All is well with my soul

The weekend before Hurricane Michael hit, my husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. My daughter stayed with family and we enjoyed a nice dinner at Firefly.

It was the best weekend we had had together in a really long time. Little did we know it would be the last weekend we would have in our home.

We didn’t want a house on the water. We knew how destructive hurricanes could be. Our sturdy brick home is where my mom, her husband, my grandparents, my husband, our daughter and I would ride out Hurricane Michael.

My husband is a Sheriff’s Deputy and he spent the night before the storm driving people to shelters. My family and I ate dinner and had a nice evening together.

The next morning, we could see and hear the winds picking up. I use to work in the news business and a reporter from Salt Lake City asked if I would do a Skype interview. Half way through the interview the power went out and the line went dead.

We watched the winds pick up and the trees fall. This was definitely not a normal storm.

Our front door was beginning to buckle. My husband held it shut.

My mom, her husband and my grandfather went to the back door.

I could hear my husband grunting as he fought against mother nature to keep the door shut. He knew that if he let go of the door it would suck the house down. He kept us safe.

My mom began grabbing valuables and putting them in trash bags. We had photos from our wedding signed by people who aren’t alive anymore hanging on our bedroom wall.

My grandmother, my daughter and I went into the bathroom. We prayed and cried. We sang the hymn “It is well with my soul.” I was ready. I was ready to cover my daughter with my body to protect her if the roof caved in.

My friend Jason is a news anchor in Oklahoma City and he texted us storm updates.The eye is passing over. Another 50 minutes to go. Now 30 minutes. I still have those text messages. They got me through the storm.

Then it was over. We checked on our neighbors and shared supplies. They were shaken but safe. I sat in the bed of my husband’s truck and cried.

We couldn’t stay in our home. I went back inside to help my family gather our belongings to take with us. I went towards my daughters’ room and both my husband and my mother told me not to go in.

All of her keepsakes are in there. I need to get them I said.

The door was jammed. With strength I didn’t have I pushed it open. I quickly realized why they didn’t want me to go in. The roof was gone and you could see the sky. Four inches of wet insulation covered the room.

This is the room my daughter has slept in since we brought her home from the hospital. The only room she has ever known and now it is gone.

My determination to save her keepsakes was intense. The door to her closet was also stuck but with super human mommy strength I was able to get it open.

The closet was completely dry and untouched. I grabbed everything.

In that moment I learned who I was as a person and a mother. The only things I took belonged to my daughter. She is my world.

The only picture on our wall that didn’t fall during the hurricane was a plaque with the verse from Romans 8: 28.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

I added it to our bag of belongings.

Later that afternoon we drove away in my husband’s patrol car and it looked like a scene from the Walking Dead. People were roaming the streets with guns, looking lost and forlorn.

We called our insurance company to file a claim and they said we didn’t have a policy. It took us two weeks to figure out that they cancelled our policy four months earlier and after the mortgage company sent a check to the wrong address. We didn’t have insurance and our house had been destroyed.

We always say if something weird is going to happen it will happen to us.

We got an attorney and with the help of a well-connected family friend the insurance company was able to identify the mistake. Our insurance was reinstated within 72 hours.

We would eventually end up selling what was left of the house and buying another one in Panama City Beach. I had mixed emotions about it. It was the only house we have ever known. In our new home we have hung the house numbers that were on the outside of our previous home.

The new house has two extra suites and we were able to offer those to friends who needed a place to stay.

Our family is going to need the extra space. During the stress of life post-hurricane and the insurance fiasco I found out I was pregnant. We had been told we couldn’t have any more children. This baby is a miracle. God has a purpose for his life.

Our son is due in August and we won’t be naming him Michael.

We don’t know why bad things happen. There is good in everything you just have to look for it.