The first Sunday after the storm was spent mostly at the 'old house'. I thought, at first, that I wouldn't be able to go, and even if I did, what good would I be, laid up as I was? But Sarah wisely pointed out that there would be lots of questions that only I could answer, so we made a plan to set me up in a particular red chair (sorry Ramona, I'm a tad attached to your chair now too! We might have to arm wrestle for it) and I was 'command central' (several people commented how nice it was to ALWAYS know where to find me!!). Besides answering many questions, and directing traffic, I also took the names of every person who walked in the door to help. First thing in the morning, there were friends of neighbors who showed up earlier than the particular neighbor whom they came to help, and simply asked if we needed any help to keep them busy until the neighbors got there. Several were members of Central SDA church, the congregation that our church planted from, and several were general volunteers that just asked if they could help. In all there were 37 people, besides the five of us, that were there to help that day. We got ALOT out that day. It was amazing. A gal from church, who used to be a professional packer, packed my kitchen. At that point we were thinking that we might all go up to Nashville for a couple of months, until I got back on my feet. So she packed stuff we would need for that, separate from other stuff, which she marked 'storage'. At one point, a gal from Central, who just happens to be a teacher, came and asked me if she could PLEASE sort through the school room. It just broke her heart to see all those good educational materials go to waste. She (and her husband) salvaged way more than I probably would have ever tried, especially with my foot broken now. But really, even before I broke my foot, I had looked in there (see photos) and felt that there was just too much mess to even want to sort through it. God sent her, with a different perspective, to save as much as we could! Thanks Wanda!
At one point in the day, two photographers showed up and gave us business cards from facebook. They said they just wanted some portrait shots of families in front of their homes. Lon was on a run to the storage unit, so I asked them to come back in a half an hour or so. They went and shot some neighbors and then came back, and we posed in front of the house for some short panned video shots. The link to the piece, that their work was a part of, is just below this in the blog. I didn't find it until just tonight, and some of my facebook friends were concerned that it might have been a spoof or something, but I'm glad that it was not, and I'm glad we took part in such a beautiful piece! Please share it in any way you can find to share it. It would even work as a 'promotion of aid' for a church service, I think!
Sunday night we finally got to go sit with the neighbors at the Showalter's cul-d-sac bar-b-cue. That was a very nice visit. They all offered, that once the power came back on, we were to bring them all the laundry they had been watching us 'dry' on Michael and Darlene's lawn, and they would wash, dry and fold it!! WOW!! We also found out that the little dog that we had rescued was soon to be re-united with her 'Mommy' who had been hospitalized, but would soon be going home. (unfortunately her 'Daddy' had perished of a heart attack during the storm) And, the neighbors also informed us that one of the other neighbors, at the entrance to the cul-d-sac had heard us coming in at one in the morning from the ER, and he had come out with his shot gun to see to it that no one was doing any looting of our stuff that was spread out on Showalter's lawn!!! Good thing he didn't practice 'shoot first and ask questions later'!!!
Oh, and the power came back on, that night, at about 11, just as we were turning the generator off, and turning lights off for the night, suddenly, all the lights came back on!!
Monday, God kind of gave us a second Sabbath. I had my orthopedic appointment, (at which I found out HAPPILY, that surgery will not likely be needed - a follow up x-ray in two weeks would confirm that, hopefully - that x-ray will take place tomorrow) and Lon had a few errands to run. But he also just spent time playing with the kids. The little kids had been with their proxy grandparents, April and Winton Forde, since Friday afternoon. So we were just glad to have everyone back in one place again. We didn't even go up to the house at all on Monday. Some phone calls were made and other things tended to, but no salvage done. It was almost like another Sabbath. It provided another emotional break from the overwhelming sights of destruction at the neighborhood.
Also, Monday evening, at around 10, someone texted me "Call me, I have your cat" we had seen Hobbs on Thursday and Friday, but had not seen him Sabbath or Sunday when we were up there. Beverly was still missing two of her cats, so had gotten special permission to stay up there after the dusk cerfew and look for them. She found ONE of her cats, and she found Hobbs. Poor guy was pretty traumatized. And, unfortunately, we had to put him in a cat carrier, and keep him there because we knew we would never catch him again if we let him out. The kids rigged a harness for him in the morning, so he could at least come out a few times a day to 'do his duty'. Maggie was pretty happy to see him again, and even spent the night in the carrier with him the first night!! (it was a SMALL carrier, I'm surprised they both fit!!)
Tuesday morning we got a call from James Antoine, a realtor from our church. He said God had laid it on his heart to help us find a home, and do it NOW, not to wait. That was not what we had in mind for the day, but it was looking like rain was on the way, so we kind of said, "OK, whatever you say" - he pulled up the FEMA site on his I-pad and insisted that we get registered with them, and he found us several listings to go check out. At about 10, Lon and I headed out to the first one we wanted to see. It was quite a ways north of town. We were not excited about the distance, but the house would have worked pretty well. Then James said "I know of a house that is a bit above the amount you wanted to pay, but can we just go look at it, I really think you are going to LOVE it" It had been for sale for several months, and the owner (a relative of one of James's associates) had just recently decided to lease it. We pretty much fell in LOVE with it, at first sight. Wrap-around porches do that to me!! And it has a MUCH bigger kitchen, and an actual MUD room, and a screened in back porch off of the master bedroom with a porch swing, and the fifth bedroom is actually a 'mother-in-law quarters' above the garage, complete with it's own little kitchen! (which Annie and Sarah quickly laid claim on!) We signed the lease that afternoon at 2:00 and made plans to meet the homeowner there the next evening at 5:00.
We spent Wednesday getting the last stuff out of the house (if I remember right, Lon worked that day, too! - it was just Annie and I at the house) At one point I was at the house waiting for a couple of guys from church to show up with a truck or two to haul the last load or two to storage. A neighbor called, she was one of the family of 8 that had held up in our basement when the 5th storm went over. It was at that point, a full week after the storms, that I learned that the 5th storm DID have a tornado in it. So we were actually hit by TWO tornadoes that day. I guess I was so busy getting her 92 year old granny who had just had a hip replacement into the basement that I didn't even realize it was another tornado! Anyway, she wanted to help me any way she could. She said I was an angel from heaven! She asked what she could do for me, did I need people to help with carrying things out? I told her, as a matter of fact, yes I did. She said "I'm sending you a crew right NOW!" About 10 minutes later a couple of pick-up-trucks pulled up with about 20 kids in their late teens and early 20's. They pulled into her driveway, so I assumed they were the crew she had sent. I went over and asked them, and they said they were just looking for somewhere to help. They had been at another sight, helping cut up and remove a tree, but there were about 40 people there, and it was about an 8 person job, so they just took off, looking for another way to help. They proceeded to pour their youthful energy into my house - they pulled out all the boxes that Annie and I had packed throughout the afternoon, and stacked them all in the driveway. They loaded up one of the pick-up trucks with stuff, and I went with them to drop it off at the storage unit. Some church members showed up just as I was leaving, so Annie stayed at the house with them. When I got back Lorainne (the neighbor who calls me an angel) was there with HER help, and he was loading a HUGE, low, flatbed trailer with the rest of the stuff. He took two loads to the stoage unit and MAN could HE PACK!! He got more stuff into the 10x10 unit than we had gotten into the 20x20 we had filled on Thursday/Friday!! I kept telling Lorainne that SHE was an angel!! She would only say "That would be YOU" - I think we are going to have to just keep arguing about that, for a very long time!!
In the end, the last load that left the old house, went straight to the new house. : ) We spent the night there, one week after the storm, with just the stuff we had had at Showalters, but still, we were in our new place, only 7 nights after the storm. That HAD to be a miracle. And poor, traumatized Hobbs got out of the cat carrier after only 48 hours there!
When Annie and I went to the house that day, we had stopped at the post office to pick up the held mail. There was a letter in there, from my aunt Judy, in Kansas. She had mailed it on the 27th. It had some seeds in it, that she was sharing with me, that had come from plants that had been in my gramma's garden. But one line in her letter stood out to me, it said, "I hope everything is well at hour house today" WOW!!! I called her, and asked her about what time of day she had written that. She thought it was around 10 in the morning. So not storm time, but still!!! She told us about a time, in the late 60's or early 70's, when she and my uncle went through a tornado, there in Kansas. They had not been able to find temporary housing, because there were SO MANY displaced people, there was just not enough secondary housing available for everyone. Even though it was just the TWO of them! So they ended up having to just stay in their badly damaged home. For us to find a place that has enough room for us all, will allow pets, EVEN CHICKENS!! and at a lower rent!! It's just so VERY clear that God's hand is in this.
Well, I need to try to get SOME sleep. Last time I drink sweet tea from Chick-fil-A at 7:00 in the evening - that is for SURE!!!!
So comforting to know that God watches out for us--even through disaster!
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