Posted on 09/26/2009 4:22:56 PM PDT by NYer
From Mark Shea's blog, this sad news:
And, on a more personal note, my friend Rod Bennett (author of the terrific book Four Witnesses) writes:Visit Mark's post to find out more about helping the Bennett family during this difficult time.
Just a note to any of our friends who haven't got the word: we Bennetts lost our home and practically all of its contents in Monday's flash flooding here in Georgia. Please be in prayer as we look for guidance on where to go from here and as our kids (who've never really known any other home than this one) try to pick up the pieces emotionally.I spoke to Rod this morning. He was standing in eight inches of mud on the *third* floor of his house. He is the soul of Christian courage and fidelity in all this, though his voice cracked a couple of times and nearly broke my heart. They have lost *everything*. And they had *just* sunk $30,000 dollars into a renovation ("The roof didn't leak" he said.) Thanks be to God, they have flood insurance and so should be able to find a new home. But everything they own is gone and they are, like us, basically lower middle class folk. His library he built his whole life is goo. All their kids' things. All his wife treasured. Everything. Look around your home at all the dear familiar things you take for granted. Now imagine it all taken away. Every stick of it. He is meditating on Job and saying to God, "I'm not going anywhere." But it's bitterly hard.
We'll be staying with my parents in Marietta for the next week or so.
They will stay in their folks' summer home for the time being. But that's 150 miles away, which means his wife will have to radically scale back her work hours as a nurse--and that means way less income. Plus, the kids are traumatized and are now suddenly thrust into a strange place far from friends and familiar things.
All of which is to say "They could really use, not just your prayers, but your help."
insurance companies may be lining up fer bailout $$.
Four Witnesses is one of the best books on the early Church. I cannot recommend it highly enough--especially for those new to Church history and the writings of the early fathers. Can't count how many times I've heard the book cited by converts and fallen away Catholics as a turning point in their journey to the Church.
It is a good book, a very good book.
We’ll all have to pray for the Bennett’s
Having been through a flood myself...it is awful to be uprooted and invaded like that. You learn stuff does not mean as much as you thought it did.
It is real important to document all the ruined stuff. It takes time and make a complete list of everything - ever sock and every shoe lost. It is a full time job for one of the parents to handle.
Watch the insurance adjuster and make sure they include everthing. Go through with them, every time they visit the house.
If they do this well, they should end up alright. Since we all have a lot of junk that will not be replaced, you can end up with some extra money from the itenized stuff list to put towards damage not covered by the insurance.
It is a chance to see that stuff is not you and that family love is what was in that house and made it special; not the material. It is hard and I will pray for them.
Prayers lifted for them.
I’ve recently had a far less devastating flood but a flood none the less.
Stuff can be recovered but you have to work quickly.
Go for the most important things first.. Documents and photographs.
I was able to soak them in fresh water and then dry in a food dehydrator.
Clothing can be laundered.
It is expensive but books can be recovered too.. Wouldn’t fool with anythings that can be replaced but only the most important ones.
Prayers for the Bennett family.
That book is on my “To read” list!
He is truly fortunate to have taken out flood insurance. Recovery won’t be easy, but without that insurance it would have been even more devastating. May God bless him and his family at this terrible time.
Flood Claims May Reach 16,000, With Many Unprotected (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601206&sid=afLOZOUnWrbI
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