Black Friday

We had a great Thanksgiving Day and Mom and Dad's yesterday. Everyone was really good about pitching in to make the meal and to clean up afterwards. Mom sat at the head of the table where Dad would normally sit, but that was appropriate. She's been really strong the last seven weeks. She's still dealing with lots of "stuff" that I suspect is pretty typical after the loss of a spouse. She's also taking over everything Dad would normally due around the house in addition to doing her usual tasks. She's been a rock for my family since the tornado hit. She's a good mixture of tough (walking to my house after the tornado hit) and thoughtful. Making a meal for our family is tricky, but she did a terrific job of making it friendly for the both the vegetarians and meat lovers, for the gluten lovers and the gluten sensitive. All while dealing with the fact that Dad wasn't there. He was always good about greeting us at our car's as soon as we pulled into the drive."Hey, kiddo" he'd say and greet us with a hug. "What do you need me to carry in for ya?" Dad was good about putting the extra leaf in the dining room table, getting out extra chairs, emptying the garbage when it got filled, doing the dishwasher after the meal, cooking the meat and cutting the turkey. It was pretty obvious that Dad wasn't' there to cut the turkey and that was a bit of a reality check for me. However, my sister's husband did a good job of taking over. Preparing the meal, the table the house was a team effort but Mom was definitely the coach of this team. She should sit at the head of the table.

on our way home from Thanksgiving I told D I needed to pick something up at Target..I don't remember what I needed, but it was something basic, necessary. When we turned the corner and saw the Black Friday (err Thursday) crowd wrapped around the building we remembered it was Black Friday. Needless to say we didn't even attempt Target last night. Whatever it was we needed was not that important!! In year's past I would get super excited about Black Friday. I would scan the ads, make my list, make my plan for the day, pack snacks, water kleenex. I'd lay out my clothes so I could jump in them first thing in the morning so I could join the crowds and feel the rush. I was that person and next year I might be again, but not this year. This year my Black Friday mission was to find a rental property for my family to live in for the next handful of months while your house is being gutted and put back together.

My Black Friday mission started Wednesday night at nine when a friend texted me to see if I'd been in contact with a company that's hired by insurance companies to find rental properties for those who've been displaced due to a disaster. I hadn't heard of that! And they can help you rent furniture too? Wow! I got in contact with the lady right away and she texted me back. She texted and emailed me from nine o'clock until eleven o'clock that night, Thanksgiving Eve! She even called me a few times Thanksgiving morning and we set up an appointment to see the little house at nine this morning. It's a house, not an apartment. That means our boys can run and jump and play without disturbing anyone below or next to us. It has a one car garage. D was quick to give me the garage so I don't have to scrape my windows before getting the boys to school. It has three bedrooms and one small bedroom that we will use as a small office. D and I joked that the house is a 1960's time capsule. It's definitely seen many a tenants, but it will be our home for the next few months. We saw the house and as we were leaving another couple came in to see it after us. Another couple saw it after them. When we saw the other couple entering the house we felt the pressure of the tightening rental housing market. Eeek! We gotta tell him how interested we are. We returned to our damaged home to manage the crew that was there to help while waiting for the phone to ring........I'm glad our minds were occupied with work because that made the time go faster. Our seven person crew (ten when you add in D, D's Dad and I) ripped out carpet, pulled up tack strips, moved furniture into and out of the Uhaul, packed boxes, etc, etc. We had terrific help!! Then after a while we got the call that Joe chose us to rent the house! "We got the house!" Yay!! What a tremendous relief. A roof over our heads....A humble, quaint, nostalgic roof, but a roof nonetheless. The best Black Friday shopping I'll ever do!!

Day 11

Today was another great day. We had help from Dad's brother, M. He took a day off work and made the one hour drive to help us out. I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to react when I saw him as the last time we visited was at Dad's funeral a few weeks ago. "We gotta stop meeting like this!" If you don't know M you don't know just how much he looks, sounds and acts like Dad. It's uncanny really. I didn't know if his similarities would make me upset, but they didn't. In fact, it made made me feel Dad's presence. made me feel like he was there with us. so nice!

It was just D, M and myself, but we were a good team. We got the ruined furniture out of the front room, swept the hardwood floor and covered it with flatten boxes and rugs. we are doing our best to preserve the floor. the insurance agent assured us they will cover any damage to the floors, but if we can reduce the amount of damage we'd like to. the less damage the earlier we can get back into our house, right? once that was done we emptied the big dressers and night stands and moved them into the front room. M and his wife had a major house fire a few years ago, so they are able to offer advice on how to approach the disaster from that perspective. Valuable information!

Once we got all the furniture to the front room we were able to approximate how much more storage unit space we needed. We have a crew coming over on Friday from D's work to help us move large pieces onto a trailer to take to storage. With tomorrow being Thanksgiving we knew we needed to get a storage unit lined up before 5 today. But how was I going to call places without a computer, without a phone book and without internet access to my phone? "Who can help me??" hmm. Mom was probably busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and D's parents were busy with the boys...The library! I called the library and explained my situation to the woman on the phone. She was super happy to take my name and number and call me back with a list of storage unit phone numbers. So nice!

I got on the phone and called about seven storage unit facilities in a forty miles radius before we found one. "Sorry, we're full." Sometimes you have to get a lot of "no's" before you get a "yes." i picked up the phone to call the last number on the list and the woman had one space left and it was really big. YES!! We literally jumped in the car and headed straight there to sign on the dotted line. Not to sound too preachy, but God is definitely providing for us. On His schedule and with a little perseverance on our part, but He is providing!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Tomorrow will be seven weeks to the day that we got the call about Dad. It will be a little less than six weeks from his funeral. It will be three weeks since my refrigerator broke, two weeks since L and N had croup and one and half since the tornado hit. We've had a rough couple of months, but we remain blessed, fortunate, thankful. While we will have one empty seat at the table (and that'll be hard), we will have many seats that are full and for that we are grateful!

If the last two weeks have taught us anything it's to appreciate the things you have, even in a time of loss. Happy Thanksgiving.

Tuesday Day 10

Today was a big day. Our insurance adjustor and contractor were able to come to the house to look over the house at the same time. We were technically not allowed into our homes, but the insurance agent, contractor and D parked on the road behind our house and walked along the waterway to get in. I couldn't get my car over the curb to park on that street, so I planned on parking at our gym about 1.5 miles away and walking in. I suited up in my "tornado chique" (thanks to J for coining our current fashion) used bibs (that i picked up at the donation center) and prepped myself to walk the 1.5 miles weighted down with backpacks and bags.. Side note: If there's anything I've learned about myself (and D) this week it's this. If you present me with a challenge that prevents my family from getting what we need I'm going to fight like H to change your mind. I will try to do so with respect and graciousness, but you better believe Ill give it my all.. You are totally unaware of what you are capable of until something like this happens to you...I've had my moments of frustration/anger/weakness, but I've been given moments of strength and determination too.

As I parked my car in the parking at the gym I realized I would be walking through the tornado zone versus driving. I've driven through it a few times and every time I'm amazed at the destruction. But, driving through forces you to move somewhat quickly. Walking on other hand was going to be the slowest possible way to navigate... As I drew closer to the police officer manning that part of the street I realized these are the streets I have walked on with my kids since they were babies. We've walked, jogged, biked these sidewalks countless times observing the landscaping, animals, passersby as we go. We've had our best conversations and laughs here. Would there even be a sidewalk to walk on, a house to recognize, a landmark to familiarize myself with? I felt my sadness start to creep into my head thinking of how much these roads have meant to my kids and I and the memories we've made and I decided  i may not be able to walk this one without breaking down and crying. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..."  I noticed the police officer was letting some cars in but not others, so i asked who was being allowed in. "Where you headed?" He didn't recognize our street name so he pulled out the map for clarification. Once he realized how far I was walking (and remember it's really cold out) he looked at me like I was crazy. "I have to meet my insurance agent and my builder. I can't miss them." At that moment another police officer arrived to relieve this man of his duties. He saw how far I was going to walk and said, "I'm here to take over your post.  We're not supposed to let anyone in, but I will let you if he escorts you."  I needed that help in that moment. If I had to walk I was going to take a deep reath and do it, but I was given a little grace instead. i needed it. (Thanks, Dad I thought to myself). I've had many little moments like that lately where I'm in the right time at the right place and I'm guided to what I need. Those moments have been happening just when I need them. I always take note of them, say thanks and "put them in my pocket" and look at them when we're having a challenging moment.

This tornado has changed our lives in so may ways. one thing I keep thinking about is the generosity of family, friends and complete strangers. We've had so many ask to help us out it's un-real. We're usually not the ones accepting help (and that's been something to get used to), but now that we know what it's like to need help we will be better at figuring out what others need when it's our turn to pitch in!

One week mark

Today was one the one week mark since the tornado hit.

This morning we took a bit of a slower start to our day as we all got to bed late last night. I'm sleeping a little better each night. The first few nights were really, really hard. Sunday night, the night of the tornado the four of us slept in the same room of the house and I wanted it that way.  By night two or three I decided I could handle heading down the hall from them and got some better z's. one morning I woke up at 2:30 and laid in bed with my mind spinning until 5:30. I fell back asleep until 8 and decided to get up and get a move on. But, last night was better.

Today Mom came to othe hotel and ate breakfast with us. The lady that makes the breakfast here is a Grandma and she enjoyed talking to the boys this morning. She chatted with them and prepared a snack for them to take with us. ;)

After breakfast D and I headed to the Red Cross MARC center set up in town. Their were numerous agencies there to offer whatever type of assistance you need. We were able to get in contact with our tv provider to work that out. The people meant well and were happy to help, but it was honestly too much for me. Too many people, too much comotions, too much. When the tornado hit my ears felt a big change in pressure. I think that has made my ears more sensitive to noise.

we headed to the house after being at hte MARC center. We are emptying out the rooms in preparation for tearing out the carpets. It was nice that D and I had some time at the house alone today to get ready for that. We finally resigned to the fact that we can't save our mattresses, so we had a friend help us haul those to the curb. We are doing our best to document all the stuff we throw out and sometimes that's tedious. so that was nice to work on that alone. in the next few days we will eventually need help ripping out our carpet and other larger tasks, but we won't know when we will be allowed back in. At this point we haven't asked friends and family for help because we're not sure when we be able to get back in for sure.

We found some treasures in our yard today. A pretty christmas shaped ornament and a high school letter from a letter jacket possibly. i posted pix on facebook to see if anyone wants to claim them.

we were supposed to take the boys to our gym for a playdate with n's classmates, but we could not convince him to go. He's just not sure about going anywhere. He'd rather stay at the hotel. He wanted to see our house, so we took the boys in. They both were surprised at the desctruction they saw on the way to our house, but handled it better than i thought. the boys were happy to see just how lucky we are with the amount of stuff we still have...but after about fifteen minutes of being at the house I could not find N. I though he was upstairs with D and D thought n was with me. When we called out for him we coudln't find him. Agh!! I panicked and started running around the yard looking for him. I was afraid he'd run over to the neighbors to see a friend like we used to do bf the storm. He hadn't. We found him sitting in the truck, in his car, ready to go. "I just wanna go back to the hotel." I sat with the boys in the car until we left. We talked about things while we waited for Daddy. N keeps singing the song from the Titanic movie. He says that song is appropriate because that song was played on the Titanic when it was destroyed and it is playing in his mind while our house is destroyed....Bless his heart! I asked him if he wanted me to tape him singing it on my phone and he said yes. That made him feel good....

Minutes before we left our house the men came by our house to restore our heat!!! Hooray!! We won't have to wear winter snow pants and snow gear inside our house anymore. The frigid temperatures are a  big concern. There are  hundreds of volunteers, police officers, electircal workers, homeowners working in these temperatures and it's cold!! I think the high was 27 today.

The minute I sat in the warm truck with the boys to wait for daddy I realized how tired i was. Oy!
I've been in super charged mode for so long i finally was able to asses that i was tired. i fell asleep in the car on the way home while d drove. We picked up pizza from a place in town that has gf crust and ate in our hotel room. the boys are watching up on tv while i type.

Tomorrow is Monday. we haven't figured out what we are going to do tomorrow. D might go back into work for a bit. We're not allowed into our homes, so the boys and I might just chill out. catch up on laundry, etc. i wish i had an oven to bake muffins in. That's something I'm looking forward to in the future. So much to look forward to. :)

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!!
  

Twister 2013

As you know our town was hit by a tornado on the 17th. Everyone's been nice to check in on us via email, text, phone calls, facebook. we are eternally grateful for your thoughts and prayers, but we are starting to run up against our cell phone texting limit and aren't always close to a computer to keep everyone updated. I thought i'd update here to try to reach as many people at one time as I can. I apologize in advance for typos and grammar errors but i'm typing as fast as I can while I have computer time without the boys around. I'm sure if you printed out this post and circled all the typos and held it at arm's length it might look like debris, symbolic of the debris that our house is currently surrounded by. I need to get these thoughts out not only to share with you but to free up some brain space for myself. ha. We have to do lists, questions, concerns and so many other things rolling around in our heads right now. it's helpful for me to release some of my thoughts here so i can use that brain space for trying to find a rental property, pack our belongings and get our stuff to this, that and the other place, call the contractor, help a friend or even to just let me mind slow down to get some sleep.. so here goes.

we are incredibly lucky that we did not have more damage and we are exceedingly grateful to be alive. period. It is an honest to goodness miracle we are alive, especially D. He was out in the yard working on a tractor behind our house when he heard the sound of the wind changing and decided he better come into the house. the tornado whistles blew and the boys convinced me to come inside and head for the basment. as a midwesterner i have become somewhat lax in surrendering to tornado sirens. the joke is that when you hear the sirens you run to the windows to see what's coming instead of running to the basment as we were taught in grade school.. n's school had recently completed several safety drills with tornado drills being one of the so he insisted we take cover. when daddy wouldn't come down i told levi to go get him thinking levi could convince him better than i could and he did. as i look back on it i can't believe i sent levi upstairs in a time of danger like that. i'm really sorry i did because he saw the twister coming towards us through our front window before he and daddy headed downstairs. i am so, so thankful that nothing happened to him! i told myself to stop thinking about what could have happened, but it's hard to let go of. anyway...d and levi ran downstairs and as soon as d closed our basement closet door the twister hit..."It's commmmminngg!" He yelled. L jumped in my lap and n squeezed close to me as we hung onto each other. i just kept saying "Are we in the right place are we in the right place?" I was really worried we had chosen the wrong place to hide out because i was afraid our entire three story stairwell (that goes from our basement to our roof) would collapse on us. it didn't, thank goodness! I think from the time d closed the closet door to the time the twister ripped through our house only about 60 seconds lapsed. we looked at each other as we heard the glass crashing down, things hitting walls and then the pressure from the winds filled our ears until we couldn't hear at all. d jumped out of the closet immediately to determine if we should remain there or if we needed to flee. the boys and i didn't have shoes on and L was still in his jammies. d got us shoes and clothes, hats, coats, etc. we determined the basement was the best place for the boys and i to stay for a while as there was far too much glass and debris upstairs to roam around. d and i took turns huddling in the closet and packing things up for about three hours until d's parents were able to arrive. we were really glad to get the boys out of the house as smells of gas were starting to get heavy. d fired up his cat bulldozer, hooked up a trailer to the back of it and carried the boys across the muddy debris filled field. i walked behind with backpacks.I did my best to step on boards to avoid from sinking in the mud. i took one mistep and landed on a nail. i was glad i had my snow boots on because i could have been injured much worse if was wearing a shoe with a thinner sole. don't get me wrong it hurt, but i was in such survival mode that i just pulled the nail outta my foot and pressed on across the field. the weather was still questionable and i didn't want to get stuck in the field if a new storm came throug, so i walked it off. the next day i went to a prompt care in a town an hour away (because my doctor's office and other doctor's office were closed due to power outage) and get a tetnus shot, an antibiotic and some other stuff.

once we knew the boys were in safe hands with Baba (grandma) we knew we could get to work on a few things at the house. D's dad walked across the field to get to our house as there was no other way of entering the whipped up streets. i started taking pictures, throwing our clothes in trash bags and sweeping a path through the glass so we could at least walk a little bit without stepping on something. once i heard the police sirens outside and saw the cars stranded on the road behind our house i began to realize this was bad.. but i could only take care of myself and our immediate needs so i didn't look out our windows for a long time.

As i was gathering up clothes and necessities i was headed out to the garage to get a wide shop broom to sweep glass out of the kitchen i opend the garage door and there was my mom! I could not believe my eyes and i still cannot believe she made it in. i tease her that she should join the grammy marines. somehow she got into this forbidden area, threw on a rain coat and a backpack and walked approx 1.5 miles to our house in the wind and rain to be at our door step. "I can't believe youre here!! I said. "You couldnt' keep me away."

As we look out our front window at the nieghbors we realize we had a special angel (Dad perhaps) watching over us. The house across the street from ours has it's garage ripped open with cars, a tractor, garage stuff thrown into the kitchen of the house behind it. the neighbor next to that has a house that is standing but close to caving in. 100 yards out our front window the houses are no longer houses, but piles of rubbel. for whatever reason the twister took a slight right turn and spared us. our house is not liveable and won't be for 3-6 months, but we feel like we were spared. our neighbors to the east are not so fortunate. they don't have their homes, but they have their people. so far i've only heard of one fatality which is completely unfortunate but it is an absolute miracle no more lives were taken.

I think our city leaders have done a terffic job of doing their best to maintain our safety with police and fire staff on hand. staging areas for misplaced people to sleep eat, shower, make phone calls, connect with insurance adjustors, collect donations were in place very quickly. we are working around a curfew that hte city has in place. they want us to get what we can out of our homes, but they want us to be safe as night fall,  gas, rain and impending snow are dangers. not to mention possible looters. ugh!

we were able to be in our homes almost every one of the last  six days. my sister j came down to help us on wednesday. i'm so glad she was able to do that particular day because our homes were not available to us the next day. our main concerns for our home are continued water damage, the upcoming freeze, snow and looters. i had j gather up and pack all my personal bank, credit card,  bills and get them out of the house for fear that looters could take off with that information and rob us from afar. i feel so much better having that stuff outta the house. my baby sitters' showed up at our house to pack. our kids have the most terrific babysitters. they are a family of nine children. the boys have grown  up with these girls as our babysitters and they  showed up at our house to do whatever we needed. i was glad i had my faculties together and put a packing list for them. they did a terrific job of boxing  my kitchen into boxes according to my list of what items can be stored at the storage  unit we obtained and what items can go to hotel. because of their team work i was able to run in my house and grab all of our hotel boxes with a half our notice of being kicked out of our house. i was able to take those boxes to our hotel and get somewhat acclimated and set up last night. we've had such a tremendous outpouring of support. it's so touching and really gives us the strength to push forward.
what would you yank out of your house if given one day and not  a moments notice with no trailer and no car to carry it out? We're realizing what we can live without and what our true treasures are. now that we've had a couple of days to assess our damage and now that we can drive down our street we are able to pull more stuff out. for me, my treasures are the things everyone else thinks of (disks with family  photos on them, scrapbook, wedding photos, engagement ring), but anything my dad laid his hands on are golden. we were able to pull out our kitchen table and matching chairs. that table is a combo of d's family history and mine. the table was originally his grandma's, but my dad refinished it for us about a year ago. we've eaten so many dinners and done numerous crafts at that table. so for me that is my biggest treasure. everyone knew that and all the guys who helped us move it to storage unit were super gentle with it and we got it in a safe place along with the sofa table and antique mirror dad finished for us.

i think about dad quite a bit and i know he would be here to help if he could, but i think he was here in spirit when the twister hit. honestly, i would not be able to live with myself if he was at our house trying to help out right now and his heart stopped at my house during all of this. i really don't think his heart and lungs would've been able to deal with the physical and mental stress of all of this. so, if this all had to happen i believe it has happened in the right order. i was just getting over the initial shock of dad's passing and was getting us back on track and back into our routine when this hit. one set of shock to another, but i know we're going to be okay.

so, today is day six. we make progress every day, but yesterday was a big day. we felt like we were on the show "the amazing race" racing from the post office to collect and hold our mail, to the insurance agent to get the okay to move forward with a contractor to the bank to set up a new account to the lumbar yard, hotel, town hall meeting...then drive back home to be with our boys. we've had some really long days, but they're going super fast.

today our goals are to continue to winterize the house by draining dishwasher hoses, laundyr hose, refrigerator hose, toilets (d's dad has put rv antifreeze in all the toilets but one so we've had one primitive toilet to use). we're doing our best to prevent collected water from freezing in appliances and walls and caushing further damage...although insurance has assured us that sort of damage is covered we'd like to do our best to prevent what we can. we also need to do our best to looter proof our house. no good dirty looters. sick! a hometown contractor (from our parents' hometown) is set to arrive at our house (provided d he can get in to the neighborhood) at noon to give us an estimate on repairs and repair timeline. i am still at d's parents today and my goals are to organize and pack our clothes so we can move into our extended stay hotel room. we have plans to be at the hotel for thirty days but will continue to pursue rental properties because we think we will be displaced for 3-6 months.....

The boys are doing as well (or better) than can be expected. we are very fortunate that we can leave them in good hands with their Grandmas and Aunt M. Last night i asked N what they did and after a few minutes of talking he paused and said, "Baba's taking good care of us, Mom." I knew it but it was nice to hear his appreciation.

so that's a not so brief synposis of where we are. like i said above, we are grateful for your thougts and prayers.we know people feel the urge to help out in any way they can. please don't feel obligated to send us anything, but i hear other people from out of state are sending gift cards to their effected families.  I hear people are recieving gift cards for area restaurants, target, wal mart, lowes, etc. please dont feel obligated, but if that's what you want to do I'm sure we'd use it. we will need help in the weeks to come. so, while people want to come here and help right now remember we will need help in the future with moving outta the hotel into an aparment, from apartment to our house in distant future. we will keep you posted.. thanks and take care!!

Winterizing

We went home to help Mom with some winterizing chores yesterday. D and the boys prepped Dad's tractor and took it for a spin. I think Dad's tractor goes faster than any of the tractors D has owned. He kicked it in high gear and sped across the yard a couple times. L enjoyed the ride. Seeing D and L ride around the yard together reminded me of the lawn mower rides Dad took me on when I was little.

We stopped by the cemetery to "visit Dad." The weather was nice. It was mostly sunny with cloud coverage. When we walked across the cemetery the clouds moved just right and the sun streamed through. It was gorgeous!

The boys went to Baba's and Grandpa T's house so D and I could get lots of chores done for Mom. Thanks again, B&G. The boys enjoyed your homemade DF hot cocoa and playing in the leaves at your house. :)