Soggy IA

You may have heard of some flooding going on in the midwest. Houses being swept away in Wisconsin and hundreds through out 4 states being evacuated. My hometown of Decorah is one of those communities...as well as Cedar Falls, where Eric and I called home for about 7 yrs, and Iowa City where my sister lives, and Des Moines where Eric's brother lives as well as my grandparents. And thousands of other people live there too. It has been heartbreaking to see our familiar communities going through this. For some it is not as bad as the 1993 flooding, due to new dikes. But for others, like Decorah, this time they were hit really hard. A friend of mine and his wife have started a local magazine in Decorah and here is the link to their site, it has many pictures from various days. http://www.theinspiredmedia.com Another place to look, www.kdec.com

Today as I looked at the pictures, my compassionate 3 yr old came in. As she looked at a picture of a playground under water, I explained that in Grandma Martha's town they have too much water. She looked at me and said, "we have to go and help." I asked her what we could do to help, she replied "we'll splash the water out". She then called Gma and told her that she was coming and was going to splash the water out of her house. How sweet. My parent's house is fine. They have a wet basement like most, but they live in the country and not near the river, they are fine. The crops, may not be.

Roads are washed away, bridges are gone, it will be a long time before it is business as usual. Crops are under water, or more likely, gone. Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week, and so now all are under a flash flood watch.

It has been a wild spring with tornadoes like never before, the east sweltering in heat, and the midwest underwater. To our friends and families--you are in our prayers. Keep in touch.