Involved volunteer organizations such as Community Foundation and Hunt Preservation were the organizers of this blessing, participants and gift ambassadors.
Our pastor from Hunt Methodist Church was invited to give the blessing.
Below is a letter I wrote to you, Dear Friends, about readying the home, physically and emotionally prior to the blessing. It is done in the voice of our home.
I also wrote a poem but submitted it to Story Circle Network for acceptance to their quarterly Journal. I shall not post it here until it is either accepted and printed or rejected.
April 9, 2026
Dear Curious Friend:
It is my turn to shine, to be interviewed, to be the focal point, photographed and yes…
to be blessed.
This is about me - The House That Was a Flood Victim.
This is about me - The House Whose Contents Became Remembrances.
This is about me - The House Who Was Rebuilt from the studs because of compassionate generous folks and organizations.
And who are they? Photos recall the organizations, the matching t-shirts of hundreds of volunteers that came and served me, This House.
The mother and daughter from Beeville who brought cleaning items and paper towels.
The group of young folks from a nearby church that mucked me out.
The twenty-somethings that were having a reunion at the river and then became a whirlwind clean-up crew.
Somebody Cares that oversaw my renovations.
The groups that put up sheet rock, donated sheet rock, working together as they went in/out, in/out of my doorways.
The multitude of folks that handed out gift cards, money and then mysteriously went their way.
The couple from Dallas who came to paint my ceilings.
The group from Boerne who came several Thursdays in a row to paint the first primer coat, install trim, lay my laminated wood floors.
The group that prayed for me, some thirty members strong, praying for no financial burden.
Mercy Chefs who fed all who were working on me including my owners, day after day after day.
Hunt Preservation who put all the finishing touches on me, including my beautiful window coverings, and my fireplace mantle created just for me.
The Arcadia design group that furnished me, hung pictures on my walls, placed rugs on my floors and gave my owners a surprise “big reveal.”
I could have had a fate like my neighbor around the corner. That House was torn down, quickly, almost secretly. The foundation remains with its sunken living room, a gathering place for mosquitos.
I Survived.
I am stunning, clean, filled with new things. Inside my kitchen cupboards are new pots and pans, new dishes and silverware, even a new potato peeler.
Inside my closets are new clothes acquired from generous donors.
Inside my drawers are new towels, new tubes of toothpaste, new combs, new nail clippers.
Today I am getting spiffed up. The new windows will be wiped down from Ava’s nose prints.
The wintering plants will be brought to the front pergola for summer’s sun from the new greenhouse.
My yard is green and received a mowing yesterday.
I am becoming more pristine.
Visitors will be here tomorrow.
They will come to bless me because I am a Survivor, a completed Survivor.
They call me part of the Recovery process.
Ready, set, go…..out with the floor mop and shine me prettier than I already am.
The birds sing at the feeders, the grass grows healthy between stones defining my new walkway. My enlarged patio will be swept.
I am Beautiful. I am The House at 100 Should Bee Drive. I am resilient and helping my people cope with the devastating Texas Hill Country flood, July 4, 2025.
With a toughness undefinable,
The “Should Bee” House
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