2 year Anniversary Today (3/18) -Great Flood '08

This is a story our daughter wrote about the flood:

The day the water of the White River rose began like any other day. Cate looked out the window of her bedroom early that morning to find that rain was still pouring steadily outside. It had been raining for three days straight, with no signs of letting up. Around the little river cabin, puddles grew larger and larger and the river’s waters became swifter as the rain made the waters rise above their usual size. Cate got up and went down to the office of the resort her parents owned. When she arrived, her parents were talking about the rising river waters that could possibly place her family’s business and home in danger of flooding.
All day, talk of flooding was heard in the small office. By dinner time, there was news that the Buffalo River was expected to crest at an incredible 52 feet, almost five times its usual height. The owners of the resort set to work moving things above waist high in their camp store, just in case the water rose that high. Small cabins called camper cabins were cleared of all their belongings, such as refrigerators, heaters, and mattresses when they figured they couldn’t completely move the cabins themselves. By midnight, most of what the owners could move was moved to higher ground. The water was rising a foot per hour and by 2 a.m. the people camping in the resort’s campground had to be evacuated.
By the time everyone was safely evacuated, the owners went back home to rest, knowing they had done all they could. They had been working almost all night without stopping. At 5 a.m. a police officer came to the owners house and told them they had to evacuate also. Knowing the waters of the risen Buffalo River were already destroying their business, the owners had to then leave their home to the will of nature, only this time, they had no time to prepare their home for the destructive waters.
Everyone knew that when they came back, there would be immense destruction. They mentally prepared themselves for whatever was to come. When they returned they saw something they had never experienced, a feeling of complete helplessness. Nature and the will of God is unstoppable. Water was five feet high in what used to be their office; the pool, hidden under murky, still water. Picnic tables and benches were nowhere in sight. All that they had known was gone, changed forever. As they stood on the waters edge, they were still about 500 feet from their office building and could do nothing.
The next day the water receded leaving mud 6 inches thick on top of everything, and in every crevice. The cleanup would take weeks, maybe months, and the owners were just coming into their busiest part of the season. They feared they would have to close and lose business for a while. People from all over, who had once been part of the owners' lives through the business drove to help them clean. Neighbors they had never met offered their days off to help wipe mud from desks, chairs and papers. Although they worked harder than they ever had, and had just lost a major aspect of their lives, the owners were happy in a way they had never been before from the love they were shown those next few weeks.
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Life goes on and God allows suffering in each person's life to be used for His greater good. Today I am asking for prayers from all of our White Buffalo family for David McLaughlin who many of you remember as our Camp Host from previous years. David has just been diagnosed with cancer and will be starting a rigorous chemotherapy and radiation routine.

A Light in Every Window

This weekend marks the (official) start of our season and we are happy to report that every one of our nine cabins are booked! What a sight to see all the windows lit up along the river as I drove down the road towards home last night after a busy (good) day of greeting old friends, and meeting new ones. We also have some hearty souls who are camping with us, and some of our Camper Cabins are also occupied. After an unusually cold and snowy winter it is comforting to have people here again- especially the nice folks who always make plans to spend their Spring Break with us fishing for trout on the White River. John has worked very hard to get us back into our "pre-flood" office, and we are just putting the final touches on that. We hope you'll make your plans soon to come back to the resort and see all we've done to make it even better than you remember.