#abfloods

[alphfli0601-blog]

regram @redcrosscanada This month, Chief Jacob Bearspaw School in #Alberta invited us to a BBQ and ribbon cutting ceremony for their new playground. #RedCross funded a large portion of this playground through our Community Initiatives Program, as part of Alberta floods recovery. Principal William Shade said: “We are very pleased to have this new playground, and so are the kids. The project has brought about a lot of excitement in the community. Since the flood, many people have been displaced and are living in crowded conditions. This playground provides a communal place for residents to spend time with their families, and to get out of their busy homes. Residents are also happy as they no longer need to take their kids to the playground in Longview.” Pictured: Jane Snyder, Recovery Case Worker, Canadian Red Cross; Chief Darcy Dixon, Bearspaw Nakoda Nation; William Shade, Principal, Chief Jacob Bearspaw School #ABfloods #Alberta #redcross #community #yyc

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: In a Year

June 20, 2013 the day that changed our lives forever.  It was a devastating day I remember with razor-sharp clarity, but a beautiful thing has happened, we have changed and the ache is fading in the light of who we have become.

If you are just joining my family on this day please feel free to start at the beginning.  Re-reading these blogs has reminded me of the tremendous heartache we have endured this past year, but boy am I proud of my little family!  My son who has matured into a caring, aware and courageous 4 yr old who exhibits nothing but deep love for his new world and new sister.  My baby girl who has added so much peace, joy and smiles to us, what an absolute gift she is!  And of course my hard-working, gracious, strong tower of a husband Gary, who has set his mind and hands to the task of rebuilding our home, businesses and life!  I toast you Family in the Flood, you are what life is all about and you make this mamma proud!

I remember a year ago we were living in a hotel in Calgary the first week after the flood and all we wanted was to go "home" to our RV in the backyard of our new home!  We had just bought a fixer upper on June 1 and had big, big dreams to renovate it and have a fun summer living in the backyard.  We did get to live in a trailer all summer, but not our trailer and not in our backyard.  In that first week I reached out to friends in Minot, ND who had experienced a similar flood a few years earlier, I needed to hang on to the words of someone who had traveled this road before.  

"One year, in one year you will be home in a beautiful house that will be much stronger and more beautiful than before."

I HATED this encouragement, and have fought against the passing of these last 12 months, the necessary time it takes to rebuild a home and transform a life.  There are challenges in life that require TIME; time to grieve and be angry, time to be humbled and time for resurrection.  I have been deeply humbled by the fact that it has taken a year to get back into the main floor of our home, and still we have so many loose ends that remain unsettled.  Dare I say I am know at least a respecter of time, not quite a friend, but a careful observer?  

It has taken a year and yes it is true we are home in a more beautiful and sound home!  We are knit together with people in High River in a stronger and more beautiful way!  We have lost many things and even some friendships, but we are confident that the lasting Goodness of God is flowing through our veins.  

Hope flows to the lowest spot, fills us up and then rages into the rest of us, in this Hope we live, breath, move and have our being!

THANK YOU!

[karlaadolphe]

Recipe: Peanut Butter, Banana + Chocolate Bites

We have been trying to eat healthier as a result of forming terrible habits during flood displacement and the holidays.  We also LOVE a little sweet touch after dinner, so finding healthy sweets are tough.

Try these!

1 Banana 3 oz melted dark chocolate Peanut Butter Sea Salt

Cut the banana in thin slices, spread peanut butter on a banana slice, then top with another banana slice.  Sprinkle the salt into melted chocolate and drizzle on top of the banana.  Freeze and serve frozen.

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: The Struggle for Rest

Does anyone ever feel rested on Monday morning, or am I the only one who feels like the first day of the week is the hardest to embrace?  Hear me out, I am not talking about having such a glorious and magical weekend that Monday feels like a downer. I am talking about waking up and feeling completely exhausted and unable to imagine taking on the next 5 days.  I think I have hit a wall and it is probably from a lack of consistent rest over an extended period of time.

Before I had kids I actually disliked weekends, I found it hard to stop working and enjoy downtime.  Come to think of it, as a touring artist the weekend nights are my prime gigging nights, so I am generally confused about rest days. 

Now, as a reluctant stay at home mom, I dread Monday because it means I don't have my parenting partner around most of the time.  Yes I am a wimp, yes Gary's job is flexible and I am able to ask for help throughout the weekdays, yes I said reluctant stay at home mom.  

I struggle being at home, I love to "work" with adults, having adult goals and conversations :) I also have a hard time seeing the daily domestic and child-raising tasks as rewarding or fulfilling.  Multiply that with an obscene amount of personal and community stress and voila today I wanted to pull the plug  What set me off?  Hudson has a sniffle and I just couldn't accept that he would have this sniffle on a Monday morning instead of Friday night (he is totally fine by the way) :)  

Cue the world's smallest violin and a hefty cup of shame.

I have had these moments in the past but they tend to be overcome by a little cry, prayer or and extra long shower.  Since the flood, I have started to notice these "get me outta here" moments stay longer than expected or actually start to debilitate me.  My mind races, my sleep is affected, I don't have any patience, and then I realize I will be a hands-on mom for a long time and I feel very overwhelmed.

So today I am thinking about rest.  Here are some amazing ideas I have heard of from families in High River who are trying to reconnect and take a breather.

Tropical Vacations. Decorating abandoned homes with Christmas lights (we are doing this!) Creating new family traditions for the holidays. Buying new Christmas ornaments, or receiving them as a gift to restore decorations lost in the flood. I am inspired and thankful to be living here, in this town, in this moment!  However, I have come to realize, these community moments and celebrations can leave me feeling empty and stressed out because I am lacking daily, quality, momentary rest.  Little moments of thankfulness and quiet, little glimmers of hope that we will recover as a family and town, little tokens of grace and comfort given to us.  I need to stop focusing on getting into the house and start living a restful existence now.  I want to learn how to receive grace in the tiny moments of my everyday so when we move into our home the celebration will be the addition of all these tiny victories!

I am not writing this post to ask for pity or to cause concern, but to ask for prayer for my family and all the others is High River dealing with stress, fear, anxiety, and exhaustion.  Its been 5 months and I think we all need extra care, patience and hugs because we just are not back to normal.  This "new normal" is a limp, please be gracious to us when we are forgetful, emotional, rude or distracted.  We notice that we are not quite ourselves and we are working hard to emerge with wisdom and grace for you and for life!

K

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: Turning the Tides

Well friends the day has come, our daughter Sterling Poppy Providence was born at the High River General Hospital (after a valiant attempt at home) on Oct 21!!!  She is a calm, chubby, healthy and perfect addition to our family, we are all in love.

Being pregnant throughout this whole flood adventure proved to be both extremely challenging and a total blessing.  I have been amazed at how the body prioritizes sustaining life in the midst of great stress, this was my experience with Sterling.  Having a little life growing within me during the flood reminded me to stay focused on my family and trust that we would all survive and thrive in the midst of this tragedy.  One fun fact, the midwives were astounded at how robust and healthy the umbilical cord was, truly a miracle of the body providing for the baby!

In the midst of all the crazy ups and downs we truly are being taken care of!!

We are now waiting to hear back on a few more options to help fix our basement.  We have been able to install a furnace and hot water tank in our home, and the yard has been scraped clean of all the debris.  We hope to begin renovations and basement repairs within a week or two, once our electricity gets restored.  

Many thanks to all of you who have been so concerned for our journey, it truly is remarkable to think of how many of you are thinking of us.  We are excited to begin fixing our home and are really enjoying our new daughter!

Here are some pictures taken by my amazing bestie Joanne Loewen!  

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: The First Snow

It snowed in High River last night, and it has me thinking.  Thinking about all the people who are "living" in their homes without a furnace or hot water tank and dealing with demolished, un-insulated basements.  Or the folks living in trailers and RVs; I have lived in an RV in the early parts of winter, it is tough and potentially very damaging to the RV systems as RVs are not intended for year-round use, especially in cold weather.  Lastly I am thinking about moms and dads walking little ones across a windy field to eat in the mess hall at the temporary camp known as Saddlebrook just north of town.

I am grateful that my family is safe and comfortable in a warm condo, that we have warm water and a furnace and that we can cook our own meals indoors.  I am grateful to be able to have this baby in a safe place, and that our hospital is open if we need to be there for delivery.  I am grateful that Gary has work and that somehow, by the grace of God and good friends, we are keeping our heads above water.

I am also thankful that we finally heard a definitive answer from a government official on Monday about what NOT to do with our house.  We are still waiting to hear more news on how to move forward with addressing structural damages to our home, nearly 4 months later.  I have to battle to keep faith that this damaged system will eventually provide answers for me and all the families still wrestling with how to move forward.

Systems will fail us, they are not the answer, I will tell you what is the answer.  People who manifest their love for you!  The majority of the physical help we have received has been from fellow High Riverites, people locked out of their homes, paying rent and mortgage, somehow show up and help us over and over again.  These same people who offer to feed this tired mamma, and take my son to play, when they themselves have barely any extra margin.  I am SO HUMBLED by the character of the people in this town and boy am I proud of them!

People are the ones who will fix this mess not a government program that is deeply flawed.  Sadly the amount of resources that are needed to fix the entire town are so large that we do still need our government and charities to step in.  In the meantime I encourage you, dear individuals who truly care for us, keep praying, keep asking how you can help, keep donating and please keep encouraging us!  No not one of you can fix this mess, but knowing you are there and seeing your faces, getting a card or a phone call and swinging a hammer together really, really helps!

Many thanks again and again!

K + G

PS hopefully we will know today if our structural damages will be addressed by the system :)

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: Curveball

So surprise!  We are not moving the house today. 

Due to some new information from the DRP and possible engineering hiccups we are post-poning moving the house until further notice.  We hope to have more info by Friday, so hang in there with us as we discern what is best for our future.

We are totally at peace with this information and thank you for enduring the emotional roller coaster with us :)

K

So next on the calendar, lets have a baby!

[karlaadolphe]

Family in the Flood: Moving Day!

We have some happy news to share with you!!  Tomorrow our house will be moved off its current foundation into our backyard and next week work will begin on removing our old basement and pouring a new one!

These are very exciting things, as they are happening about a month earlier than planned!  We still do not have any word from the government on potential assistance or funding for this adventure but we are confident that moving forward is the best way to secure our home/property future.  Regardless of finances, let me tell you how good it feels to be "working" on our house!

Our home will be raised 3 feet higher than its current elevation, helping mitigate for floodwaters in the future.  The home will be completely renovated (please come help!) and hopefully ready for our family to move into in Feb 2014!  

We have had incredible help from the contractors, utilities, Town of High River, and our many friends who have helped so much along the way!  I am amazed at how my friends from High River, currently displaced themselves, come help us time and time again.  Where are these people finding such incredible reserves!!  Just another reason why we LOVE this town!

We will post pics and videos this week to show you the progress, we are so excited!

We also hope to post news of our baby being born soon :)

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

K + G