We were able to do disaster relief here in Culpeper, VA. We went from a drought to over 10" in around 2 months. While this doesn't seem like much, we’re east of the Shenandoah Mountains, which all flow east. We’ve got lots of rocks under our soil and plenty of blackjack soil. We're a lot lower than most everything else where we're located.
Tuesday the 9th, we got 3” of rain. The property got plenty of water with some flash flooding, but most of it was gone that night. Our lake was overflowing its banks in several areas and parts of our driveway had rivers flowing over it!
That evening we were having dinner with Dave & Tina at our house. Dave is the youth pastor here and his wife is the administrative person with the church/ranch. They had let me know that their roof had small leak and I told them I’d look at it after it stopped raining. A couple hours later they received a call from their daughter, the basement was flooding and had already reached the bottom step.
They immediately took off and we put together some of the guys from the ranch and headed over. Their sump pump was running but not pumping, turns out it was clogged with a lot of mud, etc., that came in through the outside drains from all the rains.
We got busy pumping water and clearing out everything that was down there. The basement isn’t “finished” but it was used for storage, a home gym, and Dave’s office. It’s also where the HVAC and water heater systems are located.
We finished getting about 95% of the water out after midnight, went home to get some sleep and were back at it to finish up getting the rest of the water out, work on the roof, and help with sorting through things. I was able to set up our remediation equipment to get everything drying. There are some wood stud walls and a lot of cement wall insulation that are soaked and need drying out. The HVAC guy came out and all is well with that and the water heater!
Thursday we were back to clean out the sump system, which resulted in replacing the pump, but with a larger one. Rain was forecast again for Friday and we didn’t want any issues.
It did rain on Friday and the roof was still leaking, so Saturday morning I was back up there and hopefully got the problem fixed, if not, we’ll have go to plan B.
Things are drying well and once it’s all dry enough we’ll be spraying our antimicrobial everywhere. The basement won’t require much putting back together, but we’ll need to do some drywall repair, sealing, and painting in the bathroom upstairs from the roof leak.
Glad we were able to jump right back into disaster relief at our new home!
We also got some of the polar vortex our way. We got about 4” of snow and then the temps started to drop. Tuesday night the temps dropped and when I woke up it was 3° with a feels like of -4. One of the things I do here is make sure that nothing involving water lines freezes. There are 16 RV sites on the property and we take care of everything up to the hydrant, as well as about a dozen or so horse paddock hydrants. Since I’ve learned so much about RV living, I spend time with the RVers going over how to keep warm and not have any freezing issues on their side. With temps this low, no matter how much you do, letting the water run a little is a must. I took care of making sure everything was up and going and that everyone was ready and then was heading up to bed and reminded myself that I had to let the faucet run, but then forgot. So at 5:30 this morning I was outside going through everything until I figured out the problem, one of the hoses was frozen. I had an extra heated hose, so I exchanged them. I was outside for about 2 ½ hours! Took a while to thaw out! We also had some setup and thawing at a couple of the paddocks. Still plenty to do on the ranch regardless of the weather!
Continue to keep us in prayer as I realized once again that I just can’t do the physical labor like I used to, especially up and down ladders, in attics, and on roofs! My thigh tendon and hip issues flared up again, so I had to to lay flat as much as possible for a couple days after helping with the flood but then necessity called!
I continue to pray that The Lord will heal me and I’m faithful to do the exercises and stretching, etc., I’m supposed to do, in hopes that I can keep serving the best I can.
Mary Jo’s back has also been causing issues for the past couple of weeks. Please keep her in your prayers too.
We don’t know exactly what our future holds, but we know The One Who does! We’re still on this earth, so Jesus still wants to use us for His kingdom, and we want to be faithful to that! Please keep us in your prayers!
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief for future disaster relief or at Cedar Ranch, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here.
If you’re interested in helping with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
