Happy March my sweet peeps!
A lot has happened since I last posted. We FLOODED!! Our house, aka our home sweet home of nearly 2o years, the very home we raised our two children in, flooded during the ‘great flood’ of 2016!!
To this very moment it is hard to believe our HOME flooded!! Twenty-seven inches of water inside our home for days!! It is all still a blur….a complete heartbreak!!
During our twenty years of living in our neighborhood, we were one of the first three families to move into the new development/subdivision, we NEVER had water in our streets. When we first purchased our home we were zoned for flood and had to have flood insurance, but ten or so years later we were rezoned and no longer had to purchase flood insurance. Many of my long time neighbors cancelled their flood insurance. The heartbreak that would follow was nearly too much to bear.
Our neighbor’s house at the entrance of our neighborhood. 😦 This picture was taken days after we were allowed to wade through knee deep water to get to our houses, to access the damage and to deal with the heartbreaking cleanup of the lost that would follow.
This same scene would play out over and over, day in and day out. All day, a bumper to bumper line of cars and trucks in our neighborhood.
The water line on our house!! 25-27 inches of flood water. The heartbreak that follows…the cleanup. The back breaking, gut wrenching, heart breaking cleanup.
The HOT, HUMID, and the barfing smell of the cleanup. 
My sweet hubby!! He was a rock during the ENTIRE process of the flood. From the night the water came in and took over the house until this very day. So many stories I want to share with you my sweet peeps.
Our trash pile was growing daily, it was now taller than a refrigerator.
And then the blessings, so many blessings…the following pictures are just a few…..
Gibbs Construction out of New Orleans Louisiana passed out cases of water and protein bars to the masses. Their employees would carry the items into our flooded houses. Such a huge blessing for bone weary homeowners. Bless you Gibbs Construction!!
Mobile Mini container storage. When others only had a recording when you called, Mobile Mini answered the phone with the kindest of service and made all the arrangements so painless. What a huge blessing during a time of need. Thank you Mobile Mini!!
And finally for this….I called it the ‘claw’. I was so thankful to have the claw pick up our flood ruined possessions that I cried from the visual relief of them hauling it off. Out of sight, but not out of mind. The beginning of the healing process was in the works for me but the tears and heartache would continue….
Hubby and I have spent our 20 year wedding anniversary in our flooded house and my 52nd birthday, my nest became officially empty when our last little college birdie moved out. Halloween for the neighborhood was cancelled and for Thanksgiving we spent the night and day at my ‘flood bestie’s’ new to her home, because she lost her previous home to the flood. This stay at her new home was a well needed blessing. Christmas Eve and Christmas day we spent in our flooded house. We made plans to meet up with our kiddos for our Christmas. What joy and a blessing to have two great kiddos. They didn’t mind the flood house mess and my attempt at putting up our tree. 
I felt like my tree looked, wore out and exhausted. I only had a few set of lights that made it through the flood. But oh how they cheered me up each day until well after New Year’s. The tree might still be up today if it had not been for my hubby removing my kitchen floors. 😦
Hubby and I would spend NYE and New Year Day in our flood house. We decided to stay home and enjoy a low key kind of eve and day. We used the time to think about and plan for the New Year. We chose not to eat our traditional southern New Year Day kind of meal, and the lack of a kitchen and oven made the decision so much easier. We continued to spend the holidays in our flood house, including Valentine’s day and most recently my Mardi Gras school holidays. It has been the best medicine, and perfectly time since I just recently had the flu.
Through it all Mark and I have been so blessed by so many; family, friends (both real life and social media), coworkers, employers, churches, neighbors and my students and their parents. I am so blessed.
So, as I sit in my lawn chair at a folded table in my office to write this post, I think of a new season.
A season of new beginnings….Spring!!
Thank you for stopping by and are you excited about a new season? Hello Spring!!
Back to school for me tomorrow, so I hope to see you soon. Come on Friday!! This flood baby has some painting to do.
I would love to hear from you so be sure to stop by my instagram https://www.instagram.com/diggingwithdana/?hl=en and my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Digging-with-Dana-1539730139605913/
keep digging,
Dana
digging with Dana 