Hello Sunshine

Moore Tornadoes.  Moore rain.  More tornadoes. More rain.  This Great State I call home has had it’s share of weather drama over the past few weeks.  But we are #oklahomastrong.  We have finally had a couple of beautiful days with bright, abundant sunshine!  We were DUE!  The Weavers even got in on the bad weather blues  last week – in the middle of dance recital!  Thursday during dress rehearsal, all the moms and dancers took cover for 30 minutes or so before resuming the run through.  The first show was scheduled for Friday night at 7.  It was postponed until 7:30 as everyone that was there – dancers, staff, spectators, and vendors – was once again shuttled to “safe” locations within the building.  Some dancers and families never showed up in the first place since there was a threat of severe weather, and some left when we were sent to take cover.  So, the show was completely cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday.  In the meantime, we had a babysitter at our house with Mr. Finn.  She called while we were sheltered at the high school to tell us the power had gone out in ½ of our house.  Come to find out, we had lost a VERY large limb on a tree in the back yard, and it had taken out the power lines that run to our house as it fell.  The power company had to shut off all our power due to the fire risk, and we ended up in a hotel for the night – checked in at 11:15 pm!  LONG night….  Then, 2 recitals the next day (the second one was missing lots of dancers, and the dancers were tired, but I am glad we got to get both shows in!).  Here are my favorite images from that very crazy, more than enough, 24 hours:

Dress Rehearsal - before taking cover

Dress Rehearsal - after taking cover and back to work

Recital - Night one "taking cover." SO BORED!

Betsey and Britt - waiting out the storm..

4 hours later - Finn in the hotel room... "I may not be able to fix storm damage, but I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night!"

Since then, we have been trying to enjoy our summer.  T-ball games!  Several have been canceled and rescheduled due to rain, but we are just a couple of weeks from the end of the season!  The rain has been a constant companion, but it comes with cooler temperatures and overcast skys, so it is a nice change for an Oklahoma summer!  The kids are adjusting to days with Nana, and I have started my summer schedule of 4 – 10 hour work days with Wednesdays off.  This past Wednesday was my first.  We did chores around the house in the morning, ate lunch, then went bowling.  We ran a couple of errands, then came home to make Jello play doughcookies.  Over all, a pretty fun day.  But, FWIW, 4 kids who are all very high energy and 3 of them are high maintenance with forceful personalities will wear ANYONE out!  KUDOS to Nana the Wonder Sitter – I don’t know how she does it!

And in Finn news…  We were trying to sleep train him, but then we had to spend a night in a hotel, and he got this silly summer cold - which put us at his specialist on Monday.  (21 pounds!  YAY!) We’ve been derailed a bit on the sleep thing…  But as soon as he is feeling better we are back at it!  he is on breathing treatments and Dimetapp 3x a day right now.  Poor Peanut! Here is a slide show chronicling the first few nights and how it all went:

By Slide.ly - SlideShow Maker

Finn’s Child Development specialist came to the house for an evaluation yesterday.  She was SO HAPPY with his progress.  He has come a long way in a few short weeks, and he warmed up to her very quickly (which is rare).  He even shared toys, pillows, and used tissues with her! LOL!  At the beginning of the appointment, I told her Finn had 5 words: No, Yes, up, down & uh-oh - in that order, all in the last 7-10 days. These 5 words he uses often and appropriately. While she was there, Finn added cup and ball. Can you say, language explosion?!? She said he is now caught up to his actual age as far as language goes! Just a few short months ago he was MONTHS behind!  And of course, since he is running and climbing like crazy, he has caught up physically, too!  Nana the wonder sitter said he used hello and bye-bye, too!  YAY for talking Finn!

Here's hoping the good news and good weather continue!  We want to go SWIMMING, but it's been too cool!  June doesn't quite feel like June... YET!  Stay tuned!

Survival.

DreamWeaverPrints

I have been writing this post for 2 days.  I can’t seem to find the right words.  We have been in “survival mode” around here for a couple of weeks.  Mainly due to birthday/end of school/church/dance/t-ball/other activities, compounded by the fact that we are still not 100% settled in to the new digs, and just the day to day life of being a large family.  I really want to come out of survival mode.  I want the last few boxes unpacked (we're at the point where daily we don't miss the stuff that's not unpacked, but when you go to look for something specific - like envelopes - they're still packed).  I want the kids immersed in their summer.  I want Finn to go to bed on his own and sleep all night (another post all in itself), and I want the DVR at less than 60%.  But after this horrific week in Oklahoma, none of that matters.  At all.  We are so blessed – BEYOND MEASURE – by the fact that we have a home, warm beds, and all our comforts around us.  So many don’t.

The loss is unimaginable.  Not only of homes, businesses, cars, and physical “stuff,” but of lives, memories, dreams and plans.  Their entire lives turned upside down in a matter of moments.  Torn, literally, to shreds.  As I watched the news and weather coverage on Monday afternoon via the internet from my office 70 miles to the north, I knew this was a bad one.  One like we hadn’t seen in a long time.  We were pretty sure it wouldn’t come this far north, but soon after The Big One “roped out” after destroying Moore, I had Nana the Wonder Sitter go check the Big Dream Weaver kids out of school.  To get them home to our house where we have a basement.  Since apparently, underground was the one way to survive this atrocity.  Luckily, it never got much beyond rain here where we are.  

I was glued to the TV/internet for the next 24 hours.  I literally woke up the next morning in my bed with tears in my eyes.  Those poor families.  Entire neighborhoods.  Communities.  SCHOOLS! Wiped away as if they were tinker toys in a child’s playroom.  And it’s not just Moore on Monday.  But Carney, Shawnee and others on Sunday.  There are smaller communities on the front end of this monster from Monday like Newcastle.  SO MUCH DESTRUCTION for this crazy spring weather.  I know we are PROUD to be Oklahomans and we are STRONG and we rise together when times are tough.  We will pull up by our boot straps and REBUILD.  And I know, “This ain’t our first rodeo.”  But it still hurts.  Shakes us to the core.  Overwhelms the senses.

The out pouring of love and support on EVERY level has been outstanding.  There are so many relief items being donated that they are trying to find places to house it all.  They ask for 1,000 volunteers in a particular location to make something happen, and 2,000 show up.  The list of celebrity and large corporation donations grows hourly.  Local businesses are providing services such as funerals, food, reduced price or free rentals for housing.  EVERYONE is offering money, food, water, Gatorade, plastic bins, gloves, shovels, man power to get to the victims who need it most.  THIS is what it is to be Oklahoman.  This huge outpouring of love and comfort is why I am proud to be born and raised here.  In the homeland.  Where, even if your home is blown away by an EF5 tornado, you still call the land we belong to GRAND!

Here are a couple of things that have really touched me over the last few days that I wanted to share.  A video or two, a photo comparison, and some essays.  And a link to some free images you can use for your facebook/twitter/instagram/whatever to show your support and love for our great state.

Rally Moore Oklahoma- answers WHY we live here

(even if it is “Tornado Alley”)

  Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert "Over You" - The Voice



Moore tornado: A personal note from Damon Lane
What was I thinking?

'This Will Probably Come to Define Us'

Interactive: Moore tornado before and after images

Dream Weaver Prints FREEBIES – images you can use and share.

WE ARE OKLAHOMA!
It takes more than wind to break our stride…

Found on Facebook