Day too many- Five

The blessings for today were that our house was a total loss.  We were able to get a couple of last minute things from the house including my family’s civil war era muskets.  We have wonderful people from all over the world loving us with prayer and support.  We are receiving money from people we know and love dearly to people that we have never met.  I am truly humbled.  I have been in contact with people I have not talked to in years.  It is encouraging to see how much I am loved.  We are being prayed for on all sides! Praise God! 

Let me start with the business of the day and then I will follow with the good stuff.  Today we met with our insurance agent.  He said hands down that it was a total loss, no questions.  He spoke with us about the information he would need and what we would need to do to claim the rest of our insurance money.  This is something that makes my stomach churn.  I hate this part.  If they would have just told me how much we were getting and walked away, I would have been happy.  Instead we have to justify the full amount of our personal property and he thinks we will have no problems with getting it and we may be under insured for some of it.  This is why I hate this type of stuff.  God gave me a wonderful and brilliant husband that is blessed with a business mind.  He is mostly un-phased by this part of the process.  It was cold and windy all day today and this made the entire meeting difficult as it was at our house so that he could go over anything at the physical location.

After this we went to Josh’s work so that he could check some emails, get a rental list from our insurance company as they want to get us in a house, and check in with his coworkers and boss.  I was able to use the bathroom and get some coffee since it was cold outside and I was in shorts.  I have pants; they were just in the tornado salvaged items that were being washed.  We found out we had more things at another person’s home as they were not able to reach the house we are staying at.  More stuff…one item is my memory quilt.  You know the tornado is going on there once I clean it.  While there, Josh’s boss pulled us aside and said that the office, as well as other people in the company of Accenture, had given money and wanted to give it to us as well as a large trailer full of stuff for us to have once it gets here from I think Florida.  I cried, what else is there to do?  I mean we just left the insurance agent and here we have more people who are living in the community giving us money.  Thirty percent of Joplin is gone and we were chosen.  Talk about the lottery; we won the friends lottery!

We went back to the house and Josh got a call from his mother who told him that the Librarians at the Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma had taken up a collection for us.  More money which makes me feel over whelmed!  My grandmother contacted me to let me know that our family beach house is available in June to have for a while to relax and get away.  My mom also wanted me to come down to the Dallas/ Ft Worth Metroplex to get away from things and go shopping since I will soon need some clothing and other items.  I am not good at accepting help.  I have never been.  I am the "helper/ fixer".  I want to help as much as I can.  But right now, I am not able to help.  I am not able to go out and serve others since I was forced to restart my life.  This is a way for God to stretch me and be more open to others help. 

People in Joplin are depressed.  They need some sort of distraction.   What do Americans do when they need distractions? They watch television.  Television is not a practical option due to downed lines and many lost there televisions in the storm.  Plus, most anything on television is about the storm so why watch it?  Kids need to be distracted right now.  They need a diversion.  As I mentioned before, Josh is an avid board gamer!  He has been in contact, through his blog and Twitter, with game companies that are right now shipping board games to our church.  These board games will be well used and a better alternative to watching television. 

I was truly honored today by a former student that I had.  I was a student advisor for freshman at Abilene Christian University one year and provided counseling to the students I worked with.  One of these students contacted me today and it humbled me to tears.  She wrote, “I am so humbled by your strength, bravery, and courageousness…I pray that you continue to inspire people with bravery and blessings through your blog…”  I am truly touched.  I do not feel strong.  I feel "lost" which is not the right word but I do not know what else to say.  I did not start this blog for recognition, but wanted it to be a way for people to see hope in this awful time.  Why else would any crazy person title their blog about a tornado experiences with “blessing”.  This is not the only person that has contacted me.  I want to say a huge yet not quite large enough “Thank you” to all that have contacted me from Facebook, phone, text, email, and here on my blog.  I am so appreciative of everyone from the person who hands out water and food on the street when I am hungry to the person who gives us money to the person who is praying for us throughout this entire ordeal.  Everyone one of you is important to my mental health and stability right now and I would be a puddle on the ground without you. 

Truly Thank You!!!