The Rain Came Down, and the FLOODS Came Up...

So, apparently our little town of Valley Park has made national news. We have received many calls asking about our well-being (take that Ashley Pace) which we've appreciated. Neither Heather or I have been through anything of this magnitude so we never got very worried. We thought, "well, how bad could it get?" Just to give you an idea of the type of flooding that we're talking about, here is a picture of the street that goes to our neighborhood. This picture was taken on Thursday afternoon at about 1 p.m. As a family we decided to walk down to the levee (a link for those of you in the dark, as were Heather and I) to see what all the fuss was about. On Thursday we walked right on top of that green hill in the background, the one where you see a person walking. We were able to walk all the way back there and see the Mighty Meramac.

The next day, barely 24 hours later, I was atop that same levee (this time I had to walk up it from the backside) because that very street, shown in the picture above, was several feet under water (the two trees that you see in the middle of the first picture are the two trees on the very left hand side of this picture). You'll notice that the water goes quite a ways down the street. For those of you that have been to our house, the water almost came as far as the gas station at the bottom of our street. For those of you that haven't visited our house, shame on you. It was amazing to see the amount of water in such a short period of time. Truly remarkable. It gave us a new appreciation of the primary song referenced in the title, and the importance of having a firm foundation. Of course, living on top of a hill isn't a bad idea either.
Despite having spent $50 million dollars building that very levee that we walked upon Thursday afternoon, experts were predicting that the river was going to crest at 43 feet (3 feet higher than the current levee) and as a result we received a telephone call on Friday afternoon asking volunteers to come "save the school." Below you will see a picture to the front door of Katie's school. The picture itself is kind of leery, it makes you feel like you are in the middle of some end-of-the-world-action-thriller. Of course, it didn't help that Heather and I watched, "I am Legend" with Will Smith the night before.
To top off the weekend my friend (Reid Sullivan, the one in yellow on top of the wall) called me on Friday night and asked if I would go down to Arnold (a neighboring city) on Saturday and help them save some homes. In the picture below we are in a person's back yard, trying to build the wall high enough to prevent the water from coming in. For those of you who don't know, there are three main jobs associated with sand bagging. The first is filling the bags. This generally requires two people, one to hold the bag and one to shovel the dirt. The second it tying off the bag, a job that is very important based on the third job. The last job is to form a line and throw the sandbags from person to person to build a wall. As you'll see below, the person that tied the bag becomes a very important person. On more than one occasion you would hear the cry of "open bag" come down the line, only to turn and receive a face full of sand.

When I arrived at the Arnold site, the organizers took one look at my physique and said, "Son, you better stand in the line!" After panting two minutes later (my stamina doesn't match my physique) they changed their minds and had me hold the bags. As far as I know we succeeded in our goal and the initial scare for these homeowners has passed.

In fact, this morning I woke up extra early to go to seminary (a drive that normally takes 5 minutes) and wound my way around the city to arrive 25 minutes later at the church. The irony? On the way home I decided to drive down the street I normally take (just to see if it was anywhere near being unflooded) and it was totally open, all the water was gone. Except for the fish on the road you couldn't even tell that a day earlier it had been submerged. I guess I got up early for nothing. All in all it was a very eventful weekend and this doesn't even include our Easter activities (which will be shared in an upcoming blog). We love you all and are very grateful for a loving Father and a community of helpful friends. Overall, we are very blessed.