The week!

Sorry for going so long without an update! Time is just FLYING by. I can't believe we're almost to the middle of July! It's been almost a month now since the levee broke.!

Going back just a bit.....as I had previously mentioned, I went to Cedar Rapids on Monday to volunteer with the Salvation Army. Cedar Rapids was one of the hardest hit areas. The Cedar River came up so quickly people didn't have time to get their belongings out. Plus, it flooded a bigger area than what was expected. 24,000 people were displaced and ten city blocks of homes were destroyed.

The Salvation Army took over an empty grocery store and filled it with all kinds of donations. Those registered with FEMA can come in, fill out a short form, and receive lots of items - for free. We loaded up shopping carts (buggies for you silly Southerners!) with a variety of items - a mop, broom, gloves, masks, bleach, scrub brushes, sponges, pine-sol, toiletries, and a box of food items. I would meet someone, grab a cart, and we would walk through these three long rows of other items. Each person was able to take any ten items from the tables. The tables were filled with any kind of cleaning item you could imagine, plus flashlights, batteries, toiletries, baby items, paper products. It was incredible how many things there were! We also gave them a 24-pack of bottled water and they were on their way with a very full cart of free items!

One thing that I noticed right away was the attitude of these people. Most of them only got out with their car and a change of clothes. They lost everything. Makes you feel just a tad lucky that at least we got all of our household items out. But they were simply grateful. Some teared up at what was being given, others were speechless. They didn't expect anything, they didn't try to cheat the system and get more. They took what they needed. Some didn't even take ten items. Others took out items from the pre-filled cart that they didn't need, "for someone else to have." There was not the slightest bit of selfishness. Only gratefulness and humility. I loved it. In the seven hours I was there, over 60 people came through, all with hearts of gold. These are Iowans!

Here's a couple pictures from the day - the pre-filled cart and the rows of donated items:





As for us, we're still hanging in there! Mom and Dad have a house they can start moving into and we're going to start cleaning and slowly move things in. We're thankful for that and it help restore some sense of normalcy.

I can't believe how quickly the water is being drained from the flooded bottoms. Mom and I drove down there yesterday to take a look and we're able to travel quite a ways on the gravel road. The houses are a mess. I had a full memory card, but am going to go back today and take some pictures. We still can't get to the house. We stood on top of a levee across from our house and could see the gravel road in front of it starting to poke out. There's probably a couple feet of water still around. It will still take quite awhile for ALL of the water to be out of the bottoms, but Dad thinks we may be able to get to the house within the next couple of weeks. I'm personally glad about that because I really want to be able to get to it before I go back to Texas, partly just to be able to see it for myself and some sense of closure, I suppose. I didn't get to see the house one more time before it was flooded and I'd like to see it once again before it's torn down.

Speaking of going back to Texas, I will be back in Plano on July 28! I have a dear Texas friend, Amanda, who is counseling at a military base in Kansas this summer, and we're going to meet up in Kansas City the weekend of the 26th for a little girl time! This will be a great tiny vacation before getting back into life in Texas. Can't wait Amanda!!! :)

Thanks again for keeping up with me. There's so, so many stories and I just need to take the time to get them all down. Hopefully soon!

stephanie