30,000 Feet Up

I love living in the year 2011! I am currently on a flight on my way to "america's last frontier" 10 points to anyone that knows where that is. After 4 hours of sitting on the Tarmac we are finally in flight.

There were some technical difficulties that prevented us from taking off. When the pilot first came on over the intercom he said we would be only be delayed 10-20 minutes, and for the next 4 hours he proceeded to continue to come on over the intercom every 10-15 minutes to tell us it would only be a few more minutes. Call me dumb, but I didn't realize what he was doing until 3 hours in. He was pacifying us. He knew the whole time that the problem on the plane was going to take a few hours to fix. He knew that the whole cabin would rise in revolt if we knew it was going to take 4 hours so he gave us little measurable time frames with updates every few minutes to pacify us.

If I had known from the start that I could have watched Titanic in its entirety while sitting on the Tarmac with no air on the plane I would have freaked. I'm glad I didn't know it was going to take so long. My point in all of this? You can probably begin to draw your own parallels but just in case here is what I figured out through this whole thing:

1.It's probably good that we don't always know the outcome of things.
2. I am so grateful that the pilot of my life (Jesus of course) reveals things to me on a as needed basis because so often my tiny mind can't handle the entire scope of a situation.
3. I am not a patient person.

On a different note I had a little mini tour of the southeast this past week. I had the privilege of going to New Orleans and Memphis and had so much fun! Pictures to follow soon!

Lessons

Thank you for all the calls, emails, facebook messages. God is so good and we are learning so much through all of this. As much as we wish we could have learned these lessons in a far less painful way we are grateful to be learning as much as we are.

I have compiled a list of lessons I have learned so far through this process:

Don’t put the cart in front of the horse. Take things one step at a time. Whenever I run into people they instantly begin to ask questions about the house and what is next for us. My only response is “I don’t know” and that is the truth. We are taking things one day at a time. Trusting and just trying to focus on what needs to happen on a daily basis, not what needs to happen 2 weeks from now. If I looked at what all needs to be accomplished within the next two weeks I would freak.

Be as A-type as you can. The older I get the more I realize the importance of being a-type. Have your things in order and all of your files up to date. You will need them one day.

Take what everyone thinks and explore the opposite. I’m not saying DO the opposite, I’m just saying, explore it. When you do you will learn a lot more than you would think.

Life goes on and so should you. Just because you are upset and your world has turned upside down does not mean others people’s have. Move on with life and get over feeling sorry for yourself because everyone else will and so should you.

Have good homeowners insurance. Mortgage companies require it but they don’t require you get a really good, actual cost value homeowners insurance policy. It is worth the extra couple of bucks a month to abundantly cover yourself, whoever tells you differently is an idiot.

Pray A LOT.

No drinking because the contractor might call when you are two beers deep and you need to be on you’re a-game when they call because Lord knows when you might hear from them again.

Nail people down. Getting contractors to tell you a specific time they will meet you is like nailing jell-o to the wall but it is the only way things get done.

No TV. TV is stressful and superfluous and does not provide any help toward the end goal. It wastes time and makes you feel lazy. (I might change my mind on this once everything calms down)

Sleep. You start to feel crazy if you don’t.

See a therapist. More on that later.

Shower. Nothing makes you feel more grungy and sorry for yourself than when you don’t shower. It feels good to be clean and everyone around you appreciates it.

Get to it. By the time you leave for work in the am you should have a list of small to-dos you need to accomplish that day.

Help someone.  It’s good for you to dig deep and look past your current issues. When you do you realize what you are dealing with is not that bad compared to what others are dealing with you begin to have a whole different outlook on things. It will humble you tremendously. 

Let people help. I always feel bad/selfish when people help me but it’s good to let people help and it lightens your load.

Walk. Being in a small temporary apartment with a 65 pound lab we have no choice but to walk. Once we get walking we are always glad we do.  

Get advice from more than one or two sources. It pays off I promise.

Tornado

Before you even read this post I want to make something abundantly clear;  the destruction and devastation that I describe in this post that Caudill and I are feeling pales in comparison to the extreme loss that is being felt in Tuscaloosa, Pratt City, Pleasant Grove and other towns in and around Alabama. My heart hurts for the precious people who have lost everything. Yes Caudill and I have been severely impacted by the tornado but we consider ourselves blessed to be here and we are ready and willing to do anything we can to help families that have been affected by the tornados. If anyone out there reading knows of any needs please let me know.

With that said, here is my moment by moment recap…

Caudill and I woke up last Wednesday morning at 5:56am to a very strange, horrendously loud noise. The noise sounded like a washer on the spin cycle where all the clothes stick to one side. The noise was so loud you could barely think straight. We quickly realized it was a tornado and ran into our hall closet as quickly as we could.  

The next 90 seconds were a blur.

The whole house shock violently and then I passed out. I woke up to Caudill screaming “pull it together, pull it together…we need to get out, NOW”. At that time I was very confused and scared. I was not able to walk so Caudill began to shove me down the hall. He later told me he thought the house was about to collapse so he was desperately trying to get us out. At that time the neighbor ran over to check on us, and next thing I know I am on our neighbors couch.

A few minutes later, once I was able to pull it together I walked outside and I saw this.

(obviously this pics were taken hours later, but still..you get the picture)

So, then neighbors began to swarm out of their homes, knocking on each other’s doors checking to make sure everyone was alright. I walked outside and just stood there, in the pouring rain trying to understand what just happened. I wanted to go and help but I couldn't get my body to move (apparently in life threatening situations I am a total wuss).  A few minutes later friends of ours who live two streets over came over to check on us and they said that the really bad stuff was headed our way and would be here in a few hours….

There is so much more to the story and I have so much more to say but I do not have the time or energy to finish writing about it but here is the run-down of the latest:

1.       Caudill, me and our sweet lab, Lilly are doing ok.

2.       Our insurance company (ALFA) has been incredible.

3.       Our home is not livable at this time.

4.       Caudill and I have moved our clothes, files, and toiletries into a furnished 2 bedroom apartment that insurance is paying for. PRAISE GOD!

5.       We are currently staying with Caudill’s brother and wife because the two bedroom apartment we ‘moved’ into does not have power yet

6.       Just got a call from Caudill less than one minute ago and he just informed me the power to the apartment is now ON, WAHOOO!

Like I said, I have so much more to tell but unfortunately do not have the time right now, please stay tuned J I have learned so much through all of this and I can’t wait to share!