And the Waters Came

On our morning Bible study call yesterday, Marilyn asked if I had ever shared on my blog the story of the hurricane/flood that brought us to Iowa. Since I have only referred to it briefly in several writings, she encouraged me to "tell the whole story". So, here goes!

When My Love and I moved to South Texas in 1996, we went house hunting with a realtor. After viewing about a dozen different places, we found exactly what we desired. It was a brick ranch style home with eight acres surrounding and lots of large trees, including many fruit trees. This was our ranchito and we settled in very quickly and comfortably.

Over the ensuing years, we slowly made it our own, adding an outdoor jacuzzi in 2000, a shop/garage in 2001, dogs and cats, and planting additional trees and desert plants. Our adaptations culminated in the summer of 2006 with a major remodeling project in which we totally gutted the interior, added an attached garage, put on a new metal roof, new windows, and extended the kitchen and office. Now it was everything that we wanted and desired it to be.

We enjoyed this small piece of paradise for two years. Then in July 2008, our lives took a sharp turn. On July 23, Hurricane Dolly struck the Texas Gulf Coast, coming ashore about 40 miles from us. During the night, the winds and rain pounded our area and the water began to rise. Unbeknown to us there was a break in an irrigation canal about 1/4 of a mile from our home. At 7:00 am on July 24, the water began to seep in around the foundation of our house. We started to put furniture up on blocks, on tables, desks and beds. The first thing to succumb to the water was our laminate wood flooring which we had installed throughout the home, which buckled up and floated away. By 1:30 pm, we accepted the reality that there was nothing we could do to save our house. The dirty water was now more than 12 inches deep throughout the whole structure and would remain so for more than a week.

In the moment that we accepted the actuality of the situation, My Love and I turned to each other and said: "It's time to go home to Iowa." We did not know how that would happen, but we knew in our hearts that that was where we belonged. God had closed the door on South Texas, but He had opened a window and we floated out. We were totally at peace with our situation, and with the decision that came with it.

Next: How that New Reality unfolded.