Refuge

This picture looks directly in on the spot where they took refuge. It is a picture taken from the back porch, looking down into the basement. Right behind that center board, you can see a tan oval - it's the toilet seat. Cassie sat there with Midnight in her lap and her parents on either side.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart...

Psalm 91:1-4

Thank you, God, for covering my family with Your wings.

I love You.

The Aftermath...Help Has Arrived

Dad and Cassie took a break to get some lunch during cleanup.

I posted earlier about the "mall" that had been set up so those in need could receive everything from food to clothing to a new drivers license. Here is a picture of the mall.

The Aftermath...Misc.

Several of their belongings ended up caught in pine trees at the edge of their property. I believe this is taken there. The shirt was one of their Super Bowl shirts. My other sister, as I understand it, has already sent replacements.

Lori's sense of humor, ever at work. She put out her yard sale sign.

The Aftermath...of Lori's School

My sister was a teacher's aide in the elementary school. Mom said amazingly enough, this was one of the better looking classrooms. This is her room - she is standing by her desk. She found her box of animal crackers, so she took them, because the tour of town made her hungry. Everything IN her desk was still in it - including her recess whistle.

The hallway leading to her classroom. I walked down this very hall last September when I visited for Cassie's volleyball games. This was a very sad picture for me to see. (Not that other ones weren't...)

The Aftermath...of the Church

This is the church from a bit of a distance. If you look way in the back, you can see the cars that were under the car port. As you can see...literally nothing was left standing. In the front of the picture...the little pile of bricks...is the sign for the church.

This gives another angle to a picture I'd posted a few days ago (that I found on the MDS website). The red is the carpet to the sanctuary - and you can see a few pews in this one.

Amazing the things that survive unscathed...in the cabinet of the fellowship hall...unbroken glass dishes.

Beams to the sanctuary. Mom and Dad said they only found 3 or 4. This boggled my mind. Those dishes weren't broken and it tossed beams like a boomerang.

The Aftermath...of the "Jump"

I hope I can explain this one well enough for you to understand. This first picture was taken from the back porch steps looking down into the basement. If you look to the left, you will see the bathroom where they were hiding during the storm. The pink towel is kind of over the sink area...you can see the cabinets there. To the far left is the shower, and then if you look just under the green towel, you'll see the tan cover of the toilet seat. That's where they all huddled.

Now, if you look to the right side of the picture, you will see planks. the top part of the picture is the top of the stairs that led up from the basement. The bottom part leads to the steps. As you can see (the planks weren't there after the tornado...) they had to jump from the stairs to the steps because the floor that led from one to the other was completely gone. They did this in the dark with only a flashlight.

This is the same thing from the front porch...you can see the carpet ripped off the top two steps , the planks and then behind that white wall to the right is the bathroom. You can see what I think would be the washer and dryer to the left of the stairway. That would mean they fell from directly above.

The Aftermath...of the Cars

In one of the pictures I posted earlier (I'd found it on the MDS website) - I mentioned the cars in the background. I thought the van was my sister's. And it was. Here are the same cars from the front. Clearly, they are totaled. Just to give you an idea...they had been parked under the carport of the church.

And here's a front view of their other two cars in the garage. In front of them...actually not a deep freeze as you might think. (They had one sitting right about there, but they have yet to find it. Found the meat that was in it...by smell.) This was the refrigerator from their kitchen. If you look closely, you can see the drink dispenser on the door. That was a new purchase within the past six or so months.

The Aftermath...of the House

Here are some views of their home itself. I'll do my best to give you some perspective.

This first picture is where part of the upstairs (primarily the kitchen) fell into the basement. You can see the car in the background - and it is up in the garage (or rather, on the slab that once was the garage). All this stuff fell down into the "great room" part of the basement. You can see the kitchen chair...some cabinets...and the ironing board, which I'm guessing fell from the laundry room next to the kitchen. Somewhere it lost its cover.

This is the house from the street level. As you can see...it was truly "gone."

One of the last pictures Mom took before she left. After they were done pilfering, the MDS crew cleaned out the entire basement of all debris. Lori and Cassie are standing where the bathroom had been - where their lives were saved. You can see the bathroom plumbing pipe behind them and the back door stairs above their heads. The two "sticks" in the middle are, I believe, support beams that were in the "great room" of the basement to support the ceiling.

Okay So Maybe I Didn't Make the USA Today, But...

Back on April 18th, I wrote a post about how I was mentioned in the editorial of the Sojourn, which is the campus newspaper. I said it wasn't quite the USA Today, but it was close.

Well, Jeff really did make it into the USA Today - today. You can go here to read the article about yesterday's community church service. In the picture, you can see the backs of some of the ministers. The one in the blue t-shirt that says "Blackburn" is Jeff. He's not quoted in the article, but he is in the picture!

Tornado Update

I promise the pictures do exist. Mom says I should have them by tomorrow, so I'll be able to spend some time posting tomorrow evening.

Meanwhile, the newspaper had a pretty nice article in today's paper. You can find it here. There aren't any pictures with the article, but it does tell the story from Jeff's perspective. I learned a couple of things I'd not heard before, at any rate.

I talked to Lori yesterday and asked how the town meeting went Friday night. She said the mayor announced he already had his building permit and was planning begin reconstruction on his home soon. (Nice symbolism of leadership!) They were able to turn on the lights at the baseball diamond (I think that was the place she said) - so there's at least that much functioning electricity in town. Dillons, the supermarket, announced its intention to rebuild. She said she imagined that meant the Kwik Shop would also be back, because they are under the same ownership. The Kwik Shop is the convenience store. A girl after my own heart, Lori appreciates the need for fountain drinks. :) She also said the kids have been promised a bigger, better school than the one they had before.

In other "nice" news, she told me that the phone company has stopped billing the town effective the night of the tornado. They have also offered to forward original home phone numbers to new, temporary dwellings if people wish to have that done. She explained that typically, the surrounding towns are long distance from each other but have temporarily been switched to local calling to make it easier for family and friends to stay connected in this time. She was able to set up a post office box - free of charge for two months. A big thank you to the phone company and post office for making these services available!

No decisions have been made yet regarding their church. It is still too overwhelming for the congregation. They're focusing on trying to clean up their homes.

I realize that's not a ton of information, but it is what I have for now!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

I’ve done so much writing this week to keep everyone up to date on life after a tornado…that I wasn’t sure what was left to say for today’s “official writing.” I wanted to say something non-tornado related, something fun, something different.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, since one of my blogging buddies did something similar on her blog, and I decided this was the perfect week to make such a list of my own. I call it “Bekah by the Numbers.”

73. Number of cents I spend on my daily Polar Tea. Okay, they’re really called Polar Pops, but I gave up pop for the year, so my 32 ounce cup contains tea. And by the way, not that I’m bitter, but inside of a week ago, that number was only 63. Did I mention it went to 73 with NO warning?

41. Number of years my mother had been alive when I showed up. Say it with me: woops!

29. Number of years I have lived on this earth – effective tomorrow.

27. Number of articles I have sold in my lifetime. I probably shouldn’t admit it is that low…if I’d worked harder, I could have sold a lot more. But still, that’s pretty good!

20. Number of dollars I spent on a $100 mirror I found at Hobby Lobby. It had a chip out of the top of the frame, so it was marked down. Once I hung it up, you couldn’t even see the chip. I love Hobby Lobby sales! (Oh, and by the phrase “I hung it up,” I actually mean “Dad hung it up.”)

16. Number of completed scrapbooks I own. I also have 2 in progress and several more that I’ve given away after I made them. Roll your eyes if you like, but there are worse addictions. I promise you.

11. Number of years I took piano lessons. Also the number of years I didn’t apply myself, so you can’t really tell I took lessons for that long. I can pick out a tune, but I’m not proficient by any means.

10. Number of dollars off a $10 or more purchase at Fashion Bug…my favorite coupon to receive in the mail. Also one of my greatest challenges. I will scour that store from top to bottom and try to walk out with the most things in the bag after spending the least amount of money. I’ve found some great deals!

9. Number of years I had been alive when I dealt with my first babysitting emergency. I was watching a baby in the church nursery right before church began, and he had a seizure. I remained calm until help had been summoned. Then, in true Bekah fashion, I fell apart completely.

8. Number of hours a day I’m on the clock. Sometimes it ends up being more than that – during busy season – but lately we’ve been lucky enough to not be so overwhelmed.

7. Number of days between my birth and my oldest sister’s graduation from high school. Needless to say, it was a rather busy week for my Mom. Leave it to me to create chaos from the start. Drama, drama, drama.

6. Number of weddings in which I have been an attendant. Each one contained such treasure filled stories…I’ve written about them before. In wedding number seven, I’d like to be at the front of the line wearing white, please.

5. Number of rooms I lived in during my college years. My freshman year, I moved from one room to another at the semester break, but then I lived in the second room until the end of my sophomore year. Then I lived in a room in an apartment for my junior year, moved to another apartment for the summer between my junior and senior year, back to the first apartment room for my senior year…and then ended up in a room by myself for the last semester of my senior year.

4. Number of rooms in my home that I have painted thus far. I’m taking a break from painting this year to spend my money on more “fun” things…like new tires, an electrician, and the sewer guy. But never fear. Painter Bekah SHALL return.

3. Number of childbirths I have attended in my lifetime. By far, three of the most amazing experiences of my entire life as well.

2. Number of cats who live in my house. In case you’ve forgotten the particulars, Kaegan is six, and Braeya just turned one.

1. Number of rough draft, book-length manuscripts I’ve completed. My goal is to pursue publication on it this year. Scares me to death, but kind of exciting at the same time!

0. Number of times I’ve seen the ocean. This is a definite “must do” for me at some point in my lifetime! Can’t wait!

I’m sure there are many things I should have put on the list but they didn’t occur to me. Maybe “Bekah by the Numbers” will return sometimes with more trivia!

Birthdays!

While I wait on tornado pictures, here are some recent pics from life at my house.

My first birthday gift this year was from Angela - who used to be my roommate. I loved this gift, not only because I love the gift, but because of the reason she gave it to me. I sent my stuffed bunny, Hippity, out to Kansas to comfort Cassie. Hippity was the bunny that got me through college...got our whole suite through college. Now he has moved on to other missions. Angela knew I sent him and went to Build A Bear to build me a new bunny. He's GREAT!

The night of the tornado (also Lori's birthday) was Braeya's first birthday - here are some pictures from her big evening. A box of kitty treats from my parents. (She's part pig, so she was extremely interested in this.)

A distraction for hours on end...the gift I gave her. She wrestled this thing all evening!

Finally worn out after too much birthday!

Meanwhile...

...I love it that God can multi-task. I hesitate to write this, because I'm sure in light of all that has happened in "the real world" this week, this really doesn't matter. But it matters to me, and it's my blog, so I guess that gives me the right to write!

I paid a visit to my actually semi-friendly BMV today. I laughed out loud when they handed me a receipt declaring that my transaction time had taken 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Because clearly...I spent my entire lunch hour in that place. And then some. I had to call in to work to report that I hadn't fled the county (as I am known to threaten to do on my way out the door for lunch). But anyway, a rather significant holiday takes place this coming Monday...a holiday which leads to the expiration of my license and the need for a new one.

You must understand that I was rather attached to the picture on my old license. It was a great hair day, I was sort of tan...loved it! I had prepared myself to be unable to top what I'd accomplished that day four years ago. I was NOT prepared for what I saw when they handed me the little card. It wasn't a bad picture. I was smiling, my eyes were open, the lady had zoomed out purposefully to include my chunky necklace (a gesture I found very kind)...but I looked ten years older than I am.

Not that the age looming ten years in my future is old. I just don't want to look that age yet. I don't even want to look my real age.

That little bump in the day, of course, magnified the aforementioned tornado situation, and I was a wreck by mid-afternoon. Our secretary came back to tell me someone had come to the office and asked for me...and she didn't know a name. All the way from my office to the front desk, I prayed, "PLEASE, Jesus. I had a bad license picture. I cannot take a mad parent. Please just let them be kind."

I walked out front to find the mother of two fantastic young ladies I've been privileged to serve as part of my caseload for the past five years. This Mom has been a joy. She has been patient and loving and polite, even when stressed. And her daughters are following in her footsteps. What a joyful, loving family.

And that sweet Mom stood out in our lobby with a vase full of flowers...for me. I cried. (Shocker.) It's a treat to get a verbal thank you...this was my first round of flowers, ever. I love flowers, so this was the most perfect gift. And then she stood there and started pulling things out of a sack...a book...a candle...a card. All for me. Just because.

I told her this could not have come at a more perfect time and hugged her so tightly she probably lost all her air. The secretary had already told her I was having a bad day, and this Mom looked me straight in the eye and said, "I don't know what you think you've done wrong today, but for my family, you've done five years of right."

If I could have framed her words, I would have. What a gift! That whole visit was directly from God, and I know that. Even in the middle of helping a town clean up a tornado, He had time to zoom in on my little office and my bad picture...and He sent me an angel.

Moving Forward

I am anxious to see the pictures my Mom brings back from Kansas. Incidentally, Mom's typical track record with film is to start a camera (she uses one time use cameras) at Christmas and sometimes by the fourth of July, she might be ready to develop it. So for her to purchase, use, and develop one camera in one week is....amazing. ( :D Love you, Mom!)

Anyway, she's been telling me about the "mall" in Haviland. Let me just explain to you the size of Haviland. There's no stoplight in the town...never mind that there's a college there. Kansas towns are so confusing. You would think they would be big based on what they contain. But they're not. Anyway, I'm not even sure there's a convenience store in this place, but now there is a "mall." I guess it has just all kinds of different things for people to take for free. Now that is my kind of mall! She said she took pictures of it, so I am curious to see exactly what this setup looks like.

I talked to Lori last night and found out the following updates. Some of you had asked about these sorts of things, so here's the scoop.

* They will have a vehicle very shortly. The denomination owns a vehicle that is currently not in use, so they will bring it for them to use for the short term future. Perhaps by that time, they'll be able to purchase a new one. Had this unused vehicle not been available, the denomination was going to rent something for them...so they would have still been covered. I'm appreciating the work of the Mennonites more and more! They take care of their own!

* They do have a place to live temporarily. Some people they know have offered them a spot in the upstairs of their home. This will give them privacy and a place to stay until they know what the next step will be. I'm not sure when they move into this place, but it will be soon. A praise here is that the people have cats, so they are welcoming Midnight (Cassie's cat) into their home. I'm told that Midnight will likely not reciprocate that welcome to the host kitties...but she'll survive. (Hopefully the other cats do too!)

* Lori told me they were able to go spend the first part of their voucher last night. They chose to take their voucher in two halves, because once they get it, they have to spend it and whatever they don't spend, they lose. They are learning that there are lots of things you can get for free (probably from "the mall") so they're trying to become educated about what they can get and what they can't...so they don't waste the voucher on stuff that's free elsewhere. They'll go back next week to spend the second half.

* She feels so blessed by all the donations that have rolled in for their family personally. Over and over she said to me, "We have so much more than so many people...we're going to be fine." Friends and family have been sending care packages and gift cards and money, so they're able to get through for this time. This is a huge blessing because they cannot get an insurance settlement on the contents of their house until "the list" is made. (See posts below for info on "the list.") She explained to me that the homeowners in town have already received their settlements - because they were just written off as total losses - and she saw many of them in Wal Mart last night buying microwaves and "bigger stuff." But because they lived in a parsonage, they didn't own their home. So they have to go through the making of the list in order to receive a settlement. So.....the donations are an extra blessing.

It seems like she told me more that I was going to pass along, but I don't remember now what it was. So anyway, for now, thank you to all of you who are helping to get them through this time. They continue to appreciate your prayers!

Little Miracles

Well the "finding stuff" prayers must be working. They have been working furiously today to clear out the basement of anything that might have caved in during the storm. So far, I know of the recovery of the following items:

* A photo album containing pictures of my nephew. HUGE, HUGE praise, since this was the baby that died and I was so hoping they would recover his few belongings.

* A couple of heirlooms that they had figured were gone gone.

* A "sisters forever" scrapbook I made for Lori as Christmas gift a couple of years ago.

* A few Christmas items.

I'm so excited for them at these discoveries. I believe this day concludes the pilfering extravaganza. By tonight the bulldozer will have cleared the property and the basement will be an empty hole.

New Life

Last night I had the chance to talk to Jeff for the first time...and then finally a "real" conversation with Lori, uninterrupted by other phone calls. I hung up from both conversations feeling more encouraged by them than they probably felt by me.

Jeff has reached a place of peace in his heart over what has happened. That decision makes the situation no less devastating, of course, but he is ready to move forward and stop digging for the past. I told him twice that he was a better person than I...that I would not be able to get over the very personal losses. He told me that before this happened, he would have classified himself the same way, but now he is okay with it, he doesn't want to look anymore, he doesn't want to find anymore...he just wants to start over.

The church site was bulldozed last night, and now he awaits the decision of the congregation and denomination regarding the future of the church. I know he will be in on that decision making process, but he is not the only one, so please pray for the right choices to be made by everyone involved.

Lori thanked me for the rather eclectic collection of "stuff" I sent out with Mom and Dad. Yesterday was a very hard day for me in terms of feeling like I wasn't doing enough, after I started hearing and seeing what everyone else was doing. So to hear that she was excited about what I'd been able to send was good. She told me some very touching stories about what the students of other (rival) school districts are doing to uphold the students of Greensburg. So many are donating money and replacement items (personal sorts of items, like uniforms) to the high school students. One school paid for a tent and chairs for graduation, originally scheduled for this weekend and now postponed for just a bit. Though I wasn't involved in sports in high school, I grasp the concept of high school rivalry...and to hear that students want to put that aside to replace what has been lost is very sweet.

Lori told me that she thinks the remains of the house will be dozed today. Though so much has not been found...there's really not much left to look through. Apparently most things really did blow away and will likely never be recovered. All in all they found a little over a dozen totes of salvageable items, which is a praise.

Please continue to pray for Cassie who is still struggling with sunburn-related illness.

Pray also that as they begin to make the list for the insurance company, that their minds will be clear enough to remember everything they owned. At the time of my conversation with Lori last night, she had a grand total of four items on her list. :)

Good Choice, America

I was very happy with the outcome of last night's Idol show. While I love Lakisha and hope she has a long and successful career in the world of music...she was my least favorite of that particular four. I still hold to a preferred finale of Jordin and Melinda...but then I really want Blake to do well, too. Sigh. So many decisions.

What a Day!

While I know that this is a small bright spot in light of the devastation, a couple of exciting things happened for my family today.

First of all, Miss Cassie was interviewed by an ESPN reporter doing an article on Greensburg athletes. I found it here - and I thought it was nicely written. I think it's a pretty big deal to be on the ESPN site when you're in high school!

Secondly, you probably saw that President Bush visited the town today. Initially I think most people planned to keep right on working through his visit (as nice as it is to have the President come to town, unearthing more of your possessions certainly takes priority), but it rained, so work was delayed. My brother in law actually met the President and shook his hand! Again - a pretty big deal!

I don't know any more details about the meeting/hand shaking than that because I only found out through a voicemail my sister left me, and I have YET to talk to my brother in law since this entire thing happened.

I know they would readily exchange a mention on ESPN and a chance to meet the President just to have their belongings back - and their lives back.

Please continue to pray for them. I haven't had a chance to find out more requests from them, but I'm going to guess at these:

* Weather cooperation. Please pray that more rain and storms don't keep coming so they can continue to search.

* Strength. I can tell that shock is wearing off and reality is arriving. It is hard to realize that work is no longer chasing kids down the hall of a school or preparing a sermon for Sunday or studying for a test...but covering the same ground you covered yesterday. Hoping to find something new and hoping to wake up and find this all a bad, bad dream.

* Health. Cassie has really taken a sunburn hit. She told me just now that she visited a medic tent in town and was able to get some medicated ointment (or something medicated, anyway) to help with the burn. She's sore and hot and hurting.

* Wisdom. So many decisions have yet to be made - not only for the future but how to spend the money they get, little by little.

* Extended family. Please pray for those of us who are trying to support them from afar, have no idea what to say (that would be me), and desperately just want to fix it...yet can't.

News from Greensburg

My parents arrived in Greensburg yesterday for a short visit and to help with cleanup efforts. I think my Mom was pretty taken aback by the extent of the damage. My aunt reminded me that Mom and Dad don't have the internet or cable/satellite, so all the hours of images the rest of us have seen online and on TV have told us much more than she knew. She did watch TV at some friends' house Saturday and had some idea of the damage, but not as much as the rest of us. Even so, I'm sure that in person, it's much worse.

They uncovered a few more treasures yesterday. I didn't get as much information as I had the day before, but I think they found a few more pictures and Cassie found some of her sports medals. Cassie was also able to get into her locker at school and found a hoodie and some other personal things. She left the textbooks. ;) That's my girl.

They did plan to return to the property today to do some more searching, but I think they were also going to try to go to town to buy some things. Thank you to all Mom and Dad's friends who stopped by with donations before they left for Kansas. I know that money will be a big blessing as they try to buy basic necessities.

Continue to pray for their safety as they work in and around the rubble. Mom mentioned yesterday that as time goes by, the smell goes up. Hadn't thought about food that had been in freezers now thawing and stinking...and hiding. Please also pray for relief from the sun. Cassie said she was really, really burned yesterday, and very sore too. Don't pray for so much sun relief that you pray in more rain or anything...just some cloud shade.

Some of you had asked and to Cassie's knowledge, none of the fatalities were members of their church or close friends of theirs. That in no way lessens the impact of those deaths, of course, but just answers that question.

American Idol...A Break from CNN

I've been forcing myself to step away from my TV and my computer tornado research to try to participate in normal life now and then. So since tonight was American Idol night, I thought that would serve as a good distraction.

I have to say I was more than a little disappointed in tonight's show. For being so excited about this top four, I was not thrilled with their delivery.

Here are my opinions:

Melinda. Still as classy as ever, I thought her first song did come up a bit short of her true potential. I agreed with Simon that she seemed to fall back into her "backup singer" mode. She did not seem to star in that song like she could. But when she stepped out for round two...Melinda was back. She has so much soul! I understand what Paula was saying when she told Melinda to break out a little bit. She does need to cut that final tie of reservation and just go crazy with a song. But she came back to being passionate and persuasive in that second song. Another thing I really appreciate about her is how genuinely she seems to welcome criticism of any sort. She is not out looking for compliments. She wants to know the truth and I believe she does a good job of applying what they offer.

Blake. It was a rough night for Blake. Maybe that was because he was SO good last week with his one risky song. I'm not sure. I didn't really like either song that much, and the dancing in the one was bordering on scary. I think Randy needs to leave him alone about beatboxing. He did very little of it in each song tonight and I think if that's his thing and he wants to work it in now and then, let him. It's what preserves his individuality. Besides, for several weeks, he left it out entirely! I would ordinarily agree with Simon that Blake is vulnerable this week, but I think his status as the only male in the competition will buy him enough girl votes to make up for what he lost in performance tonight.

Lakisha. I couldn't even look during the first song. The outfit scared me so much. I thought she looked SO classy in the second song...that green dress was beautiful on her. But please, I beg of you, leave spandex leggings for someone Haley's size. (See, Phats? I can say something nice about Haley.) Her rendition of Stayin' Alive (officially the only song I knew tonight) was less than wonderful, in my opinion, and the second song lost me when she lost her voice. I know Paula told her not to worry about it, and I know it's the only time she's ever done that, and I know it happens, but she could not afford any error this week. Though I love her and wish her well in general, I think she should go home.

Jordin. Ahhh...the sweet breath of fresh air. Miss Jordin. I totally agreed that her first song was the best of that round. She did a beautiful job. And I was really moved by the second song. I know the judges didn't like it that well, but this untrained ear really loved it. I didn't think it was too pageant-y. That was Haley. (See, Phats? I'm back.) Jordin is beautiful, she's fun, I love her spirit, and I hope to see her in the finals.

Having said all of that, I truly hope Lakisha goes home next week, and I'd love to see a final two of Melinda and Jordin. And once we get down to those two, I want a tie because I simply cannot choose.