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| oh sorry... click on "church folks" then "ebersole flood" | | |
| I'm wearing the blue shirt and red shorts...
Photos
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| OK I don't know what I just did. I was trying to put a puzzle on my blog and it said "do put on your website copy this HTML" So I did that... didn't work obviously. Anyone know how to do it? It came from http://five.flash-gear.com/npuz/puz.php?c=v&id=1365031&k=54345616 ANYWAY... this morning I SLEPT. I removed all phones from the possibility of waking me up and slept as long as I could.. off and on till 9:30... Oh well.... Sprang Flang starts tomorrow - middle school retreat... please pray for me.. Satan always attacks me before (already has) and during these things. It makes me want to give up... Pray that I can just be His light during the weekend and be filled with humility and wisdom...
Thanks...
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| Dear Family,
Happy Easter...He is risen!
And he is faithful.
Evelyn is here with me for the Easter holiday weekend. Good Friday was
a night to remember. Quite an adventure!!! It began at 7:00pm when we
arrived at church for the service. Large raindrops began to fall and
we hightailed it into the sanctuary in order to escape the rain. As
the service began so did the storm. The pastor stood up to preach and
the storm kicked into gear. For the duration of the sermon (15-20
minutes) hail pounded on the roof. We later discovered that the hail
was bigger than golf ball size. As we fellowshiped for a few moments
after the service we began to realize the damage of the storm. A
friend of mine came up to me to give me the "good" and "bad" news. The
good news was that my windows were all intact. The bad news was that
the body of my car had taken a beating. Many dents/dings were on the
roof, hood and trunk. Of the cars at church, mine was the most
damaged. Evelyn was panicking, wanting to go back to my house to see
the state of her car. Again, the good news was that all windows were
intact. And again, the bad news was that her car was also dinged
really good. One ding was directly next to the windshield and dented
the windshield frame. When it all comes down to it, we are both
relieved because it seems like all the damage is merely cosmetic
(though we will need to keep an eye on our paint jobs). Monday I will
be calling my insurance to find out what they can/will cover.
This was enough adventure/trauma for one night (so we thought), so we
went to Q'doba for some dinner with some friends from church. It was a
wonderful time, with much laughter and jubilation. Then we saw on the
TV that another storm was on it's way...time to go home. Evelyn and I
got to my apartment, got dressed in our "jammies," warm and dry.
Then the phone rings. It was Tara, my former roommate, who, with her
husband, is staying for the weekend in Dave and Claudia's house.
(These are some of the folks we had just finished dinner with.) Tara
was hysterical, yelling in the phone something about "the basement
flooding, come quick, bring towels, buckets, and flashlights...we are
going to loose electricity!!!" They live only a block away, so Evelyn
and I threw on some grungy clothes and ran to their house. When we
arrived, mass chaos was in place. People running and yelling. Water
all over the beautiful hard wood floors, etc. We asked what we could
do. The answer was "put towels on the floor so we don't slip
and...pray." Though prayer was necessary, so was action. Within
moments the "bucket brigade" began. As the water gushed into the
basement (sounding much like a waterfall) we took the water out by the
bucket-full or garbage-can-full or whatever-else-will-hold-water-full.
There were probably 10-15 containers that were being run to the street
and dumped as fast as humanly possible...with one person filling them,
one person taking them to the top of the basement stairs and the other
folks carrying them out of the house. The sump pump (spelling?) that
was installed was submerged and unable to work with the heavy amounts
of water pouring into the basement. So we had two very small pumps and
the bucket brigade. At the time we arrived that the house, there was
still electricity, but the water was only about 6 inches from the
power box. We needed to keep the water below that level. The rain had
just stopped when we arrived at the house, so the water was slowing in
its flow from the backyard but not stopping yet. As every small step
of progress happened (every time we saw a new stair or one was
completely uncovered), there was much rejoicing. Finally when the
water level was down to knee level, as opposed to hip level two of the
guys (Dave and Jesse) began trying to make the sump pump work again.
This brought on a new adventure all on its own. The pump pumps the
water into the backyard where it would flow right back into the
basement.
As a side note, in the past year, Dave and Claudia built and new
garage in the backyard. In order to have electricity there, they dug a
trench from the house to the garage. This trench had been filled, but
not completed as of yet. There was still a decent sized hole (3ft wide
at least) directly next to the house, and next to the drainage pipe
for the sump pump.
So, we needed to get the water coming out of the drainage pipe out of
the vicinity (by at least 30 feet). The only piping we had was
perforated and allowed the water right back in the hole. So, Jesse and
I went to grab about 25ft of PVC pipe from his house. We ran the two
blocks there and then carried the pipe on our shoulders back to Dave
and Claudia's. However, The PVC piping needs connection. Of course we
did not have the correct size of connectors to do this. But never
fear...duct tape can be used for anything!! Especially in a state of
emergency. This is NOT an exaggeration!!
The PVC pipes, the sump pump, the duct tape and the bricks that
stabilized the piping, and many hands willing to do much work late at
night to help friends in need saved the day.
Oh, wait!! The piping was set and rejoicing began, but then the rain
started to fall once more. The hole needed to be filled...NOW!! So,
Jesse dug a hole in the yard (away from danger) and put the dirt in
the wheelbarrow to take to the hole and fill it. But again, troubles
were upon us. The tire was flat. So, Jesse and I carried the really
heavy and awkward wheelbarrow over to the hole and dumped it onto some
plastic covering the hole. This process was carried out three times.
The second and third times I was not involved. This marked the end of
the real adventure. Now the only tasks that need to be done, can only
be done by Dave and Claudia. They would probably appreciate our
prayers in this process of fixing and recovering from this emergency.
We got home around 1am and hit the showers. After some winding down it
was bedtime. We are glad and honored that we were able to help someone
in need...this is what the family of God really looks like. Praise Him
that no major damage (loss of life, house destroyed) happened.
We love you all...and wanted to share a little of our newest Mahlow
adventure with you. It was fun to be together in the midst of
emergency.
Again, Happy Easter. Love to all!
Bethany and Evelyn | | |
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