Brisbane Floods, January 2011

We were affected by the floods in Brisbane last month. I left the house on Tuesday morning the 11th with the children because the driveway was going to be flooded and we needed to get the car out. I had a Dr appointment that morning and as we definitely wouldn't be able to get back into the driveway, I packed overnight bags for the children and myself and took some laundry over to my mums house to be productive while we were out of our house.

Oh how little we knew at that moment.

Lyle and I discussed what we would do, he decided to stay there the night because even if the worst happened the next door neighbour had a boat he was going to stay in.

As the day progressed I received a call from my brother telling me to go to his place because he knew I wouldn't get into our place and we assumed mum and dads house would also be affected.

I spent the afternoon there and the kids loved hanging out with their cousins, although they were driving us a little nutty only being inside from the rain.

In the afternoon my brother and Lyle rocked up and said they heard it's going to be worse than the '74 floods. We've seen photos of our area from the 1974 floods and it wasn't good. In fact we could only see roof tops.

We all made some quick decisions, meanwhile my parents who were by all accounts were 'stuck' in another town and technically were unable to return to Brisbane . . .interestingly they rocked up at the driveway . . .I don't envy my mum that drive with my father!

All said and done Lyle managed to get 100% of all we needed out of the house - mainly paperwork and documents. We spent the night in a unit and following the announcement that the streets in that area may be affected and the power switched off we made the decision to move again. The first evacuation was necessary, the second was precautionary. But it was a good decision. We stayed with friends who were more than accommodating and blessed me personally with an awesome example of hospitality. We were there for over a week I think.

It's been heartbreaking for me to move the way we moved. But the Lord's providence is good. He is kind and gracious beyond compare. We are now in a place that suits our needs better than our old place and we have been witnesses to the staggering kindness of God through our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have a beautiful lounge suite, an incredibly comfortable bed and Emma has never seen more new toys at once . . .ever! And for now, they're all hers.