As I went to the Schmutz’s house, there were some nice people on their carport cleaning items. Inside, Andrea was with her mom in the kitchen. For Andrea, too, the tears came easily. The magnitude of what had happened, pondering on what was lost, wondering how to rebuild and bring her kids rooms back and collect her food storage that was damaged was on her mind. We talked about that. I told her that I felt pain for her as I stood there that first night and washed volunteers standing in mud, unloading stuff from her basement.
They were covered in mud and slipping and sliding in the thick goo.
They had an assembly line going. Small items being placed in buckets and then dumped on a big pile of muddy stuff. As I stared at the back yard and saw the beds and mattresses, I sloshed around and nearly got stuck just trying to get a picture.
As I moved to a spot to get a picture of this huge pile of muddy mess, I was trying to find a place to stand where I wouldn’t get stuck. The grass was saturated and soggy and the mud came up and around the grass. As I glanced down at the pile while walking away, I saw sleeping backs, back packs, games, toys….and my heart broke. So much stuff. A whole life. The kid’s life and treasures, it appeared. I wondered if they would throw it all away or if it could even be saved.
As the days wore on, so many people were gathered in their yard and driveway helping clean. I know it was so appreciated.
Here are people on Day 2, just starting to pull stuff from the back yard and start the cleaning process.
They had so kindly put up tarps on the car port to shade those who were cleaning the items that had been stacked there.
A few days after the flood, Andrea’s dad had brought their 5th wheel camper and parked in their driveway for her kids to have somewhere to sleep. They had been farmed all over the first few nights as they had no bedrooms. The camper gave them their own little space– and somewhere to sleep. One of those things we all take for granted.