Keeping Our Heads Above Water......Chapter 3

December 30, 2015

There is so much I want and NEED to tell you about Chapter 3, that I'm finding it hard to know where to start.

 So, with grateful tears in my eyes as I type this,  I'll start where Day 3 started.....holding hands in a circle in a very wet driveway to pray before the day started with at least 10 people showing up at 8:00 am from our church, our community, our neighborhood, all to work.....on our house....for free.....because they love us.

Dear Amazing and Wonderful Heavenly Father.....This storm that was meant to hurt us, has only blessed us....over and over again as I look at the faces of these people who have arrived at my doorstep on their holiday vacation, because they have hearts full of compassion and love.  Your love in them, Father....and these tears falling off my cheeks right now are tears of JOY.....not worry....not fear....not loss.....but pure Joy.  And I thank You for each and every one of these people You have placed at our doorstep this week....Dean, Melissa, Corrine, Coleman, Cameron, Nick, Brent, Zach, Dan, Cindy, Terri, Brian, Becky, Larry, Beau, Beau's Dad, Troy, Doug, Jack, Ellen, Brady and many others.  I know no other words other than "Thank You.....Thank You."

Yesterday is a blur.....my Supervisor Dean organized these guys to measure up 2' on every single wall in our house....make a chalk line....knock out the Sheetrock....haul the Sheetrock to the ugly green canoe and take it to higher ground.

This went on all day....while my girls, Terri, Ellen, Cindy and I went through my very, very embarrassing messy closets and made decisions on what was salvageable and what wasn't.   There's an intimacy about sharing that one closet in your house where you open the door, throw items in and shut it real fast and I think as close as these friends and I were before, we're closer now because they visited this closet of mine.

There were hard things to let go of.  And I'm not talking about expensive clocks or antique pieces of great value.  I'm talking about my very first doll...her name was Softie....same as my nickname my Dad gave me when I was born....who I had to let go of yesterday.  It was tough to put her in the unsalvageable bag.  Very hard.

And then there was our company purged files in a different closet that couldn't be saved....and I pray a second prayer of never getting audited.

And I'm going to repeat the scripture I mentioned yesterday to you....Genesis 50:20, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."  Let me just say friends, as I stand in a home that barely resembles the home it was this time last week, I am humbled...because so much GOOD has come from these last three days.  Relationships I thought were dead, have now been restored.  New friendships have been formed.  Existing friendships are stronger.  And in my book, relationships are far more important than a Softie doll or a little missing Sheetrock.

And at the end of the day, when all the workers have left and I'm standing in the middle of what would appear a sheer mess but all I can see is sheer LOVE everywhere I look, another truck pulls up with two men in it who just drove in from Dallas after working a full days work, to work a little longer on my house....because they love.

And I'm beyond humbled......

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 2

December 29, 2015

When Chuck brought this ugly green canoe home many years ago, I thought he had lost his mind. We would NEVER use it and it would just take up space in the boathouse until he grew tired of stepping over it, I declared at the time.

Well, I was wrong.  It's been used many times....once by a neighbor boy who mounted a trolling motor on it so he didn't have to actually row.....by our son using it as a gondola to cruise around the lake....and now, as our means of transportation from our car to the house.

This canoe has been good to us.  And this week, it earned every penny Chuck payed for it so long ago.  It was a means of moving essentials out of the house....carting Mark the general contractor to the front door.....transporting dehumidifying fans our brother-in-law drove 3 hours to bring us....the list goes on.....and on......and on.

And it canoed us to a house this morning with very little water in it.  Yesterday a half foot of water....today...mere inches.  God is SO amazing!  The cleanup began and neighbors like Becky sweeping the debris of pine cones and mulch from inside the house so Larry could use the shop vac to vacuum them up, made my heart smile for how fortunate we were to have friends like Becky and Larry who love us.

Honestly friends, I have never felt more blessed than I feel today!  Your comments, phone calls, texts and visits mean more to us than I could ever tell you. I have read every single one of them and am simply amazed at the love going on here.  I only hope I am there for you when you need me like you were there for me when I needed you.  Lord, please remind me to be a servant to others as they have been to me.

Chuck's garage is still holding the worst of it.....and we still have one room that is not quite dry yet, but all in all, I have no complaints.  We have donated labor coming tomorrow by members of our church and community to tear out the sheetrock and others bringing dinner for us tomorrow night...just as they have every night this week.

And during the darkest part of Sunday night, when the winds were blowing their hardest and the rains were pouring into our shelter, I recalled this scripture in Genesis: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Genesis 50:20) and I knew....I KNEW....there was something much bigger going on here than dirty water entering our home.  

Yes....we are truly blessed.......indeed!

Keeping Our Heads Above Water......Chapter 1

December 28, 2015


I am humbled.

As Christians, we are promised NOT to have an easy life.  We are assured that trials will come and they will beat on our doors...and they will try and knock us down, flood us out and discourage us.

But the best defense a Christian has is to hold their head up....keep their eyes looking higher than the flood waters...put on waders and smile.  

 

Smile...because if you're being attacked, there's a good chance we know why...

The last 48 hours have humbled this girl named Liz.  And when the flood waters inched closer and closer to our house and we knew we were in for a difficult night....we prayed.  We prayed all night...ALL NIGHT....as the cat, the dog, Chuck and I sat in the bed and watched the flood waters surround us.  We prayed for peace....we prayed for us to see God's will in all of this...and yes, we prayed for the rains to stop.

To some, it might look like He didn't answer.  But to us.....He answered mightily.

We have been given a safe, dry place to lay our heads at night for as long as we need it by our friend Anne who is out of town for several months.  We have been brought food, extra waders, strong arms and hugs.  We have been prayed over by hundreds of people for strength through this storm we are living through and we feel ourselves getting stronger and stronger with each passing minute and with each prayer prayed.

We have a long process ahead of us.....much cleanup with better than half a foot of water in every square inch of our house and over a foot of water in the garage.  And there is no flood insurance.....so we will be taking out a loan to pay for this on our retired income.  But.....we know this once beautiful home our Landlord, God, allowed us to be tenants of, will be once again restored and we will be stronger by this experience.

Thank you, friends, for your prayers....your help.....your love....your friendship.  We love you all dearly.

Please continue to pray......

Merry Christmas from The Etheridges

 (Click on Picture Above)

December 13, 2015

Water has been the main theme for the Etheridges these two-weeks-before-Christmas.  Floods of tears have been shed over losing our little man, Murphy this week.  And now, the flood waters from the lake are inching towards our back door from the heavy rains over the past 12 hours.

Peace on Earth.

And there is a peace within us right now as we have much to be grateful for....even in the midst of crisis and heartache.  And that's why we wanted to do a video Christmas card to YOU.....our family....our friends....who have journeyed with us throughout this year 2015.  Through the ups and the downs.....through new life...and yes, even death.

May you find the wonderful Peace of God living within your heart...and may you have a wonderfully blessed Christmas season.

Much love and gratefulness...
Chuck and Liz