OH NOES!

keokuk is right on the mississippi river, and the flood waters are rising.  here are some pictures c/o dawn ferris.

these are the houses on stilts i put in my last post.  as you can see, the water is rising on the stilts.  when dawn took these pictures the water was raising 5 inches per hour.

timmy and i took a walk on this bank, i think, but now you can see how far up the bank its risen.  

this is the middle the bridge from illinois so iowa, this is the low part of the bridge and the river is rising around it, here you can see they're building up the road in the center so the road can become a one way road and hopefully not become unusable during the flood.  this is so interesting to me.  its supposed to crest at 28 feet (abc news) but i dont think its close to that yet.  dawn said she would keep taking and posting pictures.

floods are so sad.  after working with the relief effort in new orleans, i think it will be crazy to take that knowledge to our new home in keokuk.  timmy has had of experience with tearing down/ rebuilding flooded homes and ive had experience meeting needs.  and while i know a lot of the immediate troubling needs will probably be met by the time we get moved up there (assuming the church votes with the elders on june 29th) judging by the situation in new orleans, recovery from wide spread flooding is a marathon, not a sprint.  im looking forward to the way God is going to use our gifts and experiences in keokuk, this seems like a really obvious way he will have us serving there.  i know i have to wait and see what he has for us, but i can't help but think that this will be part of it.  

my sweet husband is playing piano right now.  its so fun to listen to him!

a squirrel just jumped up onto our porch.  big storms are coming to jomo tonight.  

love.