The start of the demolition

Tuesday we started the demolition. Our good friends Sharon Pensinger and Rebecca Spencer (with Callie and Reynolds)and Amanda Gains (another friend from church) came over to help. We worked all day and took out most of the wet dry wall and insulaton.

Happy Birthday Mark ... Monday night

It was lunchtime before we remembered it was Mark's birthday. Ashley put a candle in a cupcake for him.

Monday, May 3rd (the aftermath)

We got up Monday morning and went over to the Edward's house for breakfast. Erica had a gas stove and thawing sausage. We made our way back down our street to wait for the waters to recede . By about 11:00 am we could walk into our house. We found we got about 25 inches of water inside and more in the garage. I walked up the street to make some phone calls (my cell phone would only work at the top of the hill ..... if I was lucky). I ran into one of my former students and his dad .... they wanted to help. Blac and his parents came and looked and went home to get tools. They took out the carpet and helped us carry out wet furniture and clean out wet cabinets. By the end of the day we had most of the wet stuff out and a huge pile of trash. By evening many roads were back open and we went into town to our friends Joe and Ashley Cook (who knew we would be there so long).

Nightfall

We could not really get cell phone coverage and we did not have power for TV or radio. We were not sure when the rain would stop. We went up the hill to beg for a place to stay from friends. The Weaver's gave us a shower and a bed. We were thankful to be safe and dry.

The Flood

We all gathered at the top of our street in Keela and Jim's garage and driveway. We watched it rain and the water rise. Neighbors who could still get inside brought food to grill. We were a true community.

Our street

I took this as we were leaving our house. Mark (and someone else ???) carried the kids out about 30 minutes before this. We got wet leaving but, did not see water come in our house (although you could look down the air vents and see water).

This is our backyard before we left.

Sunday ..... before the flood

Sunday morning we got up and started getting ready for church. After a few phone calls we decided maybe we shouldn't go because of roads flooding around Nashville. Around 9 am the direct TV went out followed soon by the power. We went outside and noticed water was collecting at the end of street in the cul-de-sac. About 10:30 Emergency management came by and said to spread the word people close to the river are being evacuated. Mark went down the street to help some neighbors move furniture upstairs. About 11:00 I started moving stuff. A crew of men from our neighborhood moved house to house down the street moving furniture upstairs. With more time and better planning we could have moved more but, we got a lot upstairs. By 1:00 we were gone and the water was in our house.

Why

I am awake in my hotel room thinking of things I need to do when I get home. I am excited about our house being almost done after the flood and figure I should post pictures so people can see. I figured I really should write something down too to help me (and later my kids) remember what happened. People loved our Journey to Mia blog ...... hmmmm