It's all sinking in

Well, this week I had good intentions of blogging about all the details of our birch sap collection, Keith's birthday celebration,and the happenings of summer arriving with break up. I did NOT think I would be blogging about the ordeal we just went through and will be going through for months or even longer! I know many of you have been keeping up on Facebook, but many of you haven't. So I will tell you what is happening and hope that you keep us all in your prayers.

Sunday morning the Yukon river broke the record of latest breakup. I have blogged every year at the sheer power of water. But this year we seemed to have broken all the records! By Sunday night the river had gone up by feet! To the point of panic. Keith and I spent the afternoon moving his office files up to the second story of their river front property. We moved all their vehicles to a higher location and took all the computers and important stuff with us to our house to keep safe. The water continued to rise all night as an ice jam stopped all ice and water flow down river from us. Monday, Memorial Day, a day we will NEVER forget began at 9:30 am when the emergency alarm went off. This meant the water had risen to above a certain point that I am not sure the actual footage but it was spilling over the bank and into all the sloughs we have around our houses in old town and new town. Our house being one of the highest we rushed to help others move gear out of the way of the rush of water. But soon we found ourselves trying to move trucks, snow machines, freezers and equipment to higher ground which was our driveway. Our neighbors Karin and Ida moved to our house as their house is quite a bit lower then ours. We soon found ourselves in our house completely surrounded by water. The water steadily rose to the point where an evacuation alarm sounded for everyone to move to the high school which is the highest point in Galena. Evacuation plans went into effects to evacuate elders, women and children. We got on the list to leave when we realized all the bridges  were washed out and we were completely isolated from the a airport. There was so much water that
they were using boats to drive us over the roads and to the dike where there were buses waiting to transport us to the airport.i must say my boys were super excited that they got to ride in a boat AND in a cool yellow school bus!when we arrived at the airport we were told FEMA had 5 planes coming out to evacuate people, but then they stopped it due to some reason. Many said due to the fact that it was not a critical situation.  When we looked out over the dike, which is a giant wall built around the airport which used to be an Air Force base, the ice was even with the dike. Meaning the whole town was being flooded. I don't know how any thing like this could not be critical. Getting out was becoming an emergency and the air port manager said if anyone could pull strings to get people out, pull them. I was with our pastors wife Shell, who called a lot of people saying we needed planes ASAP! Gunnar Johnson,one of the RAs from the school who was in Wasilla, contacted people. And he must have a lot of good friends because by 11 pm that night we were on the runway waiting for missionary planes to land and they had our names on the list of people to take out. I can not tell you how many times I heard Gunnar's name but he has become a super hero in my eyes. All these missionary pilots landed, called our names and I found all I could do was hug them and say thank you  over and over. The boys and I loaded the planes and took off . With tears in my eyes most of the way
to Fairbanks, I looked out the plane at all the devastation around our home. The whole town was under water. People's homes and land destroyed. It was worse then I thought from the air and I had just left the love of my life there! I think I cried all the way to Fairbanks which was a 2 hour flight in the little 5 seater plane I was riding in. I can not tell you how much it meant to all of us moms  that people volunteered to come pick us up and take us to safety! We touched down in Fairbanks  in the early morning. I am not sure at what time but it was around 2 am. My boys slept most of the flight . To brag on our kids, ours meaning Shells, Susan's and mine, they did wonderful through a stressful situation!  What little troopers they were, even with no real meals and just snacks to hold them all day. Their cheerfulness and joyfulness made all us moms feel better. When we landed in Fairbanks, the boys and I went with Shell and her kids to a friends house.They picked us up at the airport. Did I mention it being around 2 am? Brenda and Debbie you are wonderful! We went to Debbie's house for the night. I didn't sleep much because I was mostly praying for friends and Keith to be able to get out safely, with our dog too. A few hour later Debbie made another trip to the airport to pick up our pastor Chris. I told Debbie if she saw my husband please let him know where I was and bring him to her house. Around 6 am he walked in the door. What a relief! And Daisy our dog was with him. After briefly talking and getting the update from him, I finally feel asleep for a few hours. The kids slept good which was great. After breakfast we drove to the Faith Hill Community Church where a group of friends had been taken to after they landed in Fairbanks.  When we walked in  I burst into tears as I realized my dear friend Wendy and her 3 girls had made it out. They were ones I was worried about because where they live was completely isolated from the rest of the town. And we had not heard from them for a while. Tuesday passed slow waiting for news but it was also a very humbling day. The church we are staying at had put out a email saying we needed clothes, food, carseats and anything else that we could not bring. People came out in droves! It is a very humbling feeling when people donate and want to help any way they can! We feel really blessed! I have always been on the giving side of donating for disasters, but this time I am on the receiving side. It is very humbling!  I am still amazed by the fact that 200+ people in Galena were evacuated NOT by the government but by mission organizations! God truly has us in his hands! We find ourselves in tears at people's generosity.   We came with the clothes on our backs and what we could fit into a small bag, but god is supplying ALL our needs!

Many times during the day I find myself thinking of things we lost I find myself feeling a bit discouraged.....ok maybe more then a bit... A LOT! But then I remember "Home is where your heart is!" And right now my 3 pieces of my heart are curled up next to me in our bed. Yes things in our house are ruined, our town destroyed, I am not even sure we can return for months or even years. Who knows but I know God has a plan! As my neighbor Karin said "our stuff isn't ruined it is just in
a cold rinse cycle!"  Glad we can still laugh in tough situations! Keith and I even laughed that after a week of collecting birch sap, boiling it down for days, we didn't even get to try them on pancakes! But we are safe! The boys and I plan to fly down to Puerto Rico to stay with Keith's family while he returns to Galena to help clean up, repair and whatever else needs to be done. Here are some prayer requests:
Pray for us as we travel to different destinations.
Pray for other Galena residence that lost EVERYTHING!
Pray for families still separated by this flood
Pray for those people still in Galena as the are still dealing with flood waters
Pray for clean up to be easy
Pray safety for villages down river as the flood waters vow down.
There are so many more but right now just pray or us all! I can not tell you how many times we can see God working good even among the bad! It truly is humbling to see Gods people come together to help us all out! I may not be always cheerful about this situation but I know God has a plan and I just have to trust him on that....and keep telling myself that over and over. I am going to sign off till I can think straight and write some more.