What started as another rainy day...

All day Saturday it rained. IT RAINED HARD. We had electricity, but were home bound so we pulled out the rainy day kit which includes paper, scissors, glue, play dough, paints - add an episode or 2 of Dora, and our day was complete.

Sunday... still raining! Electricity - OUT. We were getting creative with play time. Marlin had to suck it up, and play with us - we needed another princess at our tea party!

We had no internet, intermittent phone connectivity. I guess I just figured it was a super rainy, getting somewhat boring, and - I am already sick of PB & J kind of day!

FINALLY, around 6pm, the rain let up. Macie and I sat on the back patio, listened to the *river* (normally a drainage ditch) and painted nails. It never even crossed my mind that all this water running by our house... was going somewhere else.

We saw neighbors outside...walking... intently. And besides just wanting to get out for a walk, it sparked my curiosity. We walked 4 houses down, and I stared in disbelief.





It was at that moment that I (so CLUELESS) realized the severity, seriousness of what was going on. At that moment, I wondered how we were spared - we were (are) SO CLOSE to this devastation.

That night I realized how unprepared we are. I wanted a warm meal (a propane stove is NO good without propane!), but more so, I wanted my husband. Eric, at midnight, began his trek home. I waited by candle light (we need more candles, and we need flashlights!), listening to the radio (we need more batteries on hand!) as callers from around town shared their own devastating stories. Oh...and roads, highways, closed. Finally, at 4 am Eric calls and says there is no way... he finally turned around and stayed at his buddy's house, only to return to work the next day.

Monday, a sunshiny day though, I was still locked in our subdivision, I went to visit my friend Kate around the corner only to find her house gutted, and all her belongings muddy, and drying in her front lawn. She was knocking out the drywall to get rid of any potential mold, and her back yard still waist deep with water. She and her family had a place to stay that night, but she doesn't have flood insurance, and she doesn't know what she will do next.

Monday night 9 pm, electricity comes on, and Eric FINALLY able to get into our subdivision. I found myself incredibly emotional. Maybe an ounce hormonal.

This city is very solemn right now. So many landmarks. It is. so sad.

On this stage, Macie and I have seen Carrie Underwood, Little Jimmy Dickens, Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Vince Gill, JoDee Messina...

and now, it looks like this:
Please say a prayer for Nashville. Certainly there are many other crisis around our own country... and now Nashville needs a share of prayer and thoughts!