As I'm writing this blog this morning I can't help but have tears rolling down my cheeks. I can't stop myself from crying! Those of you who know me know I don't cry much. I'm a tough chick after all, and touch chicks don't cry! But this is one of the few exceptions.
The past couple of days have been quite emotional for our little family. If you haven't heard somewhere here in Texas there had been some really bad storms and rains last week. It rained so much in such a short amount of time. That's the worst rain storms we've experienced thus far for the years we've lived here in this area. A lot of places have experienced severe flooding. Our place has succumbed to this evil storm and horrible tragedy.
When the rain first started we didn't think it would get that bad. We survived the past couple of bad storms we recently had. And the water never came even close to our house. But this time it was different. We hardly got any break from the rain and it dumped so much water in a matter of a day or two. We were inside our house watching the water rise and rise. The water was rising very very fast. When we realized the water was getting too high for our animals hubby and I tried to move all of our animals to the highest ground on our property. At that point the pasture was hubby's waist high deep in water (so almost to my chest). It wasn't an easy task moving ALL the animals but we managed to do it. During this time trying to move the animals I went to put some stuff inside the already very flooded barn. And it's then I saw our smaller dog with her body and face down in the water. At first I thought she just found something in the water and was trying to get it. So I kicked her in the butt very gently and told her to get her head out of the water. She didn't move! My heart sank. I kicked her in the butt again to confirm my suspicion...she did not move whatsoever! I started yelling for my hubby "Fall is dead, hunny! Fall is dead!", as I was grabbing the dog out of the water. Oh, what a horrendous scene. It was a very very sad scene. As soon as my hubby heard me he came running and treading through the waist-high water to get to the barn where I was holding the dog. In kind of a panic mode hubby grabbed the dog from me and started performing CPR on her as he was crying. At that point I knew the dog was gone because her tongue already turned purple. But hubby tried CPR a few more times but was unsuccessful in reviving it. I don't see hubby cry very often but he was crying and mourning over his dog. I didn't cry but I was very sad about what happened and the only thing I could do right then was to offer hubby a big big big hug. Before we could finish mourning over the death of the dog we had to go back and get the rest of the animals out of the pasture so they don't drown. Once all the animals were put on the highest ground we went inside and told the kids about their dog...they started bawling... I didn't cry (I'm a tough chick, you know) but it totally broke my heart to see my kids and hubby weeping like this. And this is the kids' very first dog they loved her dearly. Hubby also spent a lot of time training and playing with this dog he loved her. The night after all this happened I had dreams about this whole incident and it wasn't a pleasant dream one should have.
After we went back inside from moving all the animals we didn't have time to rest. The water kept rising at a very fast pace so we started packing up a few things just in case we have to evacuate. We also were busy trying to put as much sentimental and more valueale stuff on our beds and tables to give those things a better chance of surviving in case of flood.
The time finally came when we decided it was time to call for rescue. But it took them hours before the rescuers could come get us. First of all they were very very busy rescuing others that day plus it took them awhile to figure out how to get to us. But help finally came! The rescuers came just in time with their boat to save us! When they showed up the water was just a few inches away from coming into our home. After putting life jackets on everyone we started "walking" towards the boat. We had to tread through the high water in our front yard to get to the boat. It was really more like swimming then walking. By the time I reached the boat my feet couldn't touch the ground the rescuer had to pick me up. Everyone else in the family gradually all made it to the boat. At that point we were all wet but happy to be rescued. The kids were cold and traumatized a little. But kids are resilient! We were taken to the closest fire station and sat there and waited for our friends to come pick us up. As of right now we are staying with our friends from church. We are so grateful for them and for all that they've done for us!
We have also received a lot of love and help from our families, friends and people from our church! It's amazing to see how fast people just jumped into action to help our family. Just thinking about it gets me all teary eye every time.
Two days after we were rescued we still couldn't get back to our property to check on things because the water was still too high for any vehicles to get through and the current was still too strong and swift for boats to safely get close enough to our house, so hubby decided to rent a small plane to fly over our property. The airplane couldn't get too low but from what he could see the water was almost all the way to the roof. And there was no signs of any of our animals. I was not on the plane with him at the time but was staying put at our friends' house with the kiddos awaiting updates from hubby. When hubby finally called he just started bawling. Then I started bawling. It's all his fault he made me cry! It's a very emotional thing to see all the things you have worked sooo hard for just gone in a matter of a day! Aside from all the financial investment we have put into this place it's all the hard work and time we have invested in this place we called our dream home that just went down the drain and in front of our eyes. We have spent countless hours working as a family, cleaning up this place, fixing up this place, improving this place. It's not perfect yet but it's 400 times better than it was before. All these dreams and hopes and future projects we were dreaming about and planning were all dashed into pieces. And also all the countless hours we have spent raising these animals and the hard work we have put into raising them but now they're dead. That's what made us so sad. I think we will eventually get over it but it will leave us with an emotional scar forever.
But despite this tragedy we just experienced we are sooo grateful to be alive! So grateful for God's tender mercy on preserving our lives and blessing us with so many good people in our lives to bless and help us. We're also grateful for the brave rescuers who risked their lives to save others. We are counting our blessings. We will rebuild but it will take a long time. I will try my best to continue to update this blog. I will try to post pictures later.
This is about all we were able to salvage from our house.
Refrigerator tipped over. Appliances didn't make it, as expected.
Deep freezer gone. All the pork chops, sausages, bacon etc, and ALL the meat inside went bad. I'm so sad!
Washer and dryer no Bueno.
Dexter, Peanut Butter, and Black Pearl are the only cows survived. 
Spot miraculously survived.
This is where hubby found all the dead animal bodies. If you look carefully you can see Jack (the donkey)'s body in the right hand side of this picture next to one of the logs. Other animals' bodies were behind all those logs. Very very sad scene. We think the current pulled all of them over to that corner and they couldn't make it out of it and drowned and died there. Hubby actually found Jenny the donkey by the pig pen in the backyard. We think she probably jumped over the fence in the front yard but got caught on the fence back there by the pig pen and couldn't make it out and drowned there.
It appears that Meatballs most likely was caught on the play set and drowned and died there. So so sad! :(. Her body was found left to the yellow slide, if you look carefully.
The water inside the barn went up to as high as the white tarp on that tractor.
Inside the house was a mess.
