Blown away...

Yesterday our nation witnessed a natural disaster like none we've seen in a long while... an F-5 tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma, just three hours north of my location -- a straight shot up I-35.  

Two elementary schools took a direct hit.

Entire homes wipes off their foundations.


Cars, trucks and SUVs crumpled like paper and just strewn about.


There has been loss of commerce... businesses are totally gone

Loss of homes... many have nothing left 

Loss of pets and livestock... horses and cattle too numerous to count

Children are displaced from their families....

There are hundreds of walking wounded

There are many that didn't even survive.  

Peoples very lives were completely blown away.

I don't know really how to make sense of it.  Be prepared seems hardly an option when regardless of WHAT you've done... it wouldn't really matter if 200 mph winds are ready to blow you and your home away.  I mean, there is NOTHING left of these homes...



The photos I found on www.nation.time.com are just amazing... and gut wrenching... and although some people might feel photographers during a tragedy like this aren't warranted, they are.  They document the moment... the feelings... they capture the tragedy in film... because people need to remember this.  They NEED to use this to be prepared themselves.  

Personally, I'd like to install an in-ground shelter in my garage.  True that we don't live in the "death zone" of tornado alley, but we DO still live there.  I don't think there is a price tag you can put on peace of mind... KNOWING you have a safe place to be.  You just CANT put a price tag on that.  We have tornado warning sirens go off here often enough that it would get utilized.  

In fact, I saw a video of a family that video taped their exit from their in-ground shelter  right after the tornado was gone.  There was NOTHING LEFT of not only their home, but their entire neighborhood.  BUT-- they were alive... and safe... and had each other.  Stuff is stuff. There are precautions you can take with your "stuff" as far as insurance and photos.... Sure, sentimental items can't be replaced, but in the grand scheme of things -- it's STILL just STUFF!  You can't replace your loved ones.

I wept as I watched a mother reunited with her son as he was sitting next to her teacher... and they just hugged as the teacher told her repeatedly, "He was so brave.  He was so brave."

Can you imagine FINDING your pet amid the rubble?  She did...


I wept as I watched a little old lady who reminded me of my grandmother... she was being interviewed... and then they spot her dog under rubble... and they're reunited on camera.  That's all she had left in the world... and it was so touching when she said, "Well, I thought God answered one prayer to let me be okay.  He answered both of 'em."  I'm so thankful that she'll have her dog to help get her through this... I think in instances like this... we need them probably more than they need us.  


Today, as we were under another threat of severe weather, many parents were worried about leaving their children at school and so they picked them up...

My son text me at about 1pm and said, "So how bad is it?" 

I didn't know what he was talking about.  "What" I replied.

"The weather" he shot back.

I pulled up the weather radar on the computer to take a look at what was headed this way.  It was supposed to hit by 3pm.  

"It's just rain, why?"

"Because half the school is gone."

REALLY?

I guess I'm a bad parent.  It's just rain.  I'm seriously not worried about my kids being at school when it thunders.  Sorry, I'm just not.  Rain... schmain!  

Plus, I had Benji down for a nap.

Trust me... you don't want to wake him up until you absolutely have to!

Fo' shizzle!

... but alas, I still had to wake him up early from his slumber (and my ONLY break during the day) to go play carpool mom and grab the boys.  

And then it was basically a whiney-screaming-tattle tail session for the next three hours... and I finally had ENOUGH.  I'd had a headache for the better part of two days... nothing was providing relief.  I was trying to make dinner.  

I've got a kid freakin the hell out every time Drew put an appendage on a green space on Twister because ALL THE GREEN SPOTS BELONG TO BENJI so I just HAD IT!  When dinnertime turned into a fussy whine session, I, not-so-politely, informed my tri-ped clan that 

a) I had a headache, 

b) I was sick of it, 

c) I had PMS, and

d) I was having to spend 24/7 with Benji who TRIES every last nerve I have, and

e) (most importantly) I was OUT of patience...

So, unless they wanted to spend the rest of their night in their bedrooms without the luxury of any electrical components (radios, which they both sleep with), I strongly suggested they all just play nice and shut the pie holes!


So, Drew asks, "What's 24/7."  

"Why isn't Benji in school?"

"What's PMS?"

Seriously, does he DO THIS ON PURPOSE?  I think he does.  Secretly, he wants me to go mad!

Andy said, "You heard Mom when she said she had PMS.  That means, she's going to kill you and tell God you died."