Angel Among Us

You know that song by Alabama?

The one about the little boy who took a shortcut through the woods and got lost. He was lonely and afraid when a man showed up and led him home. When he got home, the little boy could see the man but his mom couldn't.

Yeah that one!

From the first time I heard that song, I wanted to see this happen in real life. I wanted someone to show up in my time of need, be the answer to my prayers, and mysteriously leave. I mean how cool would it be to see a real Angel? Am I right?

I really thought it would happen the day Harley died and I was all alone trying to get him in the car. I stopped and looked around, but now one was there.

Today was the day I've waiting for!

So with all this rain we've been getting our crawl space flooded! Ugh! With all we have going on to get moved in, mid-terms, and finish all the little details, we didn't need a flooded crawl space on top of it! And since we have no shed or garage, we put quite a bit of stuff down there to at least get it inside.

We had mold issues at the place we were renting and I DO NOT want it in our brand new home! Not with a new baby, not with a toddler, and not with me being really sensitive to it as well. I've watched too many people battle water problems in their homes and it's a headache I just can llive without!

Needing solutions, I kept telling folks, "I need a professional who deals with water in crawl spaces and can help us fix this so it stops happening." I called my Dad and asked him what "professional title am I looking for?" If I opened the phone book, "who am I looking for?"

After debating if the flooding is being caused by the nearby flooding pond/our lack of a driveway culvert or possibly the rising water table. Thankfully between both our Dads we narrowed the issue down to it likely being the lack of gutters. So we made the hundreth trip to Home Depot this month to load up on gutters. While there we went looking for a sump pump to pump out the standing water.

Still feeling a little unsure of ourselves, we stood in the aisle looking at the wall of sump pumps. 1/3 Horsepower. Utility Pump. Submersible pump. Condensation pump. The list goes on.

Just then this gentleman walked up and stood in between Ryan and I. He was looking through all the things there so I jokingly said, "Do you have the same problem we do?" He turned and asked what was our problem. We told him that we had a flooded crawl space and pointed to our gutters. We told him that we think this is the solution, but we don't really know and are feeling a bit unsure....

His response, "I've done hundreds of foundations and crawl spaces here in Juneau. I've seen it all. What's going on?" He stood there and walked us through asking about all the details of our lot, our elevation, the grade away from our house, how it's constructed, what this looks like, what that looks like, inside, outside, the road elevation, our pitch line, water symptoms we are seeing. From ground up, he took the time to really understand the issue.

Then he so amazingly helped explain every detail on how to fix it for good! He walked through all the possible solutions to make sure our home remains a safe place for our littles to grow up in . He explained how and where to set up a sump pump, the sump basin, how to put drain tile INSIDE our crawl space (Game Changer! A major relief because I was thinking we may need to dig up all around our foundation and put drain tile in there. An expense I wasn't stoked about), the vapor barrier, how to pump it out of our crawl space, and ideas of where to send the water once outside our house.

He gave us information on the history of how houses are built here and shared stories about how he fixed this same problem for others over the last 45 years of doing this work here in Juneau. He even shared other things to watch out for with the freeze/thaws they get here. What to watch out for with both our foundation, water intrusions, and our gutters.

He was about to leave and I asked if he had a business card in case we needed to hire someone. He said "oh no, I'm retired now." So we asked if he had a recommendation for a company in town. With a smile he reassuredly said, "You guys can do this." We thanked him. I turned to Ryan to say, "wow! That man was amazing!" And I turned around and he was gone.

In our hearts, we know he was the answer to our prayers. Truly a sign that Angels mingle amongst us. We just need to stay open enough to notice.

Have you noticed an Angel showing up in your life?

XOXO

Megan

Angel Among Us