tornado update

I write this post from the cozy bed of our hotel room. L sleeps next to me as he doesn't want to be in any room alone for too long. N is asleep in the other bedroom. He doesn't mind being alone, in fact I think he needs the space. And besides the two boys were being stinkers and playing around instead of sleeping so we had to separate them ;) I am so proud of my boys. They've been such great kids through all this. We've had our moments of sibling rivalry bu nothing out of the ordinary. They talk about the twister a lot and I'm ok with that. I want them to feel comfortable talking to us about it as they process their emotions.

Our first night in the hotel as a family was Friday. It's really nice. We went for a walk around our hotel "neighborhood" to find the pool, business center, eating room, and fitness center this evening. They have a table set up next to a book shelf with board games and books near the fireplace and tv. They offer a generous hot breakfast with foods we can all eat and have dinner most week nights. What a relief to be here! It's warm, there's electricity, a flushing toilet. Oh the ammenities. ;) It makes me think back five days ago when mom and I were at panera using their wifi and tables as our make shift office scrambling to find a hotel. We secured this room after calling many other places and being put on a thirty day waiting lists. We knew we had family to stay with and are super grateful for that, but we'd eventually need to get a roof over our heads. When mom and I were at Panera we were an hour away from the chaos of the tornado. We decided we were flipping back and forth between normal "civilization" where the tornado did not hit and the tornado zone where people are literally doing their best to survive.. Switching between the two zones has been mind boggling.

It was so strange to be sitting in Panera on a week day surrounded by people who wore nice clothes were fully bathed and well rested. there was a large party behind us planning some sort of gathering. they were splitting hairs over the party details that seemed so frivolous to me. i was trying to put a roof over my head, people!

Tonight (Saturday. I'm actually updating this post on Saturady) as I left our neighborhood I waived at the police man patrolling the tornado stricken area. Eight miles down the road police were shutting of traffic due to the festival of lights parade. Eight miles difference, worlds apart.

The thought of Thanksgiving, eating with family, slowing down and reflecting on our blessings is so inviting. the thought of Christmas, however, disgusts me. I don't know that I can put my words together to express why, but it does.. Black Friday ads, Christmas commercials, Christmas music all the hype to get all this stuff just seems icky. I'm sure I will have a change of heart and Christmas will be wonderful, but I don't have the brain space for that right now.

Friday was a very successful day. D's  mom and I were a great team and got us packed up to go to the hotel while my mom watched the boys at her house. We unpacked all of our belongs that had been slung into trash bags and literally laid them out into piles. We assigned one area for each family member's belongings, wrote down what they had and decided what else everyone needed. We then assigned a suitcase for each person, put their name on it with scotch tape and loaded up. Assembly line style K  handed me bags, boxes, totes and we loaded them into the car. That all sounds so simple and stragight forward but it took us hours to accomplish. I couldn't have done it without you, K. Thanks again!

As K and I were doing that Grammy took the boys to dollar general for a few things. N  picked a notebook that he's coining his travel journal in which he writes about our tornado experience. What a sweet heart. The boys had pancakes at Grammy's,, played Legos and headed home. I could not have packed with the boys around like I did. Thanks, Mom!

While Grammy, B, the boys and I were doing that, D and his Dad were at our house doing repairs adn meting with our builder. I'm almost afraid to type it and say it out loud, but we (think) we have a builder!! One more hurdle jumped. The builder is from our parents' hometown. he's honest and trusted in the community so we feel really comfortable with him. one advantage to having him that we hope to benefit from is that he may be able to use resources from a different town just far enough from the tornado are that may be fighting for supplies. we'll see.

D and his Dad have been a super duper team. They've boarded up the house, insulated windows and doors as best they can. They've been diligent about preventing our pipes, drains, toilets, appliances from freezing. they've cleaned the yard with our helpers and on and on. the list just goes on and on. Last night before we left the house (due to curfew) I took a picture of them together standing in our nook both waering overalls and carharts. I'm trying to capture our memories even though this may be a tough time. I often feel strange taking pictures but i dont' want to look back and regret not having the photos. I'm sure the picture I took of D and his Dad will be a treasure, but taking that picture made me miss my Dad. It hit me like a ton of bricks that my Dad isn't hear to help. I know Dad would've thrown himself into this situation and helped as much as he could have. But, as I told my sisters, things happen for a reason and happen in the order they are supposed to. Like I said before I would've been absolutely devastated if Dad was here helping at our house when his heart stopped. I know the physical stress would've been too much on his heart and lungs. I comfort myself with those words, but I still miss him.

So, with that said, we continue to move on and make progress. The town is getting cleaned up slowly but surely and so is our house. We stop and talk to neighbors to compare notes on damage. we are all finding out that as the days go on, the houses are settling and we are all seeing more damage. cracks in the walls, trim pulling away. Maybe the fact that we had to wait to get an adjustor out here is a good thing. time will reveal the true damage. Our next steps are to get an evaluation from a structural engineer and meet with our adjustor and contractor. after that we will determine just how sound the house is.....we continue to take pictures and video to document the changes.

tomorrow we hope to have some family time. the boys really, really want to go swimming at the pool, so we need to do that for them. We will continue work at the house and hope to have friends there to help.

We appreciate your thoughts and prayers. this is a real team effort, but we'll get through it!!