Swamped

Lately, I have been swamped. Busy? Yes, absolutely. Aren't I always busy? But that's not what I mean today. When I say the word "swamped" - I mean I have been inundated with/by water. Swamped.

We live in Fargo. Perhaps you've heard about us lately on the news.....and our epic flood? We're running a little short on gopher wood!! The Red River (which is nowhere close to red, by the way, more murky ugly brown) swelled right on up to a record 40.82 feet. Let me tell you the significance of this. Flood stage of the Red begins at 18 feet. Major flooding begins around 30 feet. The river rose to 40.82 feet. Every time they announced how high the river had risen, I would just get a knot in my stomach. The river broke a record....but will it break a levee? Will it break the hearts of more people as it claims their homes? Who knows with the 15 - 20 inches of snow we've received since the river rose. So far things are staying mildly frozen...but when it thaws....Water Water Everywhere!

I will tell you this, though. Never in my life have I seen people - complete strangers - band together for a good cause, like I saw the residents of ND and MN band together to save homes and lives from the rising waters of the Red River. Never in my life have I seen such servant hood and such sacrifice. Never in my life have I been so proud to live in Fargo. To live in North Dakota. The state I swore once upon a time I would never reside in. To all the volunteers, to all the leaders, to all the people who joined with us to save our livelihood.....you are amazing, and THANK YOU for the valiant effort you displayed. Kudos to the people who still understand what being a good Samaritan is all about!! The river is falling.....slowly. We're cautiously optimistic we will be back to normal by...oh...June? Water Water Everywhere!!

Our basement, which we have problems with every spring, decided even though we are a few miles from the river, it wanted in on the saturation action. Our walls sprung a few leaks, and several - and I mean several gallons of water in the shop-vac later, we're now without half of our carpet and calling for outside experts to come charge of thousands of dollars to fix our problem. This is by far the worst water problem we've had in our basement to date, and it's high time to fix it. I can't live through the disappointment and the stress of another wet spring and summer. And to all you homeowners out there - if I ever find out you didn't disclose water issues to the people you sold your house to....I will come after you and wallop a big thump on your head. I refuse to pass this pain on to someone else, and I wish the previous owner of this house had the same conviction to follow the letter of the law and disclose water problems to us. At least let us know what we're up against! I digress. We have to fix our basement, and we're working on finding that solution. I'm pretty sure the only way we can afford it is if I sell one of my kidneys and every ounce of my plasma, but we'll get it taken care of. Water Water Everywhere!!

My husband is presently up in our kitchen replacing our kitchen faucet. I just love it when he becomes my handyman hubby. Rawr. :o) But yet here we have this little device that we so grossly take for granted. Our "diverter" as the plumber phrased it, was not working. So we had no water pressure in our faucet. We had all the water pressure in the world in our sink sprayer, but we couldn't use it because the spray handle would get stuck and everything and everyone in the kitchen would end up wet. So Brent is now putting in our new Moen faucet - where the faucet is also the sprayer. Genius!! Water Water Everywhere!

So I have been swamped. Literally. Figuratively. Swamped. And hallelujah for it. Why? "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters." ~ Psalm 18:16
"Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." ~ John 7:38

Praise Jesus, that I might have water, water, everywhere!