Mind if I brag a little?

Concerning our recent flood tragedy here in the Nashville area, I don't even know where to start. But what I'd like to do is a whole lotta bragging. First, on this AMAZING community in which we live. The Nashville spirit is alive and well and never better. I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of compassion and hands-on hard work by so many here. Our church, Cross Point Community, has been sending out teams into hundreds of neighborhoods, lending a hand to complete strangers who just need help. Ken and I took part when we could this week. At one house, I spent hours helping sort through precious family photographs, salvaging what we could of their life’s history in pictures. Today we helped gut homes right down to the 2x4s, including the one in this first picture.

In Kingston Springs, the community just outside of Nashville where we live, the damage has been tremendous. Six houses across from the middle school and high school were swept away in the blink of an eye. They used to stand where all that water is in this picture. Homes throughout our town were submerged and ruined. People showed up even as the rain kept falling, rushing to help move what they could to second floors before the worst hit. Amy and Katie, who own the Red Tree Coffee Shop here, immediately set up a command center in their shop to help organize relief efforts. They’ve kept us all informed via Facebook posts as to the needs and locations of homes needing help. Girls, I'm bragging on you! Hats off to you and so many others for the hard work in helping our little town.

Even though our hill-top home survived the flood, we lost touch with my father who lives in a retirement community off Coley Davis Road (right) in Bellevue where the floodwaters completely cut off all access. We were also cut off, unable to get out of Kingston Springs to check on him. But my son-in-law, Ben Schmitt, wasn’t about to wait around for the waters to recede. On Monday, he grabbed his friend Derek Wells and the two of them parked on the shoulder of the I-40, climbed over the embankments, and rushed to Harpeth Madows. Eventually they found Dad, his home safe and dry. He had no electricity, cell phone service or working landlines, but he was safe. I can’t tell you how relieved we were to get the news! As you’d expect, I now consider my son-in-law a SAINT!

But Ben didn’t stop there. He has worked tirelessly this entire week, getting up at the crack of dawn each day to go out and help those in need. Several of Hannah and Ben's friends lost everything in homes that were flooded with upwards of eight-feet of water. Ben has helped tear out drywall and insulation, pull up flooring, sort through water and mud-soaked belongings, and so much more.

For a guy who’s normally seated at a soundboard, producing music, he’s certainly gone beyond the call of duty this week, and we can't brag on him enough. Back when our daughter told us she'd fallen in love with a guy known as "Snake" (a nickname given to him by Dolly Parton, for the record), you could imagine our concern! But once we got to know him, we couldn't love him more. And after this week? Well, he's not just our son-in-law, he's a hero!