The Rains Came Down

"The rains came down and the floods came up."

Remember that childrens' song?

The last line says, "But the house upon the Rock stood firm."

We were able to see our house from the highway today! Thankfully, it has stood firm despite all this rain and flooding. Ours is the white house in the middle of this picture with the three windows across the top. Looks like the water is part way up the front windows. Our bedrooms should be dry on the second floor!

There is a meeting tonight for Vestal residents. Hopefully we will find out when they think we will be able to get back in. The water is coming down so slowly, so it will be a while.

We have had so many friends express interest in helping us out when the time comes. We'll spend a lot of time deciding to "toss or keep" items in our house. We had a finished basement full of books, toys, electronics, craft supplies, Christmas decorations, and more. We're thinking we'll just gut it all and leave it as storage. We're not sure what the first floor will look like - a lot from there will probably have to be tossed too. It is all just stuff, but some of that stuff has years of memories attached to it. We did bring the photo albums up to the top floor!

It was good to see our house today and know it's still standing! It might be a while before it feels like "home" again though.

And Now We Wait

The rain has stopped, but there is still lots of water all over the Binghamton area! Roads, businesses, and schools are closed. Some of those schools will not open this entire school year, and I bet many businesses will decide to close their doors for good.

This flood has affected so many people! We stopped by the shelter area at Binghamton University today (as pictured above). It has reached its max capacity at 1,600 people. Those people have nothing to do but wait until they are allowed to go back to their homes to see what damage has been done. Many were sleeping, some watching TV or playing games, just waiting to head back home.

While we are waiting to get back to our house, we've been anxious to see or hear the status of our area. We have driven out that way a couple of times, but roads are still closed, so we are unable to see anything. My mom did talk to someone who had been out on a boat on the road next to us - water was up to the first floor of those houses. Our road sits even lower, so we are expecting it to be bad! We're not sure when we will be able to get back into our area, but it will be quite a chore to go through all of our ruined belongings and make decisions about the house.

While BU has been a safe place for many, we're thankful for the home we have been able to stay in! We still have power, water, and internet. We've stayed connected with family and friends, and are thankful that we are safe as we wait to head back home.

Facing a Flood

It has been raining in the Binghamton area all week. We faced a flood back in 2006, and I was not expecting to face another this week. Schools let students out around noon yesterday, and my work let us go home around 1:30. I took a different route home due to roads being closed and saw some places underwater already.

My family and I had a normal night around the house, just bailing water out of the window well every few hours. We got a phone call during dinner saying if you were evacuated in 2006, you should prepare to leave. We did evacuate in 2006, but nothing happened to the house, so we decided to stay. A fireman came to the door around 8:00 that evening telling us to evacuate. We signed papers saying we had chosen to stay. After watching the news, Mom and I decided we wanted to head out to a friends' house for the night. We packed up around 10:30 when firetrucks came around with a loud speaker declaring a mandatory evacuation! Dad decided he would come too.

In 2006 we took everything up from the basement to prevent damage, but we did not bother this time, thinking it was a waste during the last flood as nothing happened to our house. We simply left the house with a few clothes, important papers, and the vehicles.

Mom and I headed out, but the road was closed to our friends' house. We called Dad, and he decided to just turn back and wait it out at home. Mom and I tried calling another friend, but it was around 11:30, and she did not answer. We headed to Binghamton University where the Red Cross had a shelter set up. We brought our stuff inside, but they didn't even have cots to sleep on yet. Thankfully, our friend called us back and offered that we could stay at their place. Mom and I headed there for the night, while Dad slept at home.

Mom's phone rang at 5am. It was Dad. The power had gone out and the neighbor's wall had caved in at the foundation. Our road was starting to flood with water coming up the driveway. He was stuck! Another phone call, and he decided to try and get out. He arrived at our friends' house around 6am. We were all safe and together!

We slept a little longer and contacted family and friends with what has been happening. We drove around a bit this morning to check out the river and flooded roads. We tried to go to or at least see our house, but the highway and side roads were all closed. We received word that water is now coming over the flood wall by our house. The rain has stopped, but the rivers are still rising! The water level is expected to be 20 feet higher than flood stage by 8pm tonight!

We do not know what we will come home to or when we will even be able to come home. It was a long recovery for the area back in 2006, but our house was not directly affected. We are expecting our basement to be full, so that will take some work to clean up. We are at peace knowing that our family is safe and our stuff is only temporary anyways. I'll post more updates as we find out more, but pray for the Binghamton area as you think of it!

ABC's of Achieving Your Dreams

With students around here going back to school today, why not talk about the ABC's?

I read a book recently that had the ABC's to achieve your dreams. With all of my goal setting, I appreciated many of the statements that went with each letter of the alphabet:

Avoid negative people and negative habits.
Believe in yourself.
Consider things from every angle.
Dream big!
Enjoy life today and live in the moment.
Family and friends are hidden treasures. Seek them and enjoy their riches.
Give more than you planned to give.
Hang on tight to your dreams.
Ignore "dream destroyers."
Just do it!
Keep on trying. No matter how difficult it seems, it eventually gets better.
Love yourself. The most important opinion you have is the one you have of yourself.
Make it happen.
Never quit, lie, cheat, or steal.
Open your eyes and see things as they really are.
Prepare and practice.
Quitters never win, and winners never quit!
Read, study, and learn about everything important in your life.
Surround yourself with "dream builders."
Take control of your own destiny.
Understand yourself in order to better understand others.
Visualize it.
Want it more than anything.
Xcellerate your efforts.
You are a unique creation of God's. Life the life you have always imagined.
Zero in on your target and go for it!

Now I should go review my list of goals!

15K Training

After running a half marathon last fall, I've done a few smaller races, but have been wanting to train for a longer one! I recruited some friends to do a 5K with me in August, and then found a 15K to run in October! A handful of us decided to train for it and are looking forward to running the 9.3 miles in 5 weeks!

Staying on track with our training schedule, Nate and I ran 5 miles on Monday. I had been wanting to run on the Riverwalk in Binghamton, so we checked that out. Online it said the trail was 1.8 miles one direction. The mile markers on the path went a little past a mile, but then we couldn't figure out which way to go to stay on it! That's when we just decided to make up our own route through Binghamton! We ran around downtown, then past my work, and down Riverside Drive past the hospital, and back to Confluence Park and the walking bridge where we started. Besides the giant cracks on the sidewalk that I tripped over, it was a great route to run. We finished just as the rain started, and now we're ready for a 6 mile run next week!

Watkins Glen

Julie came home to visit for the weekend! I have not seen her since May because she has been out in North Dakota doing a summer internship. After that, she drove straight to her college near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since she had Monday off from classes, her and her boyfriend, Brandon, made the trip up.

After Hurricane Irene changed our original plans, we spent the day hiking at Watkins Glen. Nate and I went with my parents, Julie, and Brandon. We had fun walking through the gorge and enjoying the waterfalls. The one above is Rainbow Falls - my favorite from the day!

Julie and Brandon spent some time in the water and walked the dangerous route for a while - until the got yelled at anyways! Nate and I got some cross training in for our next race by running up each set of stairs we came to! We all enjoyed some lunch after our hike, then headed back home.

We ended our day together playing a card game and eating raspberry pie. It was fun to spend the day with Julie, and I've enjoyed listening to her laugh again around the house!

A Praying Life

I recently finished a book that my sisters gave me for graduation. It was interesting because I had just commented to a friend that I had been struggling with my prayer life, and the book Amy and Julie got me was A Praying Life by Paul Miller.

I was looking forward to reading the book, and a section in the beginning stuck out to me. Miller explained how prayer does not have to differ from a conversation with a friend. If you think about it, a conversation with a friend typically jumps from one topic to the next (and not necessarily with smooth transitions). I often get frustrated when I pray because my mind easily wanders, and I get off topic. However, that's okay. Miller reminds us that, "When it comes to prayer, we just need to get the words out."

Spending any time in prayer, even if it's random or interrupted, is better than spending no time talking to our Father. He wants to hear from us, so we just need to express what's on our heart!