California---Part 2---Fun, Chaos and Fire Alarms

Friday morning, the boys woke up at 7 and played their Kindles quietly until the rest of us got up. I finally woke up enough to go check out the view. I wasn't disappointed.



The boys made themselves at home. James called the condo our hotel. Both boys couldn't wait to go outside and check everything out. Kendra took them out on the patio for a bit, but since it rained they of course got all wet!





Kendra decided to go for a run, so mom, dad and I took the boys on a walk along the beach. Even though I knew it wouldn't be warm enough to swim, I had hoped they could at least dip their toes in the ocean. But, the water was contaminated, and it wasn't permitted. They had fun looking for seashells, and Daniel kept getting himself in trouble by kicking and throwing sand!







We decided to walk down to the pier. Mom kept getting texts from Erica and couldn't read them in the sun, so walked to a shady area near a cement wall. Well, the wall bowed out and she didn't notice, and ended up smacking her head. No luck at all.

The pier was beautiful. James thought it was fun to throw his shells all back into the ocean (and then was upset later when he didn't have shells). Kendra ended up spotting us and joined us for the walk back.







Once back, mom needed to go drop of Kendra's and my dresses at the dry cleaners down the road to get them steamed. She had already talked with someone the week before. She worked at their other location, but was going to come pick up the dresses, steam them and bring them back to the location closest to us. Mom asked me to come along. We walked in, and the girl tells us the lady mom talked to wasn't there. The other store flooded from the rain and she couldn't come. But, she said we could take them to her in Coronado. This did not sit well with mom. She calls the other store. The lady who answered had a thick accent and is telling mom, "No she isn't here. I take your name?" Mom is freaking out. She goes back into the location we were at, and the lady calls the other location and explains what's going on. Next thing you know, a simple task has turned into mom having to drive to another city. She was NOT happy. I volunteered to stay with dad and the boys at the condo. And by volunteered I mean, I texted Kendra and told her, "YOU'RE going to Coronado with mom. I can't handle it!"

Thankfully, in the end the whole fiasco was solved. They came back with steamed dresses. Dad, the boys and I just chilled. Then when they got back we walked back down to the ice cream shop for a treat and then got to hang out on the beach again.





Then back to the condo for baths as we waited for Erica and her friend Gabby to arrive. The original plan was early afternoon. That changed to about 4:00. We planned where we would eat supper, and then just had some down time. I got to watch the sunset, which was gorgeous, and I knew it would be the only night we'd probably be there to see it.







As it turned out, Erica and Gabby were stuck in awful traffic. We kept getting updates and it kept getting later and later. We finally decided we would walk to supper and they could meet us there. We picked some local place. It was...interesting. Mostly good. Kinda odd. Erica and Gabby finally arrived hours later than planned, but it all worked out.

We hung out. I tucked Daniel in, and James ended up passing out.



He slept with me in my bed and we shared the room with Kendra. Got him all tucked in.

Eventually, mom made us go to bed because the next day was wedding day!

You'd think that would be where this night ends (and technically it WAS after midnight), but oh no.
12:30am I am jarred awake by this 2 toned alarm. This high pitch and lower pitch going off and I am in the dark wandering around the room trying to figure out what's happening.

I open our bedroom door and it's ear splitting loud. At this point dad is up and mom is up. We're trying to figure out what is happening. I think we all thought it was a security alarm. One of them finally realizes it's the fire alarm and it's going off in the entire complex.

I'm calm at this point. Just confused. Daniel is next to me. James is somehow still asleep. As I'm going to check on him I hear a voice, which sounded like dad yell, "Fire! Everyone OUT!" Well, my dad is chill, so when I heard that my heart rate picked up. "Holy crap...is this place on fire!?" I go and whip James out of bed. Kendra is yelling that she's going pee first. I slide my shoes on and head out the door only to realize I can't see. I yell for Kendra to grab my glasses. I get outside with James, mom, dad and Kendra. Gabby and Erica already had gone out. I start yelling, "Where's Daniel? Where are the boys? BOYSSS!!!" It's then that I realize James is literally in my arms. I'm still yelling, as mom tells me, "There's no time!" (UM...no time to save my kid!?). In reality she knew Gabby and Erica had him, but that isn't what came out. She did finally come to her senses and tell me and then Erica texted me saying she had him.

We get down the stairs and through the parking garage. The alarms are still blaring, and echoing in the garage. Kendra also takes this moment to tell me that I stole her shoes. I looked down and sure enough, those were not my shoes on my feet.

We finally get outside...but no one remembered the code to get back in or had the key for the gate...so dad is standing there holding it until we could find something big enough to prop it. Erica, Gabby and Daniel ended up on the other side of the building where more people had come out. A lot of the condos weren't occupied and so we're the only weirdos standing on our side of the building.

We kept debating what to do. Will the alarms alert the fire department? Why is no one coming? IS there a fire? We see a police car cruise by and Kendra sprints after him to no avail. It was hilarious watching her try to chase him down though. James was shaking because it was cold. All I wanted was for the alarms to shut up! I was about a minute away from calling 911, when the firefighters showed up to clear the alarm!

No fire.And as I later found out, it was my mom who yelled, "Fire! Everyone out!" We all know mom gets extra hyper, so I'd probably have been slightly calmer. She goes, "I SMELLED FIRE!" to which dad replied, "Clearly, you did not!"

I thought it would take awhile for us to settle back down. James was asleep the instant I laid him back down. Kendra and I chatted for a few minutes. I was like , "Thank God there wasn't a fire. We'd have lost the dresses and mom would've been REALLY mad! Or what if the sprinklers had gone off!?"

I was so scared it would go off again, but thankfully it never did. What a fiasco.

California Trip-- Part One--Barf Bags, and Luggage and Chili Beans, Oh My!

I've thought about this for a few weeks now, and it's finally time to write about one of my craziest adventures to date. Our trip to California was an up and down roller coaster of highs and lows.

For starters, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get the boys and I to St. Louis since my van got smashed by a tree. I could get a rental, but I could only have it a certain amount of time, and it didn't make sense to just let it sit in a parking lot for 5 or 6 days. My parents ended up driving to Taylorville on Wednesday afternoon, so we could all drive to St. Louis together.

A couple of things you should know. I have anxiety (duh). My mom, although she hasn't fully admitted it, had anxiety. I KNEW we would snap at each other because we always do. She's one of my best friends, but we know how to push each other's buttons.

We arrived in St Louis. It's rainy and cold. Here we are. 3 adults, 2 kids, 3 suitcases, 3 carry-on bags, 2 purses and 2 car seats. I bought these straps to hook the car seats on to the suitcases, which turned out to be the bigger pain than anything. We ended up putting Daniel's seat into the car seat bag and I carried it on my back.

We waited for our shuttle bus, and our driver was amazing. We went up to get the luggage checked, which goes okay. I was bound and determined to gate check my car seats since I wasn't taking them on the aircraft. Dad kept telling me it would be okay, and that they just get shoved in with the other stuff anyway, and did I REALLY want to haul these seats around for the next couple of hours? I'm panicked. These are literally brand new seats. He promised me that if anything happened to them, they'd buy me new ones. Next thing you know, I'm parting with my seats and literally bidding them a safe journey.

Next stop. TSA. There weren't that many people there at all, but dang were they cranky. I'm sorry that I haven't flown in almost  8 years and don't know quite what I'm doing. And I'm sorry that my kid doesn't understand he can't walk through the metal detector before you tell him he can. Thankfully we made it through and could breath, as we had a couple of hours to go.

We walked around and then went to Chili's for a quick lunch. At some point we realized we didn't have James' pilot hat that we had brought along. Mom was sure it was gone because she balanced on a suitcase in the parking lot. Bummer, but oh well.

I was really hyping up the plane ride to the boys to get them excited. We finally got to board. Thankfully we were all able to board together during the family boarding. We got seats across the aisle from each other. The boys wanted to sit by me. We ended up taking off 30 minutes late because they had to deice the plane.



Finally, we start rolling down the runway. The plane picks up speed. The engines are roaring (which sounded a lot like the tornado we had just been through). Daniel looks like he's seen a ghost and starts to hyperventilate. I'm reaching for a barf bag just in case. As this is happening, James lets out the most blood curdling scream, and just kept going and going. I'm literally leaned over trying to calm them down and praying no one pukes.



Things finally calmed down some, but they held onto their bags the whole flight and each time the altitude changed, they'd breath into the bag. Then 4 hours of, "Are we there yet?" I did eventually get James to go sit by dad, and had mom come over with me. I couldn't handle 2 kids landing. Landing went a lot better though.



We touched down in rainy San Diego, and I texted Erica and Kendra to tell them we landed. Kendra was already at the airport waiting for us, so I told her to meet us at the luggage carousel.

As we're deplaning, Daniel wanted to give candy canes to the pilots so we asked the flight attendant if he could. Dad and James were already off, but they let Daniel go into the cockpit and he even got to sit in the copilot's seat and check things out.



After a bathroom stop, we headed to claim our luggage. Dad and I waited, while mom and the boys went to find Kendra who said she couldn't find us. We get all 3 suitcases. I watch as everything starts to be claimed. Less items are coming. The carousel stops. No car seats. I was straight up spazzing out that my car seats didn't make it. In the meantime, mom comes back with the boys and no Kendra. How is she lost and where are my car seats!?

Mid anxiety attack Daniel casually points to a sign and says, "What's oversized luggage?" I look up to see a sign and race around the corner to see my 2 car seat bags! Mom asked the guy standing there were United carousels were. Turns out there are 2 terminals and she was in the other one!

We were FINALLY ready to go find our shuttle to the renal car place. After telling mom that the car seat wasn't strapped right to the suitcase, and her snapping that it didn't matter, we get off the elevator and she's beyond mad that the car seat is falling off. We exchanged words and continued on.
The guy at the shuttle was ridiculous. I watched as he put the car seats on the top shelf as they wobbled around.

We finally get to the rental place. The guy had also unstrapped the seat from the luggage and I decided that was it. I'd just carry all 23 lbs of it. I grabbed the orange strap. Rolled it up. Put it in the suitcase. (There's a story about that coming another day.)

Got our rental. Spent 10 minutes installing car seats. I think it was nearly 2 hours after we landed that we actually left the airport. At some point I realized we didn't have one of the car seat bags. In the shuttle bus fiasco, mom left it on the seat. I get more upset than I should over a stupid bag.

Next, we had to get on the freeway, in the dark and in the rain. Mom starts to get on. Panics and veers off onto a side road. She finally got up the nerve to get on.

At this point traffic is slow as molasses. We're hungry. We still need to go to WalMart for groceries before we get to the condo. James is passed out in his car seat. Mom loves to use voice command on her GPS, but half the time it doesn't understand. As she's getting madder and madder she yells, "CHULA VISTA!" GPS: "Did you say chili beans?" I mean, Kendra and I lost it. Mom is annoyed and we're cracking up. Eventually we make it to an Applebees. James woke up long enough to come in and sit down. Then he promptly passed out and slept through supper.

Next stop was WalMart. By now it's almost 9:00. It's still pouring. Mom, Kendra and I head in to get stuff. Turned out it wasn't a super Walmart, but they had most of what we needed.

Back to the van which is already crammed full of stuff, with a bunch of bags. We had them piled everywhere.

We FINALLY arrive at our condo. Getting in was interesting. We go in, and mom is upset that the beds are different. We were all at each other about everything. By the time I tucked the boys in it was after 1am Central time.

After that, it was off to bed to discover what adventures awaited us the next day!

Blessings Upon Blessings

I don't even know where to start. My mom about covered it all in her Facebook post. I cannot express the gratitude that I feel this week.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to ask for help. I'd rather do things on my own even if I know I'll probably end up with terrible back pain, or just be plagued by extreme stress. I don't like to be a burden.

This time it was different. This time I knew we needed help. When we joined our Life Group at church our friend Josh, who is one of our leaders said, "This group is family. We're here for each other no matter what." You know what? That was put to the test. Josh posted in our group making sure everyone was okay. As soon as I said that we had been hit, and one of our other families posted the same we were getting texts, messages, calls and everyone wanting to know what they could do to help?

We had at least one person from our group who was planning to come with a chainsaw. Others were going to stop by and see what they could do to help. Just after 9 on Sunday morning a couple who is dear to me showed up with chainsaw and manpower. Jenn wrapped me in a hug the minute I opened the door. They got to work while I got the boys settled. Jacob and I headed out and there was another man there with them as well. As far as I knew he was with them or was someone from church I just didn't recognize. He had a chainsaw and was just a busy beaver. At one point he was next door helping cut huge limbs there as well. As quickly as he appeared, he was gone. I found out that he wasn't with them. He was just a random guy who came from out of town to help. He didn't know us, but he stopped to help. Angel on Earth is what he was.

Throughout the morning many people from Life Group showed up to lend support. To give me hugs (Hugs are like my love language). You have no idea what a hug can do. They offered food, shelter and really anything we needed. We even had a couple show up when we were almost finished. They were sent by another family in our group!

The huge amounts of debris were moved to the curb, and everyone started to leave to go help others. That work that could have taken hours took an hour! And although we still have much work to be done, that was an amazing blessing.

All day long we were blessed. My father-in-law came over to help. He mostly surveyed our damage and was able to give tips and advice when dealing with insurance. It really gave me peace of mind. Before he left we walked through our neighborhood. It was the first time I'd left the yard. No words for the damage we saw.

My great friend, Leslie and her family stopped over for moral support. They gave us a small generator. We didn't get to use it, but the gesture was incredible. They even left us a huge case of water.

Our pastor and Josh came by in the afternoon as well, just to check on us and make sure we didn't need anything.

Another friend who used to live here and go to our church stopped by. More hugs. More selfless offers. These little moments just made my day.

By mid-afternoon I was cold and feeling tired and gross. I ended up going to the Y to shower and dry my hair. I was also able to charge my phone a bit more there too. One of the workers let me plug it in her office so that no one would take it.

I had a text offer from someone at the church asking if we needed a warm supper delivered. While I declined because I had already promised the boys McDonald's, my heart was warmed by them thinking of us.

My phone was literally blowing up all day long with offers of help. I couldn't even reply to every single person (so if I missed you, I swear I didn't do it on purpose). I just couldn't keep up and was trying to keep my phone charged! Some friends from far away insisted on sending us a gift card for a meal too.

After our McDonald's supper we did our Countdown to Christmas activity. Game night, which turned into game night by candlelight. I'd like to say it was fun, but exhaustion had set in. I think the boys mostly enjoyed it. After that, we just sat on the couch for about an hour and a half freezing under blankets.  (We WERE offered many times a warm place to stay, but I declined.) Sometimes just being home is easier.

We were playing a guessing game in the bedroom around 8 and I had finally accepted that we weren't getting power back that night and that the boys would more than likely be sleeping with me again. About 8:15 we hear a "BEEP!" I think we all just sat there for a minute trying to figure out what we heard before Daniel yelled, "The Christmas tree is on!" I've never been happier to have heat and light. I wanted to yell thank you out the door at the top of my lungs to the linemen who worked hours on end to fix the power lines.

School was canceled in Taylorville yesterday. I asked Jacob if  he would take a personal day so I could get more figured out with insurance.

The night before I had put out a request asking if anyone could pick car seats up for me at Target on Monday. SIX people offered. I was blown away. This is something I'd normally not request help with because I COULD have gone, but it saved me probably an hour and a half of time, and I was able to accomplish more. I was able to make phone calls. I was able to go get groceries to restock the fridge.

The car seats were delivered to me. The same friend who loaned me their van last year, loaned it to me again for the next couple of days. Instead of loaning me their car she gave me their van because she thought it would be easier on my back. That fact the people stop to think about these things just amaze me.

Today I was blessed with brownies delivered by a friend. I was blessed by insurance who totaled my van but offered us quite a bit more than I had expected to get. Jacob was given a gift card to Angelo's by one the the principals at his school.  So after another somewhat crazy day we were able to go grab supper...and our total came out almost exactly to the amount of the gift card!

On top of all of that I was able to help bless a few people who were impacted by the tornado. It wasn't much, but what I have learned is that even the smallest gesture can make the biggest difference in someone's day. I think my favorite part of the day was after learning that our neighbor boy needed a booster seat, I put out a request on Facebook. In less than one hour someone had purchased a seat, and I was able to pick it up at WalMart. In the meantime another person sent money for it, and so that money will instead get donated to Missions for Taylorville. Getting to deliver the booster seat was the best part! I yelled, "Merry Christmas!" and she was just blown away. She started to thank me, but I told her about the FB request and she was floored.

We always see the bad in the world, but I have seen so much good in the midst of devastation. I have watched this community band together. Everyone is helping everyone else. It's so sad to see the destruction ,but it brings a smile to my face to see all of the help people are getting.

God has just poured blessing upon blessing on us this week. I've seen his hand in it all. I didn't always love it here, but have for awhile. This storm has just confirmed my love for Taylorville and I'm proud to live here!

The Tale of a Twister

December 1st, 2018. A day that we will never forget.

It started off completely normal. I got to go to the Lady's Christmas Brunch at church that morning and had a great time as always. Then we took the boy to a birthday party at the bowling alley, where they had a blast bowling with friends.

I had been watching the weather because I knew we were supposed to get rain and I was really hoping the parade wouldn't get rained out since that was the first activity in our Advent calendar. Around 2 a Tornado Watch alert came up on my phone. Living in the Midwest all my life has trained me to take watches with a grain of salt.

Around 4:30 the sun went away and the radar was showing rain coming. A few minutes later a post came up saying the parade was off until next weekend. I was bummed. Not long after that the sirens sounded. I looked at where the storm was and decided it was still 40 miles off. 10 minutes later our phones go off with a warning. Again, I ignored it. I decided a little before 5 to feed the boys, "just in case we have to go downstairs." They finished supper and were just finishing dessert and I saw they were saying it was serious, but again the meteorologists are almost never right.  Out of nowhere this feeling hit me. I didn't rinse my glass. I didn't wander around. I just said, "I think we need to get to the basement." Jacob didn't want to come down so I said I was taking the boys down.

I got out blankets and spread them on the cement floor. I made it feel like a fun adventure. We were playing Chutes and Ladders when Jacob came down to update us that it was just raining and that was all. He went back up and the boys and I kept playing, but James kept stopping to ask me questions about the storm, so we praying for God's protection.

I could hear the winds picking up. At some point the sirens sounded again. Next thing I hear is Jacob running down the stairs. Seconds later the power went out and I heard that, "freight train" coming at us. It felt like an eternity. It was probably only 30 seconds, but I don't know. The house was shaking and all you could hear was a deafening roar. I shouted for everyone to get down and I was laying over the top of James. I. Was. Terrified. I thought, "Am I going to die? Are we all going to die?" I was trying to pray. All that came out was, "God protect us. Please keep us safe." over and over again until it was over. And once it was quiet all you could hear was a car alarm and a bit of rain. I said, "We just had a tornado, didn't we?" I knew we did, but I needed the confirmation.

The boys were crying. I was shaking. We all were in shock. My anxiety got the best of me and I started to hyperventilate. Once I controlled my breathing more, I messaged my mom. It took forever to type because I was shaking so badly. Jacob's mom texted because her mom saw that we had a tornado. Jacob went upstairs to get the gist of what happened. He came down and said it wasn't what he expected. My first question was, "Do we still have a house?" Once that was confirmed I asked if we had windows and a roof. He assured me we did, but that there was a tree on my van, and lots of tree branches and other debris in our yard.

I came up to survey the damage before calling my very worried mom and Jacob called his mom.
We spent the rest of the evening as a family. We all laid in the bedroom and talked on the bed. My body just kept shaking. It was so bad that I was shivering. I kept hearing a creaking sound and convinced myself our roof was going to collapse. Jacob and I went out to check and make sure the roof was clear. It was. We did find the creaking noise though. It was a awning outside my window that came loose. By that point it had been an hour and a half, and once I knew the house wasn't going to fall on me, I stopped shaking.

Friends and loved ones were texting and messaging to make sure we were okay.

Those next several hours all that you could hear were sirens. Injured people. People trapped in basements. City crews clearing debris from roadways to make them passable for emergency vehicles.

I had already decided the boys and I would sleep together. I knew they would be scared because of what we had just been through and also because there was no power. Daniel got a great night of sleep. James woke up a lot and I just didn't sleep well. It was too quiet. Around midnight the sirens were dying down. It was eerily dark.

After the boys were settled I went out in the living room with Jacob and we just sat there trying to wrap our brains around the events of the evening.

There's not a doubt in my mind that God kept us safe in that storm. Hopefully I will never experience anything like it again.

Stay tuned for my next blog about the good in humanity. I love my little town of Taylorville. #TaylorvilleStrong

The EF-3 that literally blew right over us.