September 9, 2011

Cleaning up....

Many times, when I've seen flood pictures on the news, I have thought.....but where does the water come from?


You see pictures of towns....restaurants.....houses under water.....how does it get there?




On Wednesday.....it was raining...alot.....I needed a few things from the store, so I decided to go out before the weather "got too bad".  After turning around a couple of times because of flooded roads, I ended up on this road because at the time, it was a road....




You can't see it now, but there is a bridge past that red light that goes over a creek....a creek!  A few hours later, it turned into this....




These are the main gates at the amusement park Hershey Park...we went through those gates last Thursday.....


....the water source?...a creek...

Our Rita's.....you guessed it...a creek...



I am so grateful for the friends, family and even a stranger-to-us that helped us Wednesday night.....we live on a hill and have never experienced flooding in our house.  My son was nervous about....of all things....the electric guitar in the basement and about 9:30 asked us to check on it.


We had been at our neighbor's house that afternoon helping them because they had already flooded.  I felt like we had made it through the worst part of what would eventually be 15 inches of rain....


I am so grateful for that little voice of my son because water was beginning to come up out of our sump pit and out of our french drains......into our finished basement....


We started making phone calls to friends and family....


Despite the fact that there were no roads into or out of our town, a friend of my dad's brought us.....in the middle of the storm at 10:00 at night in truly torrential rain a sump pump.....I still don't know how he got it here.....but he was an angel to us....


We had two portable sump pumps running.....2 shop vacs and then 1 industrial pump and our basement was saved......who really cares about carpet when a few doors down they are talking about replacing their furnace and water heater....


In the midst of it all.....as we waited for help to arrive...I just remember crying "Jesus please....."  I couldn't even form sentences.....my heart was just crying out....


And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words."  Romans 8:26


...although I must confess that I screamed "OMG" repeatedly at the point when we first turned on the big pump and the suction pulled the hose into the house and was pumping all the water back into our family room....but truly, that was a prayer!


We are still cleaning up.....as are many people.....but in the midst of all of this, I am just very thankful for a God who is still good.....for friends who pulled their pump out of their own home to use in ours......for neighbors who woke their kids to come help us man shop vacs.....for a dad who has amazing friends....for kids who worked their little hearts out......and a hubby who puts up with his nearly (well....fully) hysterical wife!


So now, we've experienced an earthquake, a hurricane and a flood...


Hmm....could that Harold Camping guy be onto something??

10 comments:

Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...

We still own a home in MD that's having simmilar problems and I was freaking out Wednesday night, not being able to do anything about it and worrying about our renters (her hubby is deployed). I also felt comforted by the Spirit, that I am loved and blessed. Praying some sunshine your way.

Something Nice and Pretty said...

We live SW of Pittsburgh, although we had the three day rain and the river did rise we didn't get what you did. I hope you are all doing okay and the Lord did bless you with many, many friends!

Anonymous said...

Oh man. We live in VA and its been pretty bad here to. Coming from LA we are used to hurricanes but all of this stuff in 2 weeks span isn't what I wanted to do.. Hope everything goes smoothly for yall. Praying for some great weather in the future!

Carolyn said...

Oh Nikki- I don't even have words. I'm just glad you are all OK.

Natalie said...

All I can say is WOW. It's totally different when you see it on the news, but when you see it through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it first hand it really makes it real! Hang in there!

S said...

No words suffice... Know that someone out in NM is praying for you all.

Lauren @ My Wonderfully Made said...

We were just watching the news about PA flooding and I was telling my husband about you guys so we decided to check your blog for an update. So grateful for all of the blessings you received in the midst of this disaster -- praying still that it is coming to an end!

Paula said...

I am thinking of you and of all those affected. You are in my prayers! And yes, sometimes screaming "Oh my God!" is a prayer - He hears you and is with you in this.

Mandy said...

Hang in there Nicole. Can't imagine...glad that God gave you and has given you peace and you witnessed his love for you and your family.
www.projectqueen.org

Sara said...

We live on the other side of town from you and out basement was a mess. I was so furtunate to have great family and friends to come help us out and I too was having a sump pump put in at almost midnight. We had to tear out the carpet and I just not got internet service back. I think about the people who lost soo much more including life and it makes me so sad. Praying for everyone in this area.

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