Day Six

This morning I was able to blow dry my hair, wear sweats and a t-shirt.  This is so nice!!!  We were notified first thing this morning that our insurance company is going to provide us with one year of rent up front.  We do not have to go through our insurance agency in order to get into a house and it does not have to be one of the homes they find for us.  Houses are going so quickly in Joplin that it is very difficult to get into a house, apartment, or shack out back with utilities.  What a blessing.  A high school friend contacted me who is a pilot with Delta Airlines.  He is sending me some buddy passes for people to fly in and out of the area.  We have no immediate need, but this is something that could come in handy in the future.  There are so many needs that we are unaware of that it is just nice to be prepared for things like this.  We have not gotten a flat tire.  We are so blessed to have a car that survived, that I am hoping with all the nails around that we will be able to get out of this mess without having to replace a tire.

I got up and ate one of the best breakfast sandwiches of my life.  When I awoke this morning I was craving a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich.  My hosts had one and it was so good.  Talk about God providing for all my needs when I would have just eaten cold cereal or a cup of coffee.  I was able to watch old “Bugs Bunny” and “Tom and Jerry” cartoons on Cartoon Network today.  It was nice to laugh at nothing as I lay under my newly laundered only slightly stained memory quilt.  I mean now it just has more character.

Josh was in contact with Accenture’s Human Resource Representative who has applied us for the Accenture Charitable Trust Grant for $2500.  We were approved.  She is also trying to get Josh enough PTO for all of June so that he can continue to take care of our little family.  Again the generosity of the people we know has brought us to tears. 

Some of today was very hard.  I do not want to dwell on that.

One amazing thing that happened today was that we got some more of my family heirlooms out of the house.  We went back for a badly mangled table that I was super fixated on.  I know this is stress and loss.  When we got there I was not in appropriate foot attire and as I got out of the car, I stepped on a nail.  It did not penetrate the skin, but I will probably never wear flip flops again.  (This is a rather jaw dropping statement.)  And yes I did get a tetanus shot after we left as a preemptive measure.  As I was sitting in our car, Josh went and got the table.  I decided I would open the door and see who was around and saw that there was a fire department truck from Weber, Missouri.  I stopped them as we needed to get the license plates off our vehicle for insurance purposes and while there they offered to get anything out of the house we needed.  I asked Josh if there was any way our drop leaf table could have survived and he humored me and looked.  It was under our living room wall being stepped on, rained on, and tornado-ed.  Josh and three firemen moved the wall and pulled out my almost intact drop leaf table.  It was amazing.  I realized that this was all I cared about for the most part.  I do not think I will be going back for a while.  It is a strange feeling.

We also met a photographer from the New York Times who was photographing our area.  The New York Times is trying to reproduce the shots taken by Google Earth of many streets in Joplin.  This will give a better before and after shot of our street.  He was saying many interesting things and was going to take some photographs for us and email us copies.  Josh had a great idea to frame some of these images to remind us later that we need to be mindful of how stuff is only temporary.  I have a wonderful husband.

Just to mention, Josh and I were married four years ago today.  May 27, 2007 was our happy day and we are both truly thankful for both being here to share another year together.  We have had a really excellent year despite the tornado.  Over the past 17 months we have gone to 23 states including Hawaii in December 2009.  We have seen many baseball parks and experienced quite a few wonderful things.  I have been blessed more than I could have asked or imagined.  He is a wonderful perfect match for me and I cringe at what the alternative could have been just days ago. 

We received word that Josh’s office has given us money that was a significant amount considering we are in Joplin.  We have received almost $5,000 in donations alone.  This does not include other in kind donations of respite, food, clothing, and airline tickets.  We are truly blessed.