flow directly to the road with no trouble. But the slope was just no match for the level of rain we got last night.

The plan is to now have two french drains installed to address the drainage issues. We don't want to endure this again if at all possible, and two drains should take care of both the drainage issues around the pool and the area that is backing up under the therapy room wall.

I wish I had a video of the worst parts of the evening. God was truly gracious in prompting me to go out to the therapy room at 10pm. Had I not, the water probably would have been at the back door by morning. He also mercifully allowed the damage to be much less than it could have been. And I could of course go on and on about my family and how they come to our rescue time and again. In the craziest moments of last night, God brought His rainbow back to my mind. And, while the rainbow doesn't mean that He will never use flooding as a means of sanctification in our lives, it does mean that He keeps His promises. And God has been so gracious to make many promises to His people. Jesus has a plan. We just have to submit to His will and trust in Him.

Because of His grace,
Christy

Uncle Bobby!

Before things got really bad!

What I first found. Not so bad.....yet! :)