I Won't Let Go

This is a wonderful montage with a song by Rascal Flatts. Get a hanky.

Please don't forget the tremendous losses here in our state and the work still to be done.

I Love My Children

This week, they have all done us proud.  They all worked for the tornado victims in some fashion.  Bryan and JT went out into locations that were hard-hit.  

I've already told you some of what they've done.  Here's a post about Bryan, and the work all of us did in our church's Friendship Center.

JT went to Hatton today--it is only thirty minutes from here.  30 minutes!  So close.  We all keep thinking, "It could have been us."  I think that thought is what is spurring us all on to do what we can.

Here are some photos from JT's day, all taken with his cell phone.

He texted me once he got out to Hatton:  "This place is messed up."  Understatement of the year.

 This photo is right-side-up.  It was taken of a mobile home that flipped multiple times.

 JT's comment with this photo:  "This used to be a house."  Burning what's left to reduce the amount that will need to be removed.

 Luci worked today on a shoebox to send to Kids 4 Alabama.  Please check this group out, and if you can, send a box, too.  You've seen Tuscaloosa on the news, but many more people were affected than just that one city.  Some whole little towns were literally wiped off the Earth last Wednesday.  The children there could use something to hold on to.  The deadline to get something in the mail is May 16.  Luci picked out some necessary items (toothbrush and lipgloss!), and some fun things (lollipops and paint and several other things). 

 After writing a note and drawing a picture, the box is complete.

If you participate in the Kids 4 Alabama box program, please let me know.  It really warms my heart to see something like this get started for our littlest ones!

How we are helping...

You can help, too!  Check out this site from our church:

Turning Point Ministry

Check out these sites, too:

Samaritan's Purse

Josh Willingham Foundation

Red Cross

Here is what we've been busy with this week.

First, we took items to our church--that was Thursday, immediately after the tornadoes. Here is Luci with Rhett (Josh and Ginger Willingham's oldest--no relation to us, but we'd be happy to claim them).

Bryan went to Tuscaloosa with a group from our church.  This was yesterday, Monday.  Here are some shots he took with his cell phone.   Here is some furniture the guys brought down.

 Do you remember seeing the Tide--Loads of Hope commercials about Hurricane Katrina?  Bryan was happy to see Tide set up here, too.

Getting items ready for give-away.

Bryan's group had to come home the "long way."  Normally it is a two-and-a-half hour trip down to Tuscaloosa from our town.  Straight down, through some of the worst-hit areas.  Since there is a curfew on many of the roads between here and Tuscaloosa, they had to come home the "long way"--it took an extra hour.  Bryan got home after 9 pm.  Thank you, Randall, for dropping Bryan off on your way home instead of taking him all the way into town to church.  That saved us a 50-minute round trip to town to pick him up.

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Today we went to the Friendship Center at our church to help sort and put away things.  Lots of things that people are donating are just useless to folks out in the field--come on, people, why on earth are you bringing WINTER clothing?  Summer is almost here, and this is HOT and HUMID Alabama.  THINK, People!  Also, don't bring worn-out things, or dirty items!  Please THINK.

So, we put away winter clothing and hung up other items.  Luci worked harder than she ever has, and did a very good job. JT helped her some, when she would let him (where does she get this stubborn streak?).  (these were taken with my cell phone)

 Mrs. Diane (in the background) got the men to build some hanging racks to fit in this new trailer (bought by these men!  WOW) and Mrs. Diane set up a "store."  Tomorrow morning, she and several others are heading out to Hatton Community to give out children's clothing.  Later they will go back with clothing for adults. 

 Some of the men who worked on the shelves.  They are taking it easy now, but they really worked hard, and did a fantastic job.  John (on the right) supervised--he is having surgery on his shoulder tomorrow and can't do much right now.

 Of course, Sonny had to get silly.  Here he is right before he sneaked up on the others. 

Today has been hard on Luci.  It has been raining all morning.  Pouring at times--we got over an inch of rain today (totaling more than 8.40 inches since last Monday!).  Today John was going to meet us at the church building and take Luci with him to go shopping (Mother's Day is coming!).  Luci would not leave my side.  She cried, and cried, and cried.  She was worried that something bad would happen to me, or to her, while we were apart.  The weather was scary to her.  We reassured her that it was only rain, that the weathermen (all of them!) said NO TORNADOES today.  Prayed with her.  Nothing helped.   So she stayed with me and worked with me while John had to wait until I was done--he waited over two hours as I hung up clothes.  (I think he enjoyed the male companionship in the other part of the Center, though.)  By the time we left the Center, it was just sprinkling hard and she willingly got into John's truck.  I got to go home by myself.

So much going on.

My thoughts are all over the place. 

Certainly with the survivors all over the South.  We've donated to our church's relief efforts, and will continue to do what we can.

Trying to not dwell on the bad stuff too much, for fear of Luci's over-analyzing things to death, and for keeping me out of a depressive state.

So, when Luci is around, we have watched some of THE wedding videos, kept the TV off of the news as much as possible, and generally tried to lighten the mood around here. 

Not to the point of hilarity, that just seems wrong.  But lightening it, certainly.

As evidence of my mixed up thoughts: At this moment I have open in my tabs here on the computer a story about the Royals:  What did the lip-readers pick up on the conversations during the big day?, and a video of Hackleburg, one of the hardest hit areas in Alabama.  The town was closed off, even to help, until late yesterday.

Biblical Proportions

Yesterday, April 27, 2011, will go down in the history books as the worst tornado outbreak in forty years.

At one point, I was close to tears as we hid in our basement safe room.  John thought I was fine; I told him I was just acting fine for Luci's sake.  It was terrifying, knowing what had already hit elsewhere and then was heading our way.  

It is just devastating, seeing the news.  Overwhelming.

I don't know why our county was spared, but I am thankful.

We are helping as we can, giving supplies that those in the communities hit hardest are asking for.  Today Luci, JT and I got some things and delivered them to our church...as part of the outreach ministries.  It was wonderful to see so many people bringing things.  As we pulled in, we saw many cars also pulling into the church's parking lot.   They planned to take a big van and a delivery truck; both were filled when we got there and there was much still to load.


Please pray for the survivors.

Where were you...

at 4:05 a.m. this morning?

We were in our tornado shelter, our safe room in the basement.

Today we have a big system moving through, and I am scared stiff.  Trying to hide the nervousness from Luci, who has recently been diagnosed as "O.C.D., hyper-vigilant, and high-anxiety."  Like i need her to be more nervous than she already is!  She's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers on normal days.  Add tornadic weather, and, well, it's not fun around here.

Except for right now--JT is keeping Luci calm by wrassling with her in the master bedroom (I was going to say, "on my bed," but since I still sleep with Luci in the living room....).  They are watching the Disney channel's Junior programming...how calm is that? 

Very early this morning, as I woke from the NOAA weather radio siren, I noticed something.  I am the only person in our house who can hear the blasted thing!  It is loud, and annoying, and my mommy-brain can not block that out.  Maybe because it sounds a lot like children whining about their siblings.  "M-o-o-o-o-o-o-m!  Come NOW!" 

So I herded the family to our safe room, and watched Luci entertain us for the duration of the warning (45 minutes worth).  One child, who shall remain nameless but has red hair and the initials J.T., was such a grumpy-Gus (no offense intended to any of you named "Gus.").   Bryan told him, "You are the last person on Earth I'd want to share an apocalyptic event with!"

Keep us and all of us in the South in your prayers today.  It looks like it could be a very bad day.

It's that time of year again...

Tornado weather.  The storm room in the basement got a good work-out on Saturday night.  We went down twice...the second time a funnel cloud was spotted by trained weather-spotters not far from our home.  Here is what happens when we are down in the safe room:
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Dance time!  Anything to keep the scared feelings at bay.

These items make the trip:  A bag full of important papers like Luci's adoption papers, insurance stuff, and several flashlights, and there's always at least one cell phone.



The radio is important...not only for those dance moves, but also because the local stations report for us until it's all clear.

Tired from all that dancing...



and the boys played on in the "Man Cave" next door.  When the storms got closer, they got in the safe room with us.

Tornado Video

This happened yesterday afternoon, not far from us--just south of the Tennessee River in Leighton. It's 29 miles by roads but much closer if you could go "as the crow flies." It was captured by a security camera. You can see the tornado go through the parking lot, so look for that as you watch the cars dance. Thank goodness no one in Alabama was hurt.

How Do They Stand It?

We had to go into the safe room this afternoon. A storm went right over us; thank Goodness it did not touch down. However, we all felt the lower pressure in our sinus cavities! It was an odd sensation. How do people who suffer through a powerful tornado or hurricane stand that?

Of course, I took the camera with me. Here are the pics:

JT drumming and driving mom nuts; Bryan trying to shake hands with Luci, and Luci ignoring Bryan, busy with her binky and blankie. Luci listening to the weather report on our cute juke box CD player/radio.
JT getting quiet with the drumsticks (thank you, JT!).
Luci getting goofy.
Bryan, not being goofy, but hey, Charlie, Tom and Sam--look! He's got a moustache! Sorta.

Tornadoes, Princesses, Irrationality

After the tremendous storms in OK, TX and Arkansas, we took last night's bad weather seriously. I had our tote bags packed up and ready to go into the basement. The usual ingredients: flashlights, Luci's China paperwork (you can see that big brown envelope peeking out of the coca-cola bag--other families with Chinese children will know what that brown envelope holds), photo CDs from the past 7 years, cell phones, a snack for the kids, pull ups and binkies. We already had our shoes on, ready to run if need be.

Thank Goodness the tornadic cells went around us (at one point, two were headed towards our part of Lauderdale County) and, as far as I know, no injuries in our area. We didn't have to go into our safe room at all last night. This morning, Luci helped me get the paper. In her Princess dress. I loved it! (this photo is staged--we don't let her go down to the road by herself) When Bryan was this age, he wore his Batman suit every where. I wonder if Luci will demand to wear her Cinderella dress to Walmart? I think that would be just fine, if she did.
I dressed myself!
Now for the Irrationality: John and I were discussing Bryan's math last night. We are up to the Rational numbers vs. Irrational. John thought he should teach Bryan about rational numbers and that I should handle the others because, well, he says he is rational about things and I am not.

Tornado Weather

It was unusual in Wisconsin, but not so unusual down South. The storms moved through very quickly today, and a big one looked like it was heading this way--so down in the basement's safe room we went. We ended up with just rain, thank Goodness. Here are some pics of the action. I do hope our friends around the are fine. The winds looked vicious on the weather report, I hope no damage was done where you are. Y'all check in, ok?