Aside from home renovations, we also baked chocolate chip cookie bars and pies. We managed to work in a little time to watch a tv show with cake decorating competitions. It made me want to roll out fondant and try some decorating of my own. (though it would've been really rough since I've never used fondant in my life...plus, it more than likely wouldn't have looked the way I would've wanted it to) It was so much fun hanging out with Emily & her mom. I've known Emily since 2nd grade. We've been friends ever since and we know each other quite well. Her mom is my second mother and I really do feel like one of her kids. I haven't hung out with Emily as much as we did in high school, but hopefully that will change. It felt like old times again.
After ripping out carpet, Emily & I went to take part of it to the dump on Saturday. On our way to the dump, we saw a lot of standing water and had to drive in the opposite lane at times to avoid pooling water. When we got back to her house, we came into the garage and noticed there was a lot of water on the floor. The three of us immediately started to sweep the water out and mop up any that we could. We bailed water out of her garage for over 2 hours. We finally got it under control and set out a box fan to help dry the floors. I wasn't able to go back to my mother's house (where I'd planned to stay the weekend since my dad was in Guatemala) in Franklin due to road closures, so I stayed at Emily's house. I hadn't anticipated being flooded in, so I didn't have a change of clothes or undergarments. Emily was gracious enough to give me clean clothes, but I didn't get to change my undergarments until Sunday, when we ventured out to Lowe's and Walmart during a lull in the rain. It's amazing how a clean pair of undergarments makes you feel like a new person. Ok, that was too much information. But if any of the 3 of you who actually read this thing have ever been in a situation like that, you know exactly what I mean.
After our adventure out to the store, we got back and swept out more water from the garage. To our dismay, the water had seeped into the basement carpet. Emily and her mother ripped up some of the carpet to mop up the water on the floor. Luckily, they'd gotten a shop vac at Lowe's so we had the water up in no time. Once we had that under control, Emily and I ventured out into Franklin to try to get to my parents house to gather some of my things and to check on the house. We drove down Murfreesboro Road toward Pinkerton Park and saw that Eddy Lane was completely under water and Pinkerton Park was as well. We were shocked when we saw the high waters. We managed to make it to my parents house and everything was ok. A little water seeped under the back door, but that usually happens whenever it rains. The backyard was a mini-pond, but that isn't unusual either since they have a drain in their backyard. We managed to make it back to Emily's house, but not without taking some pictures and video. (the pictures are in the previous post)
I stayed at her house until Monday morning. I headed toward downtown Franklin on Mack Hatcher, but I quickly found out that it wasn't the best idea. It was a parking lot in both directions. It was the only way into and out of downtown Franklin at the time. I finally aborted my mission (to get a fan from my parents new house) and took back roads to get to the interstate. I spent Monday helping my mom rip out the carpet in the basement of their old house (the one they're selling). Two inches of water flooded the basement. We'd initially started to use the shop vac to get the water out of the carpet, but it was just not working. We finally decided to rip it up and the carpet pad underneath was so saturated with water that there was no way we'd have gotten it up by vacuuming. Despite the unfortunate situation, an offer was put down on the house today and now it's under contract! Blessings have come from disaster. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! (no pun intended)
Through all of this, I've been reminded that this world is not our home. This is just a temporary place for us until we are finally home with our Father. Material things can be easily destroyed (as we have seen this past weekend), but our relationships with others and with Christ are what's worth fighting for and salvaging. So, as we begin the process of restoration, let's count our blessings and remember that God is in control.
Below are some pictures of the soaked carpet and the puddles of water on the concrete floor at my parents old house.
The soaked carpet in the old house. The patch of carpet in the far right corner was the one I started to vacuum with the shop vac and, as you can see, the water's already starting to seep back through.
This is all the water that was under the carpet pad. Thank goodness for shop vacs.
Mom tearing up carpet.
The super soaked unwanted carpet.
So, just for fun, I thought I'd include a video on here from mine & Emily's excursion through Franklin. Here she will demonstrate how to "rescue" me. It just seems way too easy....Enjoy!
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