Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Do y’all realize that we have been living in limbo now for a year and a half!?!

Seventeen and 1/2 months, to be exact.  I would – could – tell you the days, hours and minutes, but I won’t stop to add them all up.  I know them by heart in my own heart, for sure.

It actually started way before that some 12 years ago when our house in Slidell first flooded.  We had a foot of water from excess rain, like what they just had in Texas a couple of weeks ago.  We had over 20" of rain in 2 1/2 days.  Way too much to drain off or pump out of low lying neighborhoods in the lowlands of Louisiana.

Nine years ago we flooded once again, again from excessive rain.  Then, even though we remodeled once more, we wanted to move even more, but couldn’t get enough for our house to pay for a far more expensive newer, nicer place somewhere.  Anywhere around.  Prices on houses for sale were rising far faster than the sale price of a twice flooded house, as you can imagine.

Then nearly two years ago Katrina happened.  Our house barely escaped getting any water in it.  We were blessed.  Greatly blessed, as the eye of Katrina came directly over our house, as it did a vast number of others in its width swath of destruction across the land.

While other people’s lives languished unendingly, ours proceeded on without major disruption to our home, although in every other way our lives were turned upside down.  But for a short period of time after Katrina, the price of "whole" houses went up amazingly well.  Including ours.

When someone has had ten feet of water in their house and it’s taken everything, a foot of water doesn’t seem so bad and the fact that none was taken in Katrina seems to be the clincher on not asking any further about flooding.  We decided to try to sell our house at a far higher price than any in our neighborhood, many of which were damaged, had ever sold.

We got what we were asking.  No questions asked.

But before we put our house on the market, we came up to Picayune to talk with real estate agents and our builder to count the cost.  Monetarily, it was all black and white on paper and affordable.  Emotionally, it’s been a slightly different story.  It’s been hard.  I won’t deny that at all.  It’s been very hard.

We bought our lot in early March of 2006 and started heavily packing our house of 14 years up so that we could move 18 miles up the road.  We’ve been mostly packed up ever since.  Even still today we have boxes full of stuff from packing then.

That’s a long time to live without most of your possessions, but you know something?  That’s made it easier as I’ve opened boxes to just let things go.  After all, I’ve lived without them for the past year and a half, so why not permanently?

Oh, there are pictures and family treasures from the past I want to hold on to, and will.  Somehow.  But, as I’ve been writing the past couple of weeks since we’ve moved in our house, I’ve taken boxes and boxes of things to Goodwill and Jacob’s Well, the other charitable thrift store in town, and even more boxes to antique stores.

I’ve written about the emotional pain involved in doing so, but once the boxes are unloaded and disbursed, I’m actually relieved in a good way.  Hoping that the great things will bring money to help those who need the help.  Praying that will be so.

It looks like we are going to be living in limbo for a while longer because once again, just like when we moved up to Picayune 17 months ago into the apartment, now that we’ve gotten the basic living things out of boxes to make our lives at least comfortable, we’ve greatly slowed down in unpacking out of necessity.  There is just so much emotional turmoil one can take at a time to do well and I passed that limit the week we moved in.

I’m doing much better now, thanks to lots of prayers on my part and yours for me for the Lord’s help in dealing with depression and emotional unease and I’m greatly appreciative of all of those on my behalf.  Tom is greatly appreciative, too.  After all, he’s the one who has to see me suffer when I’m in a depressed state and to comfort me.

The greatest comfort so far as been the tranquility of the back porch where I can sit and ponder God’s goodness in keeping us safe thus far and praying and faithfully expecting that He will continue to do so. 

Please continue to pray for us that He will do so, as well, if you would.  Y’all make all the difference in the world to me in a very positive way each day!

Hope you each and every one have a great day today.  It’s very cloudy here with rain sure to follow, it seems.  It rained heavily yesterday afternoon and has been rainy looking ever since.  But I am safe and secure here in our new house that is now working well – for the moment – and hopefully will continue to do so.

We’re expecting to have the cabinet guy out here in a little while to install our kitchen counter tops – finally – to replace these porous plywood temporary ones and I will be so glad to finally have the house completely finished except for a couple of very minor detail jobs.  What a blessing that will be to have real counter tops to work on.  Although we’ve managed thus far.  These last 17 1/2 months. 

And I thank God for that this cloudy, rainy day.  Dee