The Whirlwind

Where do I start? From my last post, you know that Andy and I were headed to Florida to go see his Grandpa Warren. Well, we got down to Florida on the 17th, arriving at the hospice center about 10pm or so. We got to see Warren, hold his hand, and talk to him, though Warren's eyes were closed and he was in and out of it. He did squeeze our hands a few times and seemed to know we were there. We left the hospice center a little after midnight and went to bed. Around 3:30am, hospice called and said he had passed away. How can you not see the Lord in a situation like that? We are so thankful to have gotten to say goodbye one last time.

We stayed in Florida for the services down there on the 23rd with plans to fly back on the 24th. I got really sick on the night of the 23rd and couldnt fly the next day as planned. With the Brickyard in town, we couldnt get a flight out until Saturday. So, I stayed in bed all day on Thursday and took some antibiotics I had called in.

We got back in town on Saturday night and were so glad to be back in our own bed for a good night's sleep. On Sunday, we went to go see my brother in the hospital since he had back surgery on the 25th, Friday. Back to work on Monday, then the viewing in Carmel (Indy) on Tuesday (yesterday) and the funeral today. Can you see why this post is titled "The Whirlwind"?! July has been pretty hectic. I hope August is a little calmer!

Love in our Lives

As I sit here in my own little world, a smile comes to my face. Life is somewhat chaotic right now for us around the Hahn house, yet still I smile.

Andy and I are flying to Florida this Thursday as we rush to his Grandpa Warren's bedside, forced to say goodbye before we are ready. It's a really sad time, but one we must push through and face together. This will be a really tough weekend so we ask for your prayers.

Along the same lines, Angie, my best friend since childhood, has just rushed to the hospital to be by her grandpa's bedside, to say some goodbyes of her own. Her family is really in need of prayers as well.

Yet, through all this despair, I smile. Why? I have Angie's two precious girls asleep in my room. Her oldest is 2 and her youngest is 14 months. They make me laugh every time I am with them. Tonight's funny story involves Rylan, Angie's oldest. Angie and I were getting the girls ready for bed when we heard Rylan knocking on the bathroom door. Well, to set the scene, Angie and I were in the hall with Cally and Rylan was knocking because she was stuck in the bathroom. My house is really old and has the old style of keys that only fit one door, so the keys are not inter-changable. I bent down and asked Rylan to stand under the window by the "big girl potty" so that she would be away from the door. I jiggled it a little and nothing happened. I went to search for a key, not even knowing if one exists! No dice there. We tried to coach Rylan to unlock the door herself, but it was stuck. I tried pliers, a screwdriver...everything. This door was not opening. So I again looked under the bottom of the door to make sure Rylan was by the big girl potty, and I, with Angie's help, busted the door down. I went COPS on that door, but it worked. Wood pieces and the metal plate went flying, but the door came open. I waited for Rylan's reaction and she just looked at me and smiled that beautiful smile and said, "Simmer made a mess". It was so stinkin' funny I busted out laughing! I want a dozen just like her :).

More Flood Pictures

A view from Angie's house of my lake house as the flood waters begin to receed.

This is the neighbor just to the west of us. His house, like ours, became an island.
Ben is standing on the edge of the normal shoreline. Take a look at the table and chairs to the right of the picture.
That rectangular image in the upper left is a boat lift. That usually sits several feet well above water.

Flood 2008

Here is a neighbor's garage completely full of water.
Neighbor's house with flood damage.
Here's a view from our upstairs balcony. The front of the boatlift is usually at the waterline. That's our deck floating in the front yard.
Here's Angie's (my best friend) husband Ben kayaking in the front yard!
This picture is blurry, but that's our front patio, as the flood waters creep up.

As most people know, central and southern Indiana had major flooding a few weeks ago. My family was unfortunate to experience the flooding first-hand. Our house had very minimal flooding in our basement, enough to have to pick up the boxes off the floor and get everything up onto tables and shelves. We also had water pouring in our dining room window. It was so weird the way it was just streaming down the wall. We couldn't even catch it in buckets as it was nearly flush with the wall. Come to find out, our gutter had separated from the house during the storms so the water was streaming down the roof and catching the lip of the window, so it just came right in the house. All we could do was throw towels at it!

My parents' houses were damaged more severely than ours. They live in Greenwood, just south of Indy, where flooding was major. Their basement had several inches of water, so furniture was damaged and carpet ruined (their basement is finished, whereas ours is unfinished). My parents also own a lake house on Lake Lemon in Brown County that had record-breaking flood damage.

The pictures above are from the lake. Those of you who have been down there can see how high the lake rose. It surrounded our house and then came inside, causing a lot of damage. The watermarks on the wall and the fireplace are several feet up. Thank goodness my best friend Angie and her family are living at the lake this summer so they were able to do some damage control for us, lessening the blow at least. At one point, Angie went in and our outlets were smoking due to electrical shorts, so her husband found the breaker and shut the power off. Had they not been there, our house could have easily caught fire. Scary thought.

Needless to say, these last few weekends have been filled with trips to the lake to work on the damage. Reconstruction is pretty much at a close, so hopefully this 4th of July will be a weekend full of boating and fun, instead of cleaning! Have a safe and happy 4th!