And the rain rain rain came down down down

So, you know how it was a busy weekend? It was all made a little busier, a little tenser (tenser? more tense?) and a lot scarier when 11 --count 'em --11 inches of rain fell south of Indianapolis on Saturday, and then made its way down here, flooding several towns along the way.

Will's youth group was to fly out of Indy at 6:30 Saturday evening, but all roads there (I-65, US 31 and SR 46) were under water. His terrific leader quickly made arrangements for them to fly out of Louisville instead, but they really had to hustle, since the flight was at 5:45. One stalled car and one traffic jam later, they all made it to the airport and finally got to their hotel in San Antonio around midnight.

Sarah and Maggie were both stranded at work in Columbus Saturday evening, but both made it home Sunday morning, through strategic driving maneuvers around the water. Lots and lots of damage in Columbus -- the hospital is closed, bridges collapsed and many people lost their homes. The damage wasn't as widespread here in Seymour, but the flood waters were the highest I have seen in my life -- the White River crested just inches below the record, set in 1913. I've talked to most of my friends who live on that side of town, and all seem to have made it out of the flood without much damage to their homes. This evening, Clay and I took a little drive out by the high school, and things looked pretty normal until we turned a corner and saw several TV trucks parked along the side of the road at the entrance to one of the flooded subdivisions. Many of the beautiful houses there have water in their basements, and the streets were still flooded.

So that was the big excitement. The other excitement was Emanuel's baptism. His parents, Ernesto and Sophia, had asked my sister, Sharon, and I to be his godmothers. I am very honored. My camera was in the car, on the way back from Louisville airport, so I don't have any pictures of the baptism, but here is the precious boy in his white satin suit:

This is cute, but really, he is much cuter in real life.

With Clay, at the dinner after:

Covered up with the Pinwheel blanket:

His big brothers, Emiliano and Ernesto:We also had an excellent weekend visiting with Father Phechner, pastor of our sister parish in Gaspard, Haiti, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. He brought a beautiful carved map of the Haiti, and presented it to Father Todd:

There are so many needs in Haiti -- medical, educational, spiritual, along with the basic needs of food, clean water and adequate housing. But Father wasn't downcast or negative; he seemed so happy to be with us and spent most of his time repeating, "merci, merci, merci."
As we made our way back to Seymour after the noon Mass in Brownstown, we could see the flood waters creeping toward town. Father Todd and I were surprised by all the water, but Father Phechner didn't seem too shocked; he has lived through hurricanes, mudslides and huge floods, and I'm sure to him it just looked like a big mud puddle.

Peace. Stay dry.