Our Season Of Thankfulness: The Louisiana Flood

Our Season of Thankfulness came a little early this year.  It was unexpected, uninvited, and veiled in unlikely disguise. Beau and I discovered the most profound reason for gratitude in the wake of muddy Louisiana flood. Community. Ours is remarkable, more like one big family.  And regardless of how historians will one day recount the 500-year flood, our little family will always remember it as the time Acadiana shined brighter than ever before.

We’ve spent the past two months helping the south Louisiana flood victims rebuild their homes. It’s been an especially meaningful time for me. I’ve witnessed Beau doing what he’s always done best—helping others. I’m humbled and grateful for the  servant’s heart of my husband and the dedicated team of like-hearted men who help him, because they are able to do what most of us cannot. These guys are our Cajun warriors, willfully determined to use their skilled hands and strong backs to rebuild what those nasty flood waters attempted to destroy.

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“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Aristotle stands correct yet again. Consider for a moment if you will, how little we asked of one another during our greatest time of need. And compare your answer to the magnitude of what we actually received! It was through the collective effort, the collective spirit of our Acadiana community that we endured the most awful flood of our lifetime. We pulled together, leaning into one another for support, and found a synergy most of us had forgotten still exists. In our darkest hours we remembered that our spirits cannot be broken  when we act as one.

And because we’re a Cajun community, we saw no reason to stop where most others would have. (Oh mais, non!) We pushed on, involving our youth in the recovery efforts. This is an important distinction and worthy of mention because Acadiana did especially well with that one! It was amazing to watch families, schools, and churches find meaningful work for everyone to do. Our family experienced this first hand in that Beau put our two sons to work straight away. Early mornings, heavy lifting, and late nights went a long way in reenforcing life lessons of compassion, kindness, and brute work. And likewise, other families did the same. Those tough work days following the flood were speckled with countless visits from children bringing food, drinks, hugs, welcome distraction, and words of appreciation. The little warriors in training hauled debris, helped wherever they could, and made us all so very proud!

 

Sometimes we’re called to sift through the bad stuff in order that we might find the good. And that’s what we did, isn’t it, Acadiana? We found the good. It’s been within each and every one of us all along.

Now let’s get back to work!

Blessings,

Lisa and Beau McDaniel

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By | 2018-01-30T01:30:12+00:00 October 19th, 2016|

About the Author:

Lisa was born and raised in a small town on the outskirts of Baton Rouge. She moved to Acadiana to attend college and immediately fell in love with the unique culture that abounds here. It was this rich and contagious joie de vie that seeped into her soul and never left. After college, Lisa set her sights on a career in corporate Accounting. But as life sometimes goes, the professional pairing wasn’t a perfect fit. Regardless of the dedication and hard work she extended, Lisa continuously felt as though something wasn’t right, as though something pivotal was missing in her life. And then she met Beau. Within three weeks of their meeting, Beau had proposed and decided to move to Louisiana with Lisa. Together, they discovered what each of them had been missing—each other. These days Beau and Lisa are co-owners of C.Mac Construction. Through individualized collaboration with clients, Lisa helps design houses specific to the form and function of each particular family. Her mission is inspiring families to use creativity and originality when bringing to life the spaces they will soon call home. The couple is now embarking on yet another joint adventure. They’re busy restoring a historic building in downtown Breaux Bridge, which will soon be the home of Antiquity, a design center and destination storefront for Louisiana-styled interior decor. Beau and Lisa hope Antiquity will inspire C.Mac Construction clients, local visitors, tourists, and online shoppers to decorate their homes with the twist of creative flair that is so completely unique to South Louisiana. Beau and Lisa’s favorite saying is, “we work better together than we ever could alone.” It is their heartfelt wish that you’ll feel the same way about working with them as together you create the home of your life story.

Lisa McDaniel

Lisa and her husband, Beau, are co-owners of C.Mac Construction and Antiquity. Through individualized collaboration with clients, Lisa helps design houses specific to the form and function of each particular family. Her mission is inspiring families to use creativity and originality when bringing to life the spaces they will soon call home.

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