Originally Posted by Judie

HI.. Did anyone miss me? I am just barely getting back to looking at the board again...

Today is two months since the tornado hit Joplin and destroyed much of my home and the homes of my DS and DD as well. The storm struck quickly and was here and gone in less than a minute. It took the entire roof off our house, and blew down my DD's home and also blew away my DS's home.. We were all at home (thank God) and were able to take shelter in the basements... Nothing was left of the kids homes.. Only the door to the basement at my daughter's and the corner of the computer room at my son's.. None of us have any vehicles, we went from 7 good vehicles between us to none... We are still without telephone or internet. There is nothing for rent here, but we have moved into a tiny house that was my MIL's until she passed away a few months ago.. Thank God we didn't sell it as we had planned to do. My daughter and her husband and 2 babies was able to move into one of our Sunday School member's home that they were going to sell, but decided to rent to them instead.. My son and wife and their son are still living with a quilting friend on mine.

While the kids lost everything that day, we thought we'd be okay. The tornado did not blow everything away, but then we had over 10 inches of rain fall over the next 2 days into our wide open home. That took almost everything we had left. It ruined all our clothes, shoes, furniture, beds & bedding, electronics, my precious sewing machine and most of my stash and supplies and books. It took the ceilings down and the water all ran through the house without without regard to what it destroyed. What that didn't ruin immediately was gone in the next few days to mold and mildew.. It was a horrible mess.

I'm telling this because I also want to tell you that we have had the most remarkable volunteers and help come to our aid. I have a quilting friend who spent hours searching for us that night and when she found us, she took all 9 of us to her home to stay. My DD was able to move out after 6 weeks, we got moved after 7 weeks and my son is still there... Amazing friends, that's what quilters are! We had people we don't know from all over the nation and from other countries here helping us clean up the 9 or 10 hundred year old oak trees that had fallen in our back yard.. they helped us remove tons of debris from our yard and house.. They have brought us sacked lunches and warm dinners.. water and other cold drinks.. They have worked like they were our best friends and even brought their own rakes, shovels, chainsaws, and gasoline... They worked until they were as tired as we were.. and then worked more. They have prayed with us, encouraged us and helped us more than we can ever begin to tell you. Most of these folks are working people who took time off work or used their vacations to come here. They have to stay wherever they can find.. there isn't anyplace to stay here. Our hotel/motels are at capacity, so they are staying in campers and church basements. Hundreds have come here... I don't know how to thank them or tell you what this has meant to our city, and to our family in particular. We are doing fine because of the help these selfless people have given.

The lessons I've learned are simple, but I'd encourage you to take them to heart..
1. Don't hold on to things, hold on to your family and keep in touch with friends... everything can be gone in less than a minute..
2. When you hear a siren blowing, don't go out to see what's happening, take cover!
3. Thank God for the good that happens even in terrible times.
4. When people need help, go help.. do something, even bringing cold water is so important. Everyone can help.. if you can't go.. send money... everyone needs it.
5. Praise God if you're not in a mess, but remember, everyone gets their share in this life, so do what you can when it's not your turn.

Thanks for listening. One other thing. I'm grateful to McDonalds for having free Wi-Fi available for us to use.. Our phone company people are saying we will be lucky, in our neighborhood, to have phone service by December! Yikes! no car and no phone and no internet is hard but it does give you plenty of time to quilt, if the work ever gets done.