A Chair, A Ceramic Lamb & A Cross-Nashville Flood 2010 Hits Home

I realize most of you that read this blog come to see pictures of Lofton or hear a funny anecdote from our life. I promise to return to that very soon, but for now our minds are elsewhere. I hope you will be just as interested in this for now.

You can't believe until you see it. In fact, I saw it and can still hardly believe it. When the place you call home and the places that seem so familiar become sights of devastation, you just can't believe it.

We did take some pictures, but they hardly show it all, especially if you hadn't seen it before. I tried to go back and get some before & after so you could have an idea as to how high the water got, but it may be hard to grasp.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Nashville Flood has been largely neglected by the national media, until last night. Anderson Cooper was on location in Bellevue (that's where we live) last night for AC360 and basically devoted his entire program to covering the recovery effort here. He repeatedly apologized for his lack of devotion to this story and area and claimed it was some of the most widespread devastation he had ever seen (he's seen a lot) and also the spirit of volunteerism was at it's greatest! On a lighter note, I couldn't help but laugh when he said at one point during his coverage..."And as we have seen block after block in this entire neighborhood, there are hundreds if not thousands of homes which have been destroyed and folks have just been basically taking out all their possessions, trying to air out whatever they might be able to salvage. Here's a chair, a ceramic lamb, a cross over here." If that doesn't describe Tennessee or the south, I don't know what does...a chair, a ceramic lamb and a cross!!

Yesterday I linked to the Nashville Red Cross. Another great option to give is the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. All gifts to this organization go directly to the people in this community. So far only 80% of the area has been assessed and the estimated structural repair cost is $1.5 billion. This does not include possessions or roads and all infrastructure!! And there's 20% left to assess. If you've ever been to Nashville, you know it's a great place and I hope you will consider giving any amount to help us rebuild.

One final note, We Are Nashville is a blog post written by a former Belmont classmate of David's. This blog has inspired a t-shirt and a movement. You can purchase the t-shirt here and all proceeds will go to the Community Foundation of Middle TN. It's a pretty cool shirt and definitely a cool cause! We'll be sporting ours soon!

So, here is the Publix parking lot, less than a mile from our home. We are standing in their lot and looking at the intersection ahead. The last picture is the AFTER...you can see the lights and road again, but of course, it's all pretty dirty! These were taken Sunday (with the exception of after picture) before the water reached its high point Monday afternoon!)

Here are some generic flooding pictures that were taken...all withing 1-2 miles of our home.

The soccer complex that David's league calls home. Picture 23 soccer fields. The roof you see is a concession stand and that banner is usually hanging with a 12 foot clearance over the entrance. Also, here is a link to the ABC World News Tonight story that was shot from this area!










Finally, here is the AFTER. You can see how dead and muddy everything is. The first picture is of a private high school near our home. It's usually green and beautiful. In the second picture, you can see where the water rose to from the brown on the trees!

One final thing. It's supposed to rain about 1/4" tonight. We aren't fearful this will bring more flooding, but please pray for those that have already lost so much. Basically all they own at this point is drying in their front yards and they are fighting time and weather to get it covered before tonight. Hopefully the rain will miss us.

What Excitement at 6 Weeks!

Lofton has had a very exciting week as a 6 week old. As you know, we have been relocated from our home due to the flooding in Nashville. We came back home today and all is well with the exception of no phone (cell or land line) service. So, if you want to get in touch with us...too bad! Hopefully it will be back soon. Thanks to the Russell's for their generosity in opening their home to us, with a 6 week old the day after they returned from a 10 day European vacation to a flooded basement themselves. We are SO appreciative.

Roads to get to us are much better, but the drive is emotional and devastating. All over people's homes are ruined and they are sorting all of their possessions out in their front yard. Trash piles of furniture, clothes and prized posessions fill their yards. It's so sad and really makes us feel very fortunate. I think nationally, Nashville's tragedy has been significantly overlooked. If you'd like to help, you can give to the Nashville Red Cross, we're going to need help to rebuild our awesome city!!

I'll be posting pictures of the flooding soon, but for now, below is Lofton at 6 weeks. We took this in a rush as we were evacuating Monday. We were in such a hurry to get out before the water rose again and covered our one exit route. David and his mom were loading our cars with everything they could as fast as they could and I was on Lofton duty! The AC had been off for over 40 hours and it was getting hot in our house. Lofton was feeling the panic and the heat. I love that he is showing such expression in this picture. At that moment, I think we all felt this way!