As we pulled up to the Dunkley’s on Monday, Lisa and her daughter were working outside. Krista was washing some things off and Lisa was tidying up. She invited me inside to see the basement since I had a sneak peak on the night of the destruction. As we went inside, we found Lisa’s other daughter, Kara, who was just tidying the game cupboard and helping her mom with what they did have control of–the upstairs.
The whole basement was cleaned out and down to studs. Fans were going, drying it all out. Back upstairs, Lisa told of all the kindnesses that had been shown to them. She pulled a check off the mantel for $200 and said an acquaintance of theirs dropped it off wanting to help. She told them that Kevin probably wouldn’t cash it, and he begged her to because they wanted so badly to help. The kindness has truly been overwhelming!
I told Lisa that I was dropping off salsa because I realized that a lot of them had probably not had time to leave their houses at all. She said, “you know, the other day I realized that I had not left my house for 5 days. It was weird.” They really didn’t. So much to do.
Here’s a quote from Lisa’s facebook page that she posted the day of my visit:
Tomorrow will mark one week since the flood and my girls both came to help clean today. Kara organized my game closet and and cleaned the bathroom upstairs, neither of which were affected by the flood. Krista sprayed off muddy boots, shoes, work gloves and about 20 shovels and rakes left around our yard and then washed down the drive way for the umpteenth time. Five year old McKenzie folded cleaning cloths and polished the fridge, stove and dishwasher. I took my first walk since the disaster and it felt good to get out of the house. I walked up to the dike to see it all first hand. It is so much bigger looking up from its base than it is driving past it in a car.
In all of this, the Dunkley’s have been strong, positive, and still kept their sense of humor. Kevin found one of their “Home Sweet Home” pictures in all the mess and he hung it on the front porch post the day after the flood. There couldn’t be more truth covered in mud! Here’s some pictures Krista posted on their facebook page.
