Hoses, and Pumps, and Fans Oh My!

Well, we are on day two of water cleanup after the heavy rains this past weekend. The pumps are running, the shop-vac is being put to good use, and the carpet is up and drying out.

This very minor "natural disaster" has given me cause to reflect a bit. In previous times this whole flooded basement deal would have been an occasion for much anxiety, but thanks I believe to the Holy Spirit (novena just finished :O) and a saintly Husband, God is giving me such peace and gratitude.

Let's start with gratitude... God is so good

• thank you for electricity to run the much needed water pumps
• thank you for clean drinking water, which in some places is a luxury
• thank you for forced opportunities to go through "stuff" and determine if we are truly living simply
• thank you for family and friends who call and offer to help
• but most of all thank you for a husband who bears the cold, pounding thunderstorm to grill Mother's Day dinner, and later that evening after everyone leaves, has to bear it again to unclog a storm drain that threatens to run a river right through our home!
  

I am truly blessed, my husband has been a saint through this whole ordeal. He has had very little sleep in the past two days, staying up almost all night the first night of the storm to shop vac, lift the 16 gallon tank and dump it over and over again, to remove the water from the basement and keep it from causing too much damage. I have really been granted a precious opportunity to see my husbands strength, not only physically, but his moral strength. He has really born this inconvenience with grace. He has taught me alot about perseverance, and stewardship. Just when we were about to take a break on the first night after hours of moving things out of storage and several fill ups on the shop vac, my husband looks at me and says, "Let's salvage the drywall, and lift it up on 2x4's", I thought he must be joking, that stuff is really heavy, and I'm tired. but being the good steward he is, he couldn't bear for all of those sheets of drywall to lay in water and be ruined. Knowing he was right, I got up to help.

He was patient as I tried to "help" lift the sheets, and move them onto the 2x4's. He was patient and encouraging as I fell through one and crushed it. He was patient as I almost cried at how much work, we had ahead of us. Thank you Lord for Husbands who teach and protect their families with great sacrifice every day; and thank you for the unsolicited lesson in humility.