Thankful

In this season of reflection on what we are thankful for, I have a huge list from the last few months alone. I am thankful for the large tree limb that hit our roof that woke us up at 3:30 one morning. Being awake at that time allowed us to prepare to evacuate our house as the water was rapidly rising. I am thankful for the john boat that has been the dog’s house for many years. We were able to flip it over so we could reach higher ground.

I am thankful to our neighbor who gave us shelter and a place to sleep on the first day. I am thankful that I was able to help 12 other neighbors reach higher ground in that same john boat. I am thankful that when I was physically exhausted, a couple of younger guys took over the rescue efforts and got many more neighbors to higher ground using the john boat.

I am thankful to the Santa Fe Fire Department for sheltering us the next day. I am thankful to our Nephew’s Mom for giving us a place to sleep for several days. I am thankful for the Texas DPS Officers who, several days later, stopped in front of our house and asked how they could help us. They buried our dog in the backyard for us. What a tremendous blessing they were. I am thankful to my brother for giving us a place to sleep for a couple of weeks.

I am thankful for the many people from my work, our church, and distant churches who came to remove things from our house and gut the walls. I am thankful to our insurance company for paying us the full amount to rebuild our house and replace what we lost. I am thankful we found the perfect Contractor with an awesome crew to rebuild our house.

I am thankful for all the people who gave us what we needed, from clothes to money. I am thankful for the people who took what clothes we could salvage, cleaned them, and stored them. I am thankful to my coworker for giving me his truck to use for as long as we needed after we lost our vehicles.

I am thankful to our dear friends who gave us full use of their house for the last couple of months. They even allowed our three cats to roam their house and our dog to live in their backyard. They even spent several days cleaning up our yard. I am thankful for the many, many prayers on our behalf. I am thankful that God has taken care of our family every step of the way. I see His hand at work every day.

I am thankful that we will be moving back into our house in a few days. We will be camping inside on air mattresses, but we will be back home! Our journey continues, but we know we are loved.

I pray God will bless everyone who stepped up to help us in so many ways.