Update

Wow. I am officially awful at keeping up with this.

As far as the flood, we were very blessed. We saw a lot of damage and homes completely destroyed. We got close to 5 feet of water in our basement, which was fortunately mostly vacant. If you look down from the top of the stairs leading into the basement you could see about 2 or 3 stairs with the water and there are about 9 stairs total. It was rising pretty quickly, so we decided to go out to try and find a water pump (bad idea #1). Almost every road we took was eventually blocked. When we got on the freeway, the other direction was flooded and starting to spill over the median into our side and a LONG line of cars were stuck there. Praise the Lord we didn't try to get on that freeway. We came to this intersection that looked like a river took it over (picture). There were some workers stuck on the roof of one of the businesses and they had just finished doing some boat rescues to get customers out.

We then went to McDonalds so Cody could get a cheeseburger (bad idea #2) and continue our quest. Heres our next stop...

These pics don't even come close to the things we saw and heard about by the way. We finally went to Home Depot and settled for some hoses to try to siphon the water out (bad idea #3), which was very unsuccessful after hours of trying. So we opened our window and starting scooping it out with a bowl and throwing it out the window (bad idea #4). We lost count around 40 I think and the water level was not budging at all. Then our landlord showed up with a pump! Took several hours to get it all out. At 150 gallons per minute, Cody calculated about 10,000 gallons were in the basement. Yikes! Heres the water flowing out...

If you didn't get to see a whole lot on the news, check this url out and other youtube videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFjaQoOdJvI

What is amazing is the incredible attitude of Nasvhille. People interviewed on the news were only grateful to have their lives and many were praising God despite their homes and everything they have being destroyed. What a great city to live in! The relief efforts have been amazing. So many people have volunteered and helped each other out. Cody and Ben volunteered to help out, but when they got there they couldn't do much because there were so many volunteers. I think that is just unreal.

God has been providing for us so much. Cody and Ben have been working as 'Brand Ambassadors' doing promotions for various companies. They worked promoting Quiznos in Kentucky, a Chevy test drive event, and now they are working at the CMA Festival promoting Oceanspray cranberries! They dress up in waders and stand in a bog of cranberries (just like the commercials) and talk to people as they walk by. Haha. All of the jobs last just a few days and pay quite well, which works great giving them an open schedule for music. And they love being able to work together, so cute. haha.

As far as music, they are working on starting a cover band as well as working on the originals for an EP (extended play). And welcome to the band, Stephen, on drums! He's a good guy and very talented. They have chosen 25 cover songs to perfect and have performance ready and they are sounding pretty dang good. The goal is to be able to start booking gigs for the cover band in about a month or so. Can't wait! I'll get some of the music posted up here as soon as I can. The planned studio time in April didn't quite happen unfortunately. But, they finished a recorded version of 'Nathan's Song' and it sounds great! Looks like it will be a bit longer than expected for recording, but that's ok. I am so excited to see what is in store for them.

It's an absolute zoo over here with CMA week. I feel so out of place not having cowboy boots or a cowboy hat. I am still waiting for my Carrie sighting. My friend saw her at the mall a couple weeks ago. Its bound to happen to me soon...

I am very excited for my family to visit next week! Mom, Dad, Jacki, Grandpa, and the girls are all coming over for Connor's boot camp graduation. Can't wait to see them and we are soo proud of Connor!

We miss everyone and can't wait to come home in July and see Audrey and Collin get hitched!!