Funny Things

With all the Tornado stuff swirling about around us (pun intended), I thought I'd take a break from that and share some of what I thought were funny moments from today. Some of these may only be funny to me, but a few continue to make me laugh, and since it's my blog... I get to do what I want. :)

As I'm driving into the daycare parking lot today I see a Dad driving out. He's got a little cup in his hand. It's got a swirly straw and it's a little plastic cup. He's drinking from it. Morning coffee?? Made me laugh, and I thought it was cute at the same time.

We went to Whole Foods for dinner tonight. It's becoming my Wegmans of the South. I have a yogurt parfait for dinner, K has some pizza and Stephen has some sushi. We dig it. K tells me about 15 minutes into dinner that she has to go potty. I take her down to the bathrooms and as we're washing her hands she sees cheerios in the sink. No idea how they got there. She says, Mommy, did Daddy put them there? No. He didn't. She's started this new thing where she likes to say how either S or I do something - particularly if it's a "no-no". It's never her. I tell her that Daddy doesn't do everything, despite what she thinks. There's a woman standing behind us, apparently listening to our conversation, who says, "Did Daddy also put your shoes on backwards?" Oops. And the lady called me OUT! Nice!! I wonder if she was like that all day?? (that would have been my fault.) Still laughing about this. She left the restroom with them still on backwards. She kept them this way until she changed for bed.

S is looking at the weather for the weekend. He says "it's going to get cool tonight!" I say - great! Maybe we'll get a breeze through the windows! He looks at me confused. I say, what?! Apparently the breeze would be great if it could get through the tarp, boarded windows and plastic. Ohhh, yeah. Forgot about that. Big blue tarp all over half of the house. Duh!!!

Katherine is in the bathroom (again). She's got the door closed. We hear her screaming MOMMY DADDY!!!!!!! We think she's done going potty and needs help. Stephen starts heading to the bathroom and we understand what she's yelling a little better... "IT'S A SPIDER IT'S A SPIDER!!!" She was too scared to poop because there was a spider. It was a teeny tiny spider that we're not even sure how she saw it. Couldn't poop. It was staring at her.

I'm sitting with K in her bedroom and we're singing songs as we rock in the rocking chair. Normal nightly routine stuff. She starts playing with my earring. She wants me to look at it. She keeps turning my head saying look Mommy look... And didn't understand why my eyes couldn't look at my ear. ;)

A Tornado news update:
We had a structural engineer come to our house today to do an inspection. We *thought* that everything was okay, but wanted to ensure that it was. Really - why risk it? The engineer said everything was fine. *Whew* Big relief. I mean BIG. I have been stressed since we got home that there's something wrong that we don't know about. Something we can't see. I feel better now.

Last night we found out that the city will not be assisting with debris removal. I don't claim to be smart enough to understand why the City won't help - but alas, they won't. We'll be on our own to do our clean up. We're thinking of renting a dumpster to put all of the debris in. If we do, Raleigh folks, we'll be seeking volunteers. One to put stuff into the dumpster so that we can clean up and another group to help clean up the yard of the smaller pieces of glass, insulation, roof shingles, siding, etc. We're thinking of using a shop-vac to pick up the smaller pieces. It can suck up bowling balls, why can't it suck up this stuff? :) I'll let you know when we're forming our work crew, if you're interested. :)

Tonight I ask that you say some prayers for the people in Alabama. I can't imagine what they're going through right now. Truly. We look at our little block and had thought that this was pretty devastating, but there are whole neighborhoods/cities that look like our block. The funnel was so large. So many lost their lives. They need all of the good thoughts and prayers we can send them.

Love from the Alekzas!
Stephen, Darlene & KK

Life continues...

I'd say it's been an eventful few days, but it hasn't been. And really, we're okay with that.

We went to Myrtle Beach for the holiday weekend. It was nice to get away from the immediate situation and just have some family time. Katherine had a great time playing, feeding turtles in a little pond (okay, I'll admit this was pretty fun for me too!) and going to the beach. The "down-time" was good for all of us. We even cooked our Easter dinner. Ham, macaroni & cheese and green beans. It was awesome!! K and I made an Easter Bunny cake together that I'm not sure who was more excited to eat - K or S. It was a box cake with some can frosting and bagged coconut but brought a whole lot of smiles. AWESOME!!

We returned home on Monday to meet the FEMA inspector. He came through our house, took some pictures and some of our information and went on his way. As we understand it our initial application for assistance was denied because we have homeowners insurance. We need to wait to see what the insurance will cover and then may be able to re-apply for assistance. I'm not certain but I believe we have until June 11th to submit that application. Not a whole lot of time given the situation, but hopefully enough time for us to know what's happening.

We haven't heard back from our insurance company yet. I don't think we've gotten any further communication from the adjuster either. I've been working the last couple of nights on documenting the contents inside of the house that were damaged. I didn't realize how much there was until I started documenting each line item and quantifying the cost associated with replacing it. I certainly didn't expect it to take as much time as it is. But isn't that usually the way? :)

Stephen and I continue to feel so blessed and grateful. It seems odd sometimes but under other circumstances I think I'd be having a nervous breakdown. Really. But in this situation I'm glad that it's a feeling of, we're fortunate to have a roof over our head and clothes on our backs. Food in the house is still debatable - but that's our own fault. Grocery shopping is certainly an item on the list of "things to do". The best news to report is: We're back in "the family house"! The first night I was pretty anxious. I struggled getting to sleep waiting for something to "happen". I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen, so I just waited. Eventually sleep happened. Thankfully. While I know it will take time for things to get back to "normal" - We're at least back in our routine. School/Work>Dinner>Bedtime. And tonight we even threw in a little playdate for KK with the neighbor.

I'm so grateful for getting to know our neighbors better. I am certain it's been our own fault that we haven't known them better in the past - and I'm so glad that we're getting to know them now. Truly fantastic people. Funny, sarcastic, easy-going, family people... I love it!!!

Vacuuming is also something on my list of things to do. Daily. Repeatedly. Obsessively. And no matter how much I vacuum the carpet there's still glass. Shop-vac vacuum. Vacuum where I break a vacuum (apparently for the 30 minutes I was cleaning and *thought* I was picking up glass I was pushing the machine back and forth over the carpet - AWE-SOME!!!) I'll continue to be obsessive. It's one of the few things I can control. And I'm referring to vacuuming. ;)

So we wait... We called the insurance company on Monday to see if we could get any money to cover the immediate expenses we had. The answer was no. Asked if we could rent an air conditioner or buy one to help keep the house cool this week - the answer was no. Fortunately my cousin came to the rescue with a window unit that we are using to help keep us cool! THANK YOU MICHELLE!! xo

On Saturday there are a group of volunteers from our neighborhood that are coming to help us remove the three trees from our backyard that either fell or are in the process of falling down. Fortunately all are far enough away from the house, and the trees are short enough, that there shouldn't be any risk of them landing anywhere to damage something! ;) Men & chainsaws... I think I'll stay away from that event!

Below are some pictures from the Easter weekend in MB. Continued thanks for everyone's support!!
xo
Darlene, Stephen & KK

This scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

"Mommy, why did the tornado hurt our house?"

The question of an almost three year old.

Many of you have messaged to ask how Katherine is doing. So I thought I'd write about it.

For the last month or so she's been calling our house "the family house". We aren't sure where it came from or why she started it but its stuck. Now all three of us say it. Explaining to K what a tornado is has been challenging. Explaining to her that the tornado hurt "the family house"... also difficult.

"Mommy, the family house is hurt?" (Trying to explain why the blue tarps are all over the house I said that they were kind of like band-aids for our house until we can get it's boo-boos fixed.)

"The leprechauns made a mess!!" (On St Patricks Day the "leprechauns" came through her classroom at school and messed up some of the toys while the kids were playing outside. Since then the kids in her class insist that when there's a mess the mischevious leprechauns must have done it.) Today she told us she loves the leprechauns. (She also loves the Easter Bunny she said.)

"Mommy, noooo we can't go to the family house!! There is glass all over your bed!!" (After telling her that we weren't going to the hotel anymore. We were going to go back to our house. I'm wondering if this also had something to do with having fruit loops for breakfast every day and went swimming in the hotel pool. At home she gets a banana or some other kind of fruit for breakfast... Not sugar-y goodness cereal.)

"YAYYYYY Mommy my room is all cleaned up!!!" (On Saturday when we got home after the tornado the only room I could reasonably say was safe for her to be in was her bedroom. Needless to say the carpet needing vacuuming after trekking straight to that room on Saturday. She was quite excited that her carpet was clean. Thank you Veronica!!!)

We continue to try to explain what happened and realize she sees and hears what people are saying. She knows she can't go outside to play because there is glass and trash in our yard. (Trash is easier to understand than debris.)

She wants to know if her playset can get a bandaid and get better. Unfortunately, unless we can get the yard cleaned up really well, I don't know that she'll be out there playing anytime soon. We were talking to our neighbor about how to clean up the yard. He had a great idea. We're going to use our shop vac & leaf blower vacuum to try to suck up some of the stuff. Then in the fall we may try to put down a layer of topsoil over the grass to help with the debris clean up, rather than just wait for it to work its way into the soil. Cover the yard just enough to see the top of the grass so it can continue to grow and hopefully make it safe for Katherine come spring of next year.

The first couple of days were rough. Since Wednesday each day we've see a little progress.

Wednesday evening we had a bit of a party night. Pizza for dinner, followed by ice cream and then swimming in the hotel pool. She was pretty excited. I was pretty dern cold! ;)

Thursday she had her party at school for Easter, complete with Easter egg hunt & visit by the Easter Bunny. At this point, I have no idea how many times she's been to see the Bunny this year. ;) Thursday after the party we went back to our house. My cousin Michelle and our friend Veronica spent Thursday at our house helping us clean it in preparation for us coming back home. (Thanks again ladies!!!) She was a little hesitant to come back home but once she got inside she was pretty happy. It looked back to normal for her, aside from seeing the blue tarps on the windows. But she knew they were bandaids for the booboos.

Today we went to the beach and had a visit from the bunny while she and I were at the potty ;). He left us some Easter eggs on our blanket, in her toys and on her chair. When she saw it, as we were coming back, she took off down the beach to go see them. Excited is an understatement. Tonight we started to make an Easter Bunny cake. She wanted a cake and when I asked what kind she said a bunny one... So we're making a bunny cake. We had a pajama party tonight. (Jammies for the whole family & watch a movie).

While we were eating dinner tonight we had another conversation about what happened. She knows when we go home in two nights we'll be going back to the family house. She seemed a little better about things tonight. In fact, it was the first night since the tornado (outside of Saturday night when she was sleeping with friends in the same room as she was) that she didn't cry for me to sleep with her. She's still sleeping with my shirt, but she went right to sleep tonight. Progress.

So... All in all she's doing okay. Again, I'm very grateful she wasn't in the house during the tornado. She remembers nearly everything, even things that happened months and months ago. She mentioned last week that Elmo sprayed water on her... It was the 3D show at Busch Gardens. In December. She remembers.

Tonight the Easter Bunny came. I'm sure tomorrow she'll be jacked up on sugar. And I'll be perfectly okay with it. ;)

Happy Easter everyone!! xo
Darlene, Stephen and Katherine

"It'll take more than wind to knock you down."

Each day someone says something that sticks with me. Today, this was it. You're right Kristen... it will! :)

Another busy day. Productive is debatable, but definitely busy. =)

I'd mentioned yesterday that as we were sitting in our hotel room talking our neighbor called to say that our power company was in our yard. He wanted to know if we were okay with them restoring our power. YES YES YES we said!! They did. When we arrived home this morning we were able to turn on some circuit breakers and have power. No more flipping on the bathroom switch and immediately yelling CRAP!!! I was also able to run the garbage disposal after my "incident" on Saturday. This was a huge step forward for us.

Another great bit of information - Our neighbor had someone come out to inspect their house. They were told that the foundation of the house was fine and it wasn't in danger of falling down. AWESOME!!! (For them, and for us! ;)

This morning we stopped by our office to say hello and check in. While we were there I had my laptop fixed so that I *could* work. I didn't get much of that done today but I did make a little progress in email. Fortunately I haven't had 400 emails a day. Seriously grateful for that. We saw some of our friends/co-workers and again want to express our gratitude for all of the support you've provided us. We sincerely appreciate it.

This afternoon we met with our insurance adjuster. We talked about what he had seen so far, and it took us back when he said that he hasn't seen anything like our street since Katrina. He's worked in Tornado alley for months at a time and tornadoes come through there every hour - and he's never seen it as condensed as our street. Remarkable and yet shocking. I guess I just assumed this is what tornadoes do. Apparently our block is pretty unique.

As for the meeting, I'm not sure what I expected, but it didn't go quite as I planned. He arrived right on time, was very nice and personable but... We didn't sit down, talk about what was covered, not covered, etc. He made a few comments as we went around regarding things that he didn't believe were covered in our policy and how things worked with insurance, but no let's sit down and go through this together. Again, that was my expectation - not necessarily appropriate I s'pose. Stephen said he didn't really expect that. He thought it would be like when you get your car repaired. They email you the information and you then find someone to fix it. I guess I thought because it was our house it might be a little bit different.

The awesome news: we can move back into our house. The adjuster indicated that once power is restored the insurance company views it as okay to live in the house. Good by us.

We went room by room on the interior and then side by side outside.

For the interior damage he requested that we work on an itemized list to send directly to the insurance company so that they can handle that part. (Contents part of the claim.) He was there primarily to deal with the structure things and the significant interior things (i.e. carpeting)

Damage he did assess:
Master Bedroom
In our bedroom, hallway and steps we will be able to get all new carpeting due to the glass that came through the window. The rest of the damage in the bedroom will be covered under contents.

Windows
We'll see how many windows he put for replacement but we know that three are missing glass and several others have not only the screens damaged but as a result of debris coming through the screen the windows are scratched/damaged.

Living Room / Playroom
In our living room/play room he indicated he was advising that we need to replace all of the furniture due to the glass damage.

Screened in Porch
All of the screen will need to be replaced.

Roof
The front half of the roof needs to be replaced but he didn't see any damage on the back half of the roof. Once we get the estimate we will need to determine whether we can spend the extra money to replace the rest of the roof.

Siding
He was recommending that the front and two sides be replaced due to damage throughout the siding. We asked what would happen if we couldn't match the siding... If we can't match it, we'll need to pay out of pocket to get the fourth side to match. We're keeping faith that since it's a builder mass produced kind of color, we will be able to get the same color.

Yard/Grass/Trees
We have a 20'+ tree that came down. Fortunately not into our house. As a result of it not coming into our house there is not assistance with removal or replacement. It's blocking the drainage easement so we will need to do something about it pretty soon. There is another tree that is leaning over. Same deal with this one.

The yard damage (shrubs, bushes, flowers, etc.) are not covered for replacement. They are only replaceable under certain conditions. For the most part it excludes acts of nature. Fire, theft, explosion, vandalism, etc. are covered with regards to plants - but not wind/rain. So, we'll have to figure this part out. We have a lot of shrubs, etc. in our yard.

The grass... One of our neighbors said that their insurance company indicated that they would be replacing the lawn with sod. They said that it was unsafe for their children to play on so they'd be replacing it. Well, for us, it's the same gig with the yard damage. This isn't covered. We aren't sure how you clean this up - but we're going to figure it out. Maybe using some friends, trash bags and gloved hands. ;)

We also learned that the way adjusters are paid is by the value of the claim. The higher the claim value, the more money they make. It's in their best interest to make a claim that is higher in value. In turn the adjuster is responsible for providing proof.

We need to send him some pictures in order for him to complete our claim. Stephen will be finishing that up tomorrow. We're trying to figure out how to send over a gig of pictures to him.

Tomorrow we have HVAC folks coming out to check our units and see if they're operable. Our neighbor was able to plunk his back on the slabs and turn them on. Amazing. We'll see what happens with ours tomorrow. We didn't try to turn them on today.

Yesterday and today was more talking with the neighbors and such. Today was the first day that we didn't have police at either corner of the block keeping people out. There was still a police presence though. We're grateful for this as the volume of people that were up/down the street today increased. We even had folks looking for scrap metal going through the piles trying to pull stuff out.

We've heard stories of contractors that have come through with sketchy (said as kind as I can) proposals for some of our neighbors. Sad that some folks try to take advantage of people in a situation when their emotions and minds aren't necessarily in the right place.

I need to again give kudos to Carolina Restorations. GREAT GREAT group of folks. They were one of the first to be on-site and were there again today going back through the homes that they worked on to make sure everything was okay. We're very impressed with them. We think we might use them for our repairs since they can handle the whole claim even down to the (interior) house cleaning post repairs.

Emotions have started to run a little higher in the last couple of days than they did the first few. We're past the immediate shock/crisis of the situation. I know I am finding myself being a little shorter fused than I was a few days ago. I continue to remind myself though that we're very fortunate, and ultimately it will all work out.

We're hoping that soon the city will come through to pick up the debris from the curbs. Once that happens the neighborhood will be a little safer and there will, hopefully, be less fiberglass floating in the air. We will still absolutely have clean up of that - and I expect that will continue for months, but at least the piles in front of our houses will be removed.

Tomorrow we have a couple kind people coming over to help us do some cleaning in the house. We need to make sure that when we come back from Myrtle Beach on Monday that we can safely have Katherine in the house. Today she told her teachers that she's not at home because there's glass all over her house. :( I know she's been impacted by the situation and it breaks my heart. We're hoping that going to the beach for a few days then coming home to our house will help bring some stability back to her world. Tonight we tried to have a family fun night. Pizza, ice cream and swimming in the hotel indoor pool. She said she had a "great time" tonight. She was smiling the whole night. Tomorrow is her Easter party at school, complete with visit from the Easter Bunny (yes, another one!) and egg hunt. (For those that aren't on FB, K seems to have an addiction to sitting with the Easter Bunny. She LOVES it.... Good news is she isn't scared of him.)

So, cleaning tomorrow, packing for MB and then doing what lots of people (we think) do when something rocks your world a little bit - running away. :) Is it selfish that I hope to be able to get a run or two in too?? Looking forward to an Easter egg hunt (maybe on the beach?), some fun and distraction. :)

Thank you again for the continued, prayers, messages, texts and calls. It's so comforting to know there are so many people around us that care so very much. I've learned so many "lessons" from this experience. SA and I often reflect after big events about the things we've learned from them. For example (a smaller lesson): When you receive a wedding invitation: RSVP as soon as possible. The people sending them are eagerly awaiting your response. (Learned through personal experience... checking the mail every day wondering will anyone come?? Who's coming?? Have we heard from this person??)

In this instance we've learned that letting people help you doesn't just benefit you, it helps them too. I'm trying to keep this in mind as offers for help, etc. are made. This was (and continues to be) a harder lesson for me. I realized this as we have been trying to "do" for our neighbors that lost their homes and so many of their possessions. We keep asking what we can do for them. They respond with they don't need anything right now and will let us know when they do. To steal a phrase from my cousin Michelle, it's a little "hand wringing" for me because I WANT to help. I NEED to help. Perhaps out of guilt that my house is still standing and theirs isn't - but I genuinely want to do anything I can to help ease what they're going through.

I realized that they may never ASK for help. It's hard for people to ask for things. I *think* it's easier to accept when they're just done, given, etc. So... I decided that I would just "do" rather than ask. In my heart I feel better. Again, could be a completely selfish thing. Part of my "survivors guilt," but it's made me feel better. I realized yesterday as they were talking about it being one of the kids birthdays that they probably didn't have anything for Easter. I went to the store and tried to take care of things to help the Easter Bunny out. He is a pretty busy Bunny. ;) Today I gave them the rubbermaid filled with things from The Bunny himself. I'm still absolutely willing to help them with whatever they need... but realize that they're overwhelmed and just don't know what they need or are struggling with asking. Another life lesson learned for me.

If we have more information tomorrow as far as progress I will post a blog. If not, the next tornado update might be post Easter. If I don't *talk* to you before then, we hope you have a blessed day & treasure the time with your family & friends. And, remember the reason for the day. ;)

Miracles continue to happen each day.

Love & thanks to all! xo
Darlene, Stephen & KK

Another article/photos of our street from the newspaper today:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/19/1141372/serendipity-court-hit-hard-by.html

Photos from Day 1 & days after during clean-up (these are some repeats from FB postings we've had but since we aren't "friends" with everyone on FB I thought I'd post them in an album):
http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d6a51784e7a41304d6a593d0d0a&blogview=true

Quick Update

It's kind of late but I wanted to make sure I posted something today about our progress. Especially since in the last few hours of the day I feel like we made some pretty significant strides towards getting repairs done.

Two big pieces of news today:

First, the reason this blog posting is going to be short is we spent much of the night going through the pictures we took over the last three days for the adjuster. At 4pm today the insurance adjuster called to schedule our appointment to come to our house. I can't tell you how relieved this made me. They'll be coming over tomorrow afternoon (4/20) and we hope after that meeting we'll know more.

Second, a few minutes ago our neighbor called to tell us that the power company is at our house (yes 9:15pm) and just installed a box for our electricity. We *think* we now have electricity. YAYYYYYY!!!!!! We'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Two awesome things.

Tomorrow we plan to talk to the appraiser and see what his recommendations are regarding lodging, in addition to all of the other things. Initially we thought we'd check out of the hotel and go home right away now that we have power. After thinking about it a little more rushing immediately back into the house before we've been able to get all of the glass and fiberglass up probably isn't the best idea. From there, we'll figure out what to do next.

Again, many thanks for the prayers, offers for help, and concern. We're doing okay. Today was the most difficult day (emotionally) for me, out of the last three, but given the progress made towards the end of the day and into this evening I'm feeling much better tonight. =)

xo
Darlene, Stephen & KK

Another Video: http://www.wral.com/weather/video/9462784/
Some additional information: During this broadcast they mention the baseball cards that were literally on every property on our block. I've been told that the collector had been saving the cards all his life. He had quite a collection. On Saturday the kids of the neighborhood wanted to help. Someone suggested that they be tasked to finding baseball cards to give back to the owner. On Sunday the kids collected more than 500 cards and helped clean up debris in the process and presented them back to the owner. Today we were told that someone found an autographed mickey mantle card in their yard. Of course the card is damaged but the sentiment was there when it was returned. People are amazingly kind.

Hope is the most precious treasure to a person.

That was Katherine's fortune tonight at Pei Wei. Mine was, "No need to worry! You will always have everything you need." So appropriate.

For tonight's blog I thought I'd share some of what happened on Sunday and through today. Get caught up if you will!

Yesterday before we went home we decided to see if we could find a generator. We knew stores closest to Raleigh would more than likely be out due to the volume of houses that were without power. Not necessarily in the path of the tornado, but certainly in the path of the winds, rain, hail, etc. that caused its own damage around the city/county. We lucked out and the first store we went to we got the last one. We were pretty high on life at that point.

We headed home and when we arrived to our block we were stunned by the volume of people and news reporters that were around. As I mentioned yesterday hundreds of volunteers were out and about helping. Many restoration companies were on-site doing handling the immediate needs of the block. Things like covering windows, tarping over homes where whole sides of the house were missing, etc.

After hauling stuff up the street from the corner we realized that if we told the police we lived on the street, they'd let us drive our car up. Duh. Never thought to ask. I'll tell you - it made moving the generator A LOT easier. :)

As I mentioned yesterday initially we were hesitant to accept help. When you looked around there were homes that were previously two story houses that were now, literally, about 6' tall. We were in the mindset of PLEASE, go help them. We'll be fine!!! The first few groups moved on and then there was a group of Methodist Emergency Response Team members that came to our house. A husband and a wife. They were so very caring and understanding. She looked at me and said, "You CAN accept help. Your neighbors have help. There are plenty of us around to ensure everyone can get what you need." Humbling. She proceeded to ask what we could do inside with some ladies. SA told her about our bedroom and she immediately said that was absolutely something they could handle helping with. Little did I know my friend MV would arrive on the scene with her Dad and get me whipped into shape in quick order. :)

Nearly at the same time a friend, Kristen and her fiance Adam came over to see if they could help. We volunteer together on the JDRF YLC and Adam has a house a couple streets over. They offered to take K for a treat. She was thrilled when she got back showing me the birdie that Adam finessed from the McDonalds folks and a smoothie. (She LOVES strawberry banana smoothies at McDs.) :) Thank you both. She had so much fun. (Also, I didn't doubt that Kristen would win the dance contest... You're awesome Adam... but she's got moves!!!) ;)

MV arrived with bags of groceries filled with our favorite things, sandwiches and beverages. She also brought along some muscle (her dad... apparently they debated the whole "muscle" thing... I thought he had some guns!) ;) They both immediately kicked me in the pants and helped me get our bedroom in relative order. I can now walk through our bedroom without crunching glass under my feet and I can look at my bed all stripped of linens but more importantly, no visible glass on it. That by itself was a huge accomplishment.

MV and F then helped us rake the yard up of debris. You could see our green grass again!! It now has a certain "shimmer" that we've told all of the neighbors we hope they enjoy. We added it just for them. (The shimmer brought courtesy of the volumes of glass that continue to be in our yards... and will be, no doubt, for quite some time. Note: no walking in our grass barefoot for at least the next year or so.)

So yesterday was the holy smokes let's try to restore some order day... Today was the quieter catch up with the neighbors and huddle day. The news teams were kept off our block. They were all stationed down by our community pool which is why the coverage you'll see tonight is a different section of the block than you saw yesterday. Yesterday they were basically in front of our house. We're grateful to the police for keeping them at bay. The sheer volume of reporters was overwhelming at times. We'd managed to shy away from reporters and interviews ... until today. My darling husband was convinced by a super super nice camera man to do an interview. I was sucked in. They asked us to stand together. I really didn't think much would come of it... Until my phone and Stephen's phone started going crazy at about 6:35pm tonight. Apparently I made national news... One sentence. In tears. Wearing sunglasses (because I wasn't going to speak... and only spoke 30 seconds total). Hopefully I didn't embarrass myself too much. ;) No curlers in my hair so I'm considering it a success.

Tomorrow I expect that we'll have all moved onto another chapter in the post disaster stage... (First Shock; Second: Get busy; Third; talking and sharing) Now: Frustration. Some (us included) haven't heard from an adjuster or the insurance company about when someone will be coming out to assess the damages. Second instance dealing with our insurance company in 6 months (oh yeah, they big fat puffy heart us right now... ) and twice we're so much less than impressed with their response. Our neighbors have not only heard from their insurance companies, some already have checks in hand to cover incidentals like hotel, food, etc. Us... We call and they tell us they're quite busy due to the disaster. I say... No cr@p, eh?

Some lessons I've learned:
1. No matter how many times you flip the bathroom light switch on... IT WONT WORK!!!
2. Although you have water... The garbage disposal will NOT work. (seriously had shoved so much food down there from the refrigerator... happily flipped the switch and then yelled CRAP!!!!!!) I know. Not so bright.
3. Fiberglass gets everywhere. No, seriously. Everywhere.
4. An extension cord from your neighbors house to your house to power two little things (cell phone charger & vacuum) can make you feel like you are in civilization.
5. Tornados tearing down your street make for good weight loss plans. I don't recommend the disaster part... but it does help with appetite. (Or lack of one. :))
6. Just because a tornado came through your street, doesn't mean you're immune to sunburn.
7. Shimmery grass is the new "IN" thing on Serendipity. If you don't have it - you can't be part of our click.
8. Fiberglass crusted siding... Also IN. You're permitted to sweep off sections in order to reduce incoming fiberglass into your home (see #3). (One neighbor was asked if he wanted someone to come power wash his siding... he said "no, I don't want to be unlike my neighbors. :))
9. Did I mention the fiberglass gets everywhere thing? How about that it's REALLY itchy?
10. Best... A HS friend sent this to me in a message (thanks Kim!): The worst of mother nature brings out the best of human nature. So very very true.

Some of you have asked about the extent of damages. We've said it's nothing like our neighbors. And it's not. Today we started to quantify some of what we have. The short list of big things:
- Our heating/air conditioning units will need to be completely replaced. Inside (attic) and outside two units. They were ripped from the house and in our neighbors yard.
- Our roof sustained damage in multiple areas. We didn't realize the extent until the guys from Carolina Restoration were up there how much. We may need a new roof.
- All of our siding will need to be replaced. There are large chips/chunks/whole sections missing. The ins company may save certain "pieces" to recover... but the dents, chips, etc. will make that challenging.
- Our screened in porch will need to be rescreened entirely. Pieces of flying roof cut through the screen.
- Our bay window, one window broke but the other two sustained pretty good glass damage. They'll need to be replaced.
- The other two windows that broke and maybe some others will need to be replaced due to damage to the frame, etc.
- Carpet in our bedroom will need to be completely replaced due to the amount of glass that came through the window.
- Our truck has quite a bit of damage to the passenger side. Multiple large dents, scratches everywhere, etc. (This will be a priority soon as we have to turn in our lease in a couple of months!)

There are other things but these are some of the bigger things. Again, when you look left and right and see houses to the ground our damage doesn't look so bad. We started to go room to room to make a list of damage. It started to add up as we went from room to room. Again, SO GRATEFUL and so BLESSED to be and have what we have. The rest, doesn't matter. We'll figure it out.

Some companies and organizations that I really want to recognize for their help, support and kindness:
Olive Garden - The manager of the Olive Garden on Capital Blvd heard of the devastation on our block and sent an entire trunk of food over for the people on our street on Saturday. TONS of lasagna, breadsticks, etc. for everyone to eat.

Methodist & Baptist Churches: We referred to these folks as the Green group and the Orange group. In love I assure you. They were everywhere in their bright t-shirts and you knew who they were and that without question they'd help you do anything they could. At one point we had our pile of debris stacked in our front yard. The Green group came up and was answering our questions about "what next". They'd told us about the city coming to take the debris at one point in the next few days as long as it was on the curb. We looked at each other and about cried. We had a couple feet of debris stacked up over a pretty good space and it needed to be moved 3 feet over. Gut punch. No worries. The Green group (Methodist church) came and with a group of 10 or so had it moved for us, our front yard raked within minutes. MINUTES!!!! Incredible. We didn't even ask them to do it.

Carolina Ale House: Brought food for the block on Sunday. We didn't see what they brought but know that they were there.

Bright Funeral Home: I know what you're thinking. We thought the same thing. What in the world would the funeral home have for us? We were all accounted for, thankfully. They brought big tents. Tents that the "food command center" could use for shelter from the sun for the volunteers, emergency personnel and residents. How awesome!!!

Carolina Restoration: While it's their business to help after disaster situations I want to recognize them not for donations, etc. but for being THERE. They were on-site on Saturday immediately following the tornado and were WORKING first thing Sunday morning. Today we had an experience with a company that our insurance company sent out (we shall refrain from names at this point) that left us still looking for help to secure our home. They boarded two windows and left, promising to be back... They didn't come back. We called Carolina Restoration at about 4:00pm as they were working on our neighbors house and said, I know you're busy - but can you please come help us finish securing our house. Within 15-20 minutes they were there. They helped with securing our roof, siding, windows, etc. And gave us advice on some stuff inside the house and damage on lower parts of the exterior of the house. Fantastic. And the work they did left me feeling much more secure about ensuring our home wasn't further damaged.

YMCA: They offered free passes for the next several months to the children of the neighborhood. They realized that the kids aren't going to be able to play in our yards due to the debris. This is huge. I'm amazed they thought this far ahead.

Golden Corral: They offered a free meal to everyone in our family. We have passes to go have dinner one night. Also so very much appreciated. It lets us eat a meal together and not be surrounded by the debris and fiber glass in the air. So grateful.

I KNOW there are other companies and businesses that came to help. They were there. They didn't necessarily call themselves out, but I know others were there. They quietly did what needed to be done to help our community.

Some of you have asked what we need and how you can help. First and foremost, prayers and support. You've all given that in spades. We appreciate this more than you can imagine.

As for labor, right now since all of the outside is cleaned up we're focusing on the inside. We sincerely appreciate the offers of help, but it's really just going through each item/thing and determining whether to save, toss, etc. Today we started on the playroom. Still lots of work to do in there... but we started it.

As for "stuff". We don't really know right now. We're still going through things. And since we haven't had an assessment yet or know what insurance is covering or not... We're winging it a bit. We've been asked about Gift Certificates. Gift certificates for restaurants, Target or home improvement stores will not go to waste. In the end, as I said before, it's all just stuff. Your prayers and support are truly more than enough!!

Some of the links where coverage of our street has been:
http://www.wral.com/weather/video/9458034/

My famous one-liner: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363151n

There are tons more online no doubt. I think my sister is the queen of finding our house or one of us on the news. :) (Thank you J for looking out for us!!)

Again, thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, support and love. We are so very grateful. Love to all!!!

xo
~ Darlene, Stephen & KK

April 16, 2011 Tornado

As I've moved through the last 30 hours I have so many mixed emotions. I know many of you are wondering what happened. I know this because you've called, texted, emailed and messaged through various ways in Facebook. To say we're grateful for your messages, thoughts and prayers would be an understatement. Just a few minutes ago the Weather Channel panned over our house. It's a surreal moment to see your house and all of your neighbors homes displayed on the news.

In order to try to keep folks updated on what's happening I thought I'd use the blog for the next week or so to let you know what's happening. We've been trying to call folks as able but even with our best intentions we haven't been able to reach everyone. I promise it's not because we haven't wanted to call... It's just been a little busy.

So what happened?
Yesterday (4/16) Stephen, Katherine, my sister Nicole and I went to a Roller Derby in Dorton Arena in downtown Raleigh. My sister told us about it and it seemed like a fun time so we thought we'd go see one. As we arrived and got our beverages and popcorn the announcements started. The MC indicated that they were not going to use the siren to start the Derby this time around. They said they were going to reserve the siren for an emergency warning as there were multiple reports of tornados in the area. This isn't uncommon this time of year but generally tornado watches (in our previous experience) didn't exceed the watch level.

About 5 minutes into the Derby the siren went off. We followed our instruction to evacuate to the basement of the arena. For those not from the Raleigh area, Dorton Arena is an all glass domed arena. Had the tornado actually come through there I couldn't imagine the glass that would have gone flying everywhere. Truly. That said, we were in quite possibly one of the safest "safe places" in Raleigh. A basement of brick and concrete. Pretty good as far as secure that the building wouldn't blow away.

About 15 minutes into being in the basement a man came through to and was yelling to sit on the floor, turn around and face the wall and lower our heads. I'll remind you we were with a two (almost three) year old. The only reason I remember it was a man coming through (I'll be honest) is because Katherine kept asking why that man told us to put our heads down? My sister and I tried to make it a game to look at Katherine's shoes... We drew on some paper with some crayons and practiced our letters... We did this as it was at least 15 minutes we were in this position. I can't believe how incredibly patient and strong our daughter is.

After we were told we could leave the basement we went upstairs. As we were walking upstairs Stephen's cell phone rang. It was ADT indicating that our heat sensor (that detects fire through our alarm) was going off. Initially we were chalking it up to having had some work done to our alarm the previous day and thinking maybe the wind did something to make the alarm go off accidentally... but we weren't home. ADT asked if we wanted the fire department to be called. Ah, yes. thanks. At this point K indicated she needed to go potty so we headed off to the bathroom while deciding whether to high tail it home or not. When we returned from the bathroom Stephen said that ADT had called back and said the lines were all busy and they couldn't get through to 911. We should head home and continue to try to call. Ah. Bad.

So off we went. Never in this discussion did it enter my mind that a tornado came to our neighborhood. Not once. I don't know why. I kept thinking electrical short in the house and maybe the house was on fire but having the tornado come through our neighborhood or street... Didn't consider it. As we drove home we saw some downed limbs, branches, etc. Stuff you'd see after a normal high wind, rain, hail storm. As we turned down the street heading to our neighborhood we noticed that the roof of the small car dealership on the corner had been taken off. OFF. Okay. Small panic. Kept driving and large chunks of the fence along the outside of our neighborhood facing the road was missing. Panic increasing. Heading down our street... damage and started to increase in panic level. As we approached the pool on our street and got to our corner full panic set in. I mean, almost wet your pants and tears streaming holy "S" moment.

We asked Nicole to stay with Katherine until we could scope out our house. We didn't know if we still had one. As we walked down our block the devastation was, well, devastating. My heart stopped I think. This might sound dramatic but it's truly a moment I won't forget in my life. Ever. Seeing your neighbors homes fully exposed with roofs off. Walls totally open. Pieces of homes laying everywhere. Rain still coming down. As we continued down our block we kept looking for the top of our house. It was there. We couldn't see the front and all the while I'm crying and saying ohmygodohmygodohmygod. My amazing husband held me, walked together and continued to reassure me that regardless, we'd be okay. We were safe.

We got to the front of our house and saw that our home was still standing. Given the unbelievable nature of what was around us, this alone, was a miracle. MIRACLE. We'd forgotten the keys to the house back in the car so Stephen started to head back to the car as I continued down the street to our neighbors who I could see had no home. It was flattened. We all started to account for one another. I don't know exactly how long before the storm had gone through but I'm estimating maybe 15 minutes. I think the alarm went off as the beginning of the storm came. There was no power, etc. by the time the tornado came through.

As I walked around our house I saw that again, the backyard and back of the house had damage, but nothing compared to what our neighbors experienced. As I was circling back around the house a friend and co-worker came around the backyard with her son. That hug... It felt good to know she and her family were okay and that we were okay. She and her family stayed with us for the next 4+ hours helping us do what we could to immediately tend to the issues of the house. We finally got inside and saw that we had 3 windows that blew out. Given we have about 25+ windows in the house... This was pretty amazing. Our living room / playroom; dining room and our bedroom were the rooms that sustained window damage. With the help of our friend and her family we were able to clean up the glass in the downstairs rooms. We didn't do much of anything with our bedroom because the volume of glass was too much to absorb for me. It was a room I was avoiding.

Lots of things happened I know during this time. We talked to neighbors, cried, hugged, tried to laugh at some things (saying our HOA was going to come through today and issue warnings that we all needed to power wash our houses)... At 9pm I thought it was still 6:00 so truly time was lost on me. At some point, Stephen and our friends husband went to a home improvement store to get some supplies to secure the windows and ensure that no other debris could fly in nor could anyone looking to maximize on the devastation. Or at least if they tried they'd get pretty seriously injured. (We didn't remove the jagged glass from the windows.) I'd asked a Sheriff whether someone would be in our neighborhood to ensure we didn't get any looters and he indicated that we were one of many neighborhoods that sustained damage... He had no idea. Fortunately one very kind officer stayed and kept watch. He traveled up and down our block all night.

Another family of friends came over during this time and helped us tape up the windows, play with Katherine and just do "stuff". I really don't remember everything now as I look back. The hours flew by and yet time stood still. We called family members and asked them to post something to let folks know we were okay and to call the other family members that needed calling. (And yes, I will give KUDOS to my sister's Verizon coverage. It remained available throughout the whole ordeal. AT&T... Sporadic at best.)

I've never experienced the support, kindness and downright love that I have in the last 30 hours. Friends just came. We didn't ask. They were just there. They came within hours to help do whatever they could to help us. I don't think they expected to see what they did... Neither did we expect to be in the situation we are. Friends came today to bring us food, play with Katherine and just help. The volume of volunteers on our block was incredible. HUNDREDS of people came today. They came with food, water, muscle and hugs. I cried a lot today. Out of extreme gratitude. For the first couple of hours we were home, we declined all offers of help. For me, and I still struggle with this, I looked around me and thought I'm the LEAST of the worries of this street. Please go help the others that lost much much more. Stephen called this "survivors guilt". I'll admit I look and am in awe of being spared what everyone around me was not. When I tell you our side of the block was devastated, it's truly not an understatement. Houses collapsed. Complete sides of houses ripped off. Roofs missing. Cars destroyed. I don't know how or why we were as lucky as we were. I'm so thankful to God, our many Angels in heaven and our AMAZING friends and volunteers.

I'll share some of the more specific stories in another blog but special thanks to these people:
Nicole - THANK YOU for being the rock you were during our underground time and as we arrived home, taking care of Katherine... We're sorry about your car. I hope you get power back soon.

Miller Family - John, thank you for *thinking* for Stephen. Thank you for helping us secure the windows. MM, J & L, THANK YOU for helping us clean up the inside of the house and get it ready for taping. M, thank you for finding us food. I know it took some hunting!!! We can't thank you enough. You were our first on-site help. You never cease to amaze me.

Krieman Family - Thank you for coming to help. Thank you for playing with Katherine. Thank you for calling people you know that know what happens in these situations, to help get us advice. Thank you for opening your home to us. Thank you for being the supportive amazing friends that you are. Even down to the littlest one your kindness and warmth was so appreciated and comforting.

Vanderbilts - When the Vanderbilts come work gets DONE!! I needed your kick in the pants today. When you heard I'd been avoiding our bedroom you jumped on it and we got it "checked off the list"! Frank and M.... You rock. My house is feeling more and more like my home again. Thank you for helping us clean up our yard. Who knew M's first raking experience would be post tornado in our yard. And you brought us some of our favorite foods, drinks, etc. You know how to comfort us!!!

Marie: Thank you for contacting your uncle for us and for offering to help us get a place to stay. Your help and your uncles advice were greatly appreciated.

Kristen & Adam: You came by and not only offered your support but you also gave a little girl a fun afternoon. She was pretty excited about her "bird" and the smoothie. Thank you for taking her out and getting her away from the craziness for a little bit. She had a blast!! We're very appreciative.

We love you all and can't tell you how much we appreciate all you've done to help us. If I missed anyone I promise it's not intentional. Every single bit of help we've received has been appreciated.

So many others called, texted and messaged offering help, support, love and prayers. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts. We appreciate it more than you can imagine.

We'll keep you updated as the week goes on. xoxo ~ Darlene, Stephen & Katherine