Two months later...

It's hard to believe it's been two months (and four days) since the tornado. Most days it seems like it was six months ago. I think over time we've become somewhat desensitized to the situation. Perhaps we've had to be. Perhaps it's a recognition and acceptance of where we're at. I don't know.

Last weekend we celebrated Katherine's third birthday. It was a fantastic weekend. Lots of fun with our little princess. We kicked off the birthday weekend with pizza for dinner on Friday night. One of K's favorites. On my top 5 list too!! On Saturday she had a couple of her bestest friends over for a little celebration. A little swimming in the backyard, some cake, pinata in the backyard and presents made for a perfect birthday celebration. There was no shortage of smiles that weekend. It was pretty awesome!!! I think she's played with every single thing she received and they've all been huge hits. She's making sandwiches, singing songs with her microphone, playing with Tink and sitting in her chair playing with her Melissa and Doug dolls... or taking the dolls outside to the porch to sit at her Dora table with umbrella. Her purple beach chair as a secondary umbrella just in case the first umbrella lets in a ray of sun. =) Thanks to everyone for the fabulous new things!! She's one happy lil thing!

Some pictures from our celebration

A scrapbooking design by Smilebox

Prior to our weekend festivities (Friday) the tornado repairs continued with siding repairs beginning. We needed three sides of siding replaced and pieces from the three sides taken to repair the back of the house. I can happily say that the siding repairs are complete. WOOT!!! We did learn however that the banging of siding repairs is greater than the banging of roof repairs. Hard to imagine. I know. But alas, things I didn't think about removing/storing, etc. came to visit the surrounding floors. I also learned where various 2X4s are in the house. I learned this as there are quite a few nail pops going straight down the walls of the studs. I also learned that these same nail pops can make quite a mess of drywall and paint. The coating of white over a number of items made for a good time cleaning this weekend. Speaking of cleaning... I'm not sure why I cleaned. :)

This week (tomorrow in fact), we anticipate getting fabulous new windows installed. I'm not sure I'm prepared for this!! For the first month after the tornado I'd walk from our bathroom into the bedroom and each time I'd have an "oh crap" moment that the blinds weren't down. Then I'd realize 1: I don't have blinds. They blew away. Then 2: there's a ginormous blue tarp covering the side of the house. There's no need for blinds. Two months and four days later, siding repaired and blue tarps gone... We need blinds. Well actually I think our neighbors would say, YOU NEED BLINDS!!! I might be blinding them. ;) Starting tomorrow we'll have clean windows and no blinds. Will we be implementing the sheet look? Um. Yes. Perhaps. I want to keep a good relationship with my neighbors. Not scar them for life. ;)

Progress is happening. Each week we're able to check something else off of the list. I feel so very fortunate to be able to say that. Some of our neighbors continue to wait for money from the insurance company so that they can start their repairs. One house hasn't been touched since the tornado as it's either in foreclosure or just prior to foreclosure happening. It's a mess. It's labeled an "unsafe building" by the city. Unfortunately that doesn't stop mischievous kids from wanting to investigate or hide out in the garage where half the door is up. Hopefully we'll see some progress there soon. And for our neighbors who are struggling with their insurance companies.

As for our lovely insurance provider: We continue our "discussions" with them. Right now they're saying they've paid out all of the claim however the checks they've sent and the amount of the claim are two different numbers. We can't figure out how they arrived at their number and send reconciliation after reconciliation only to be passed off to another person. Pretty soon I'm going to unleash some family members on the insurance company. I have one in mind who I'm pretty certain will get some action relatively quickly. =) She's quite the go-getter!

We'd like to thank Stephen's sister & family's church in NJ for the gift cards to Target/Restaurants. We appreciate it very much. We appreciate the kindness of the parishioners.

As I close this blog I ask you to continue to keep the people of Joplin and Tuscaloosa in your prayers. Late last week I was talking with a co-worker. I inquired as to the status of another Raleigh co-worker who had been affected by the tornados. I'd asked how he was doing and whether he was back in his house yet. The individual replied, "you know, I don't know." They went on to say how as time passes after the event the interest has decreased. This made me very sad. Sad because as time goes on is when folks need encouragement. Perhaps not back labor or physically "doing" something, but more of the emotional support. I can only speak for how I felt, but initially you're so overwhelmed by the situation that you keep your chin up and take one step at a time forward. You work to clean up as best as you can waiting. Waiting for when you can repair, rebuild, etc. When you get to month one and no damages are repaired and you look around and still see the damage outside of every window you look - keeping your chin up gets a little more difficult. When you get to month two and you realize the speed at which repairs take (not for lack of effort by contractors or home owners) you realize that it's going to take longer than you thought... You take another deep breathe. Still grateful... but frustration grows to some extent.

Tuscaloosa, AL was hit with an E4 tornado on April 26, 2011. These folks are just about two months after the devastating tornado occurred. The tornado affected the infrastructure of the city. City trash trucks and the emergency response building were destroyed. Trash trucks are what helped carry away some of the yard debris... Personal vehicles were destroyed for miles around. Moving debris becomes harder. Power lines destroyed. Homes flattened. Belongings thrown all over the city.

Joplin, TN was hit with a EF5 on May 22nd. We're not yet a month later. In Raleigh our infrastructure wasn't affected and one month later we had not a single repair made. We were still without HVAC. We still had debris clean up we were doing... These folks are no where near restoring normal. The whole town was affected. One co-worker of ours lost her father in the tornado. His memorial service will be nearly one month after the event. It will take a long time for this town to restore some semblance of "normal".

Please keep these cities and the families affected in your prayers.

Love to all,
Darlene