Bring Home the Armstrongs

I have known Ashley since we were young kids.  Her outlook on life has always been fairly carefree and so fun loving.  Her laugh is contagious and her wit is sharp.  I have always looked up to her for the way she overcame diversity, seemingly unaffected!  She and her husband, Rob, are fun-loving, family-oriented, wonderful people who have already survived so much heartache.  They lost their first baby girl, Savanah, to double dominant dwarfism.  They have since had two kiddos, Brianah and Mason, and have another on the way.  

Hurricane Harvey has been devastating for so many.  I know people are looking for ways to help, and the Armstrongs are a family who need your help.  They and the rest of Ashley's family all live in the town I grew up in: Friendswood, Texas.  It was one of the most affected towns in the storm.  Rob and Ashley's home flooded badly, as did Ashley's brother's house, making both homes uninhabitable.  Her parents' house also has some flood damage, and they have 9 adults, 6 kids and 5 dogs currently staying there.  In addition, Rob lost his scooter in the flood, which was his main mode of transportion due to disability secondary to his dwarfism.    They are all working tirelessly to tear out drywall and cabinetry before water damage occurs in all of the homes, but home repairs are beyond expensive, and no one has flood insurance.  (I mean, who could have seen this coming?)

Here's the story in Ashley's words about what the last few days have been like for them:

"Saturday night is when it all started here.  We were watching some tv that night when all the sudden our back porch came crashing down, thankfully not hitting the house but definitely was a very loud crash.  The water was rising but looked as if we were fine as far as water coming in the house, but we were wrong.  We woke up Sunday morning to rising water inches from our house so packed up laptops and chargers, but before we could get anything else the water was in our house.  We were able to be rescued by the local firemen who were picking up people in dump trucks.  We (even our dogs) were moved to a church down the street and stayed Sunday and through Sunday night.  We were trying everything we could to get to my parents' house because the church was not fully prepared to take care of that many people and their home was still not in any danger of getting water.  So Monday morning my dad set up a rescue mission to get us to my parents' house.  He and my brother got a canoe and got us across the flooded creek to waiting cars.  Needless to say, by 11 am we were safe and drying at the Barden house.  Tuesday morning, we woke up to about 2" of water in their house, but everything had been raised up on bricks and was luckily spared much damage.  Thankfully, it was easily swept and dried out and we never lost power.  We weren't able to get back to our house till Wednesday.  Rob's scooter had to be left at the house so is ruined.  But, honestly, all in all, we are fine."

I know so many people are looking for ways to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.  Please consider helping this sweet family, who had all 3 family homes flood.  This will be a long road for them regardless, but I hope to ease their minds just a little by helping with the financial burden that all of this damage has caused.  I can't begin to imagine how much money all of the home repairs will cost, especially when considering all 3 homes. Let's get them as close to the goal as possible!!!