Nashville Rising

This has been a really crazy week!  As you've probably seen on the news, Nashville had one of the biggest...if not the biggest, floods of its history.  I've never seen rain come down so hard for so many hours.  

My current situation:  School was cancelled for the last 5 days.  Cardboard boxes and rubbermaid tubs fill my entire house.  I just removed several rugs, sleeping bags, blankets and Halloween costumes from drying out on my backyard fence.  My basement has fans, a dehumidifier running...but it still reeks!  I'm scared to turn on my washer because I'm not sure what happens to a washer when it has been in 2 feet of water.  Our hot water heater isn't working.  We are under a mandatory order to conserve water....so I haven't showered in 3 days...which isn't really too hard when you don't have hot water!  We are flushing our toilet every 4-5 "#1's".  My ferns and flowers on my front porch have shriveled up.  My husband is sporting an awesome "flood beard".  

Ha, ha!  That's Nashville life right now for everyone!  Only, we're some of the very lucky ones. I'm definitely not complaining.  We feel so fortunate that we actually still have a house to live in!  Many people have lost everything they own and over 20 people have lost their lives.  

Here are a few pics of the city taken last Sunday.  

Downtown Nashville

The Grand Ole Opry Stage

Opryland Hotel Lobby (See previous post for "before" pics)

We were very lucky to only have a flooded basement.  The water rose very quickly and was up to my knees, but I was able to save or salvage most of our valuable things and keepsakes.  Billy was on tour in Portland, so I had to put on my rain boots and work like crazy to get everything upstairs.  The power was out and so it was really dark, smelly and scary down there!

Here are my  awesome neighbors came to the rescue!  They came over to check on me and helped me so much! Of course, I asked them to pose for the blog!

Nashville has really pulled together as a community during this hard week.  There has been a tremendous outpouring of donations and volunteers helping all over the city.  It really shows the character of the people here and I'm really proud to be a Nashvillian!  Please keep praying for this city as we continue to clean and rebuild!