I am tired... I smell like diesel exhaust as I have been on the tractor all day... and I am blessed.  Today I got to work side-by-side with a group of fine men that I am mentoring.  Today, because of God's grace and mercy, I got to walk in a Christ-like manner so that He might be glorified.  Today I awoke after a good night's rest in a warm, comfortable bed with the woman I love. Today I got to be outside all day long and be in amazement that God has placed me in such a position of responsibility over so many and so much... oh my cup runneth over.  Taste the Lord and see that He is good!

It was hard today... but we made good progress.  We got the road about halfway done and the front field fence is fixed so the horse, donkey and llamas won't be out on the road causing a hazard.  The repair went better than expected... we sort of lifted the whole thing up with the tractor and lots of man power, then re-drove the T-posts and added a few.  God provided the raw materials of plenty of CREEK GRAVEL to pile around the bottom of the fence!

We also picked up and composted all of the dead birds.  It was not fun, but my men handled it well.  I am proud of them.  They all worked hard today and no one complained.  It appears that we will have a 3-week gap in the chicken production.  Not that bad as it could have been 6 weeks. 

Preliminary reports from one of our farmers in Lobelville are that they have stuff to pick and they don't want us to take too long of a break.  We will know more about Ethridge tomorrow... we couldn’t go today because Tommy was busy re-delivering Sundays shares and Kevin our produce foreman was busy here helping us stop the bleeding here on the farm.  We aren't sure yet... we know we got hurt... but things look a bit promising.  We still have a long road, but we got a good start.

We cannot begin to thank you enough for all the support that is FLOODING IN!  We have gotten so many e-mails, so many offers for help and people sending in money in advance to help with the cash flow... wow.  We are truly humbled overwhelmed with the loyalty that our customers have shown.

To those that have offered to do physical labor, I want to thank you but we aren't going to take you up on it for the following reasons.  1) the devastation is localized, as it appears and we are limited by how much power equipment we have... namely the tractor.  2) We need to keep our men working to provide them the income they need and 3) the emergency is casuing a bonding of the team that will be paying dividends for years to come.  We thank you, and if we needed it, we would take you up on it.

The way you can help is to stay with us... don't back out or stop paying... have patience and see us through as we bounce back.  That is more than enough help for us to get though this... and of course... keep praying, as that is the most important thing.  We covet your prayers.

Below is some video footage from the flood... this should put into perspective all the rest of the pictures of whatt we are actually repairing and why.  I still can't get my mind around it.

Below are pictures as we progressed through our first day. 

The front fence was flattened... that's creek gravel in the pasture.

Hit is harder Yordy!

Lots of stuff to pick out of the fence.

It came out pretty good... I was pleased with the repair.

The water scoured out all the gravel under one side of the bridge.

started working... couple of hours... long way to go.

Filling in the hole and stopping the water flow...

Can you tell the chickens were hungry??  The pied Piper is Chris, our Operations Manager.

Looking better!

Looking a LOT BETTER.

ok... it ain't pretty... but it keeps the pigs in...

OK! ... it's not a motorcycle ramp anymore! It's a DRIVEWAY!!!

The flooding water scoured away a lot of gravel.  The upside is that we now have a really cool waterfall!

Pump's all repaiored and working...that's how we water the pigs and chickens in the field.

The apples are sure looking good.

The rain sure didn't hurt the flowers!

I don't care what happens... I wouldn't trade a second of my life with anyone else... we are truly blessed.  Tomorrow we keep digging... now it's time for some sleep.