On Thursday, June 20, at 8:00 a.m., John went to work and by noon could not return home. I left our home at 9:30 p.m. in a front end loader with a fervent prayer to Heavenly Father to please protect our house until our return. He did.
Given the news reports, we expected to see muddy footprints and mold all over our lower level. Our front door had yellow tape on it. That meant it was habitable. The first miracle. The front door had not been rammed in or destroyed by the “inspectors.” The second miracle. Everything seemed to be in place since the door had not been locked. We entered the house to find only footprints in the hall and not all over the house like the neighbours. Another miracle.
In the basement, we found a slimy sludge on the floor, but no water. The level mark on the wall measured seven inches. Somehow the cover to the sewer trap had opened and the water had drained out through the gravel under our foundation. The only mold growing was on the end table made of MDF board. We are grateful for the Lord’s care of our home. He sent His representative, the Bishop, to show His love, and activated angels in both the physical and spiritual realms at the times we needed them to boost us up.
The biggest miracle in the whole episode was the Lord’s blessing upon our bodies. We were able to do all that was needful without physical injury. He gave us the strength to get up each day to use our muscles and the might to clean out the muck and the mess without physical pain throughout long days. We were tired but we grew physically strong and able to cope. He provided a place for us to live until we could once more reside in our home.
One interesting miracle happened in the clean-up after the flood. John’s mother, Mabel, grew up an only child. She told us that her father’s first wife had died in childbirth, and we assumed the baby died along with his mother. Mabel’s mother was his second wife. After Mabel passed away, we were cleaning out some boxes of papers and found a letter to her asking “How is Pop?” and some legal documents that were for issuing a trust fund. The recipient was one, E.H. Day, the son of Harry H. Day and Ada Mitchell Day, Mabel’s parents. So she had a half-brother!
We wondered about him, what he looked like, what his life had been like. Why hadn’t Mabel stayed in touch? Why hadn’t she spoken of him? In sorting through the boxes I found an old envelope that had a photo of a crew in front of a plane and two news articles with pictures of a “little person” (a dwarf) finishing a bomber compartment and doing plane inspections. Upon reading the article, I discovered that the little person named in the article was Harry Day. This was John’s uncle and Mabel’s half-brother! In the Lord’s due time, we had one question answered.