we're alive

sorry for the delay in the update. we are just so busy and so exhausted. this has been physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. the water is down right here on our property. our living room is wet. very wet. come to find out there is a MAJOR leak all the way across the back wall of our home and the wall is completely rotted out and molded. so now we have a main structural wall completely soaked to the bone. also we lost about 30% of the shingles on the roof and most the rest are just hanging off. we lost the tree in the front and then 2 of our trees have broken branches hanging on the roof.
water conservation is in effect and our town will probably soon be sending the water we have to cedar rapids. gas is high, food is hard to find, mail is nonexistent, highways are closed, hospitals are evacuated, friends are evacuating and losing their homes. my school has stopped sandbagging and is evacuating. some good friends of ours had to evacuated last night as the water was almost to their home. they got their clothes and some papers. i will join her husband sunday to try to get over there and see if we can get in and if we can salvage anything.
it's devasting. i had no idea that this much of our lives would be affected. everyone is just coming together and trying to figure out what needs done. the kids and i went down to the local store and had breakfast and chatted with others in the community. then everyone headed home to try and dry things out. as many things as possible we've moved upstairs and that's taken alot of time and creativity to make it all fit. we've stacked things high etc...
we are running a dehumidifier full speed continuously and have had to empty the huge tank 3 times so far today. the smell in here is sickening from the back wall wet and rotting.

sorry for not answering all the emails and phone calls. it's just been one of those..don't want to talk to anyone days. i don't mean to sound rude but if you aren't here living it you just don't quite get it. heck i didn't even quite get it until it hit home and until we drove down and saw downtown. i was literally ill last night when we got home. words can't describe what is happening here and how we all feel. so i hope i don't sound rude and stand offish it's just hard and we are all trying to figure out how to feel and deal.

the kids have lots of questions and they don't understand what's happening, so that's made it interesting as well.

more updates soon...promise to atleast post once a day so everyone knows we are ok.