The Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;…”
Hello Readers,
Sorry I haven’t written many blogs. I have been very busy with things here in Iowa. If you haven’t heard, there has been a very bad Flood in Cedar Rapids, which is where I live. Last Wednesday, my parents were told that there was a mandatory evacuation on their street. They told us that we were probably going to get 2 feet of water inside the house. (They didn’t have a basement) So, we moved things to higher areas (On top be beds and closets etc. We took the fridge, washer, dryer and lawnmower to my friends house who was out of the main flooding area. While we were moving things, the waters kept rising. When I got to my parents at 1 PM, the water was right at the curb. Every hour, I took a picture while we were there. Each hour, the water was one sidewalk block closer to the house. By 7 PM, the water reached the house. We knew at that point that the sandbags were not going to work. The city already blocked off the drains so that the water wouldn’t come up, but by that point, water was flowing through the sandbags over the drain. They were pointless. Thursday morning, my brother (Who is on his two week leave from Iraq) and dad went to see if they could get near the house to get a few more things before the river got any higher. They were only able to make it 2 blocks from the house before driving in water. Adam got out and tried to walk closer to the house. By the time he went one block, it was up to his waist and he is 6’4. He could see the house and the water was already up to the garage windows, so he walked back to the car. We had already had a vacation planned to Cedar Point in Ohio and to visit family while Adam was home, so we decided just to go because there was nothing we could do here.
In Ohio, we kept watching the news and seeing how high the water was getting. The river broke its record before we left. The highest it has ever been (before this year) was 20 feet in 1875 or something like that. This year, it crested at 31.89 ft. WAY above what they had thought. On Wednesday they were predicting that it would crest at 24 ft.
We were in Ohio from Thursday evening until Monday night. When we finally got back to Cedar Rapids, (After all of the detours since 380 and 80 were closed) it was too dark to go see the house. This morning we went to see it and it was still surrounded by water. The government is going house to house deciding whether or not the house is safe to enter by putting a sticker on the door with an X on it. So far we are not allowed into the house since there is still a lake around the house. We are waiting to see what is left inside. From the outside, we could tell that the house was completely submerged at some point. There is debris from the river on top of the roof. Some windows were broken from the force of the water as well as gates and other things. We are hoping that the family pictures are salvageable at least. If not, that’s ok. We are all still alive and well. God has his plans. I know that it will be emotional once we are able to see the rummage inside of the house, but its just ’stuff’. I had my new backpack and tent for the WR inside. They were storing it for me as well as some other things. I still have to Praise God through this. No matter how hard it may be. Job had everything taken away and yet, he still praised God for the things he did have. He knew God had a plan for his life and I know that he has a plan for mine. There will be tears, but I know that my Father in Heaven, the Creator of Life can help us all through this difficult time.
I would like to ask for prayers as we do go through the house. It’s going to be hard and I want things to stay positive.
I am sorry that this is such a long blog but I do thank you for reading and for your prayers.
~Bekah
“I’m divin’ in, I’m going deep, In over my head, I wanna be. The Rivers deep, the rivers wide, the rivers water is
