Help Tessie's Family

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Welcome!

 
Welcome to the home page of our site.  Tessie's mom is someone we've spoken with many times on one of our very favorite Chinese Crested online communities, Chinese Crested Crush.  Tessie is a sweet little Chinese Crested girl with 4 doggie siblings and 3 kitty siblings, whose world was recently turned upside down.  Her family lost everything they owned when their home was destroyed by the flooding in Iowa.  They are now residing with a friend who generously opened their home to Tessies family including their 8 pets. 
 
They have no flood insurance.   
 
Tessie has a very special family.  Mom is a self-described "doggie nurse" and the family has 5 dogs, each of them rescues, the latest being Murphy, a little Chinese Crested who came to them emaciated and in need of much loving care.   They recently suffered the loss of Sabrina, a senior dachshund that no one else wanted because she was old and in pain, and in turn a little crotchety due to her ailments.  When others simply would have put the little dog to sleep, Tessie's mom opened her home and heart and gave the little dog a loving, safe home until she went to her final rest.  The family especially loved taking in older dogs, as they are harder to get adopted.  Tessie's mom even volunteers her time to help others with her therapy dog, also a rescued dog.  They opened their home to dogs no one else wanted, and also recently opened their home to family and yet 4 more dogs when the flooding invaded a loved one's nearby town.  Little did they know that within days, they would lose everything.
 
 
 We kept up with Tessie's Mom during the storms, praying along with her as they braced themselves, unsure of what was to come. 

 

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

"...we have had so much rain that we are expecting the rivers to crest at record levels this week but it seems every drop of rain comes with thunder, lightening and tornados. Last night the weatherman said we would have 24-36 hours without rain....we had two thunderstorm cells go through last night. I am so exhausted. Tessie and Tucker are afraid so it is hard to sleep and I am currently dog sitting for my mom because the town she lives in lost their water treatment plant. The water has been shut off since Sunday. They are hoping to get water back today so they can flush their toilets, take showers and put out fires if needed and later in the week for water they can drink. So the dogs are with me. That would be 9 N-I-N-E dogs in my house, her 4 and my 5..."

 

Thursday, June 12, 2008 

"I tried earlier to post to say thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers but we lost power again. The dogs, cats, gary and I are alive. I think that is all that is going to be left. The river was to hit our neighborhood when the flood stage reached 26.5. It is now expected to crest at 32. This is just unreal. I don't even have the words for what is going on here and what we are experiencing. The worst news for us is that it just keeps raining and raining so the waters are going to recede very slowly. I would be surprised if we are able to see the damage to our house before late next week or early the week after. I am exhausted and heading to bed. Just for a little reference, the old record was 20 feet. iI you want to see the pics, click on www.gazetteonline.com again, we are safe....probably moving soon, but safe and thank you for all the thoughts and prayers."

 

Friday, June 13, 2008

"Thanks again to you all. The waters are starting to recede.  I don't know when we will get in to see what damage has been done but we are getting closer. The final number was 31.12', I think....well above the old record of 19.- something. This will certainly be a summer I will never forget."

 

Monday, June 16, 2008

"We were driven by police car past our house yesterday because it is not a safe structure. The south wall of our basement collapsed. From what they are telling us now, we will never be allowed in our house again. We may be able to hire someone to get some of our stuff out....if we even want it by then. It will be moldy and stinky. Here are some pics we took. it is so strange to see our house. It looks fine. Dirty but fine. So strange we don't live there any more."

"We did not have flood insurance so no help there.  We lived a mile from the river....didn't really see a need for it. No one in our neighborhood or most of the neighborhoods had it.  We have no idea what we are going to do now. We don't even know where to begin."