Tornado's and such...

Tornado’s and Such

Years ago, when we were Newly Weds, and living in Alabama for the first time, we experienced our first Tornado.

I think it should be a requirement for new people that move to Alabama or the south in general, to have a little class on what to do in case of a tornado.

On the afternoon of November 15^th, 1989, Bill had just arrived home from class (we were in Huntsville while Bill attended a Military Basic Officer Course).  He no more than walked in the door than the rain began to hammer down.  We both commented on how he had gotten ‘lucky’ to have just missed the rain.

We then heard a siren begin out side somewhere, and as was normally the case, we figured that with the first rain drops, a car had gone off the road.  This seemed to happen any time it rained, it had seemed to us, having come from up north, that southern drivers did not handle weather well.

When the siren continued, and seemed as though it was going in circles, I wondered if perhaps the police officers, could not find the vehicle involved in the accident, and were in fact driving around and around the block looking for it. 

As the rain continued, Bill and I were standing looking out our large picture window, from our apartment, watching as the storm progressed, and the sky became very dark.  The sirens continued, and I wondered at the location of this mysterious vehicle the police could still not locate.  At some point I remember making the comment that, “the sirens kind of reminded me of those old German war movies.”  Never once did it cross my mind, that the sirens in those old WWII movies, were air raid sirens and they meant Duck and Cover!

Having personally grown up in S. Calif, we had earth quake drills at school, where we would climb under the desks, and sit curled in a ball with our arms over our heads…  I no longer remember what kind of alarm or warning bell would sound to alert us to do this drill. And I had no idea that the sirens going off around me, had anything to do with a tornado, or even a bad storm.  I was VERY unprepared!

 We continued to stand at the window and watch as the storm blew through. Then, after what seemed like no time at all, the sky lightened back up the rain stopped and the sun came out and blue sky’s could be seen. At some point during the storm, the power went out, (not that we were listening to the radio or t.v. for news reports, it was just a bad rain storm as far as we knew), we weren’t concerned, and just went back to our every day cares. It wasn’t until later that evening we heard from neighbors that it had been a tornado and that power lines were down all around us.  We were without power for 4 days.  It was mid November and chilly.  One day I did go on post to one of our friend’s Shannon – one of Bill’s classmates – apartments to do some laundry.  The house mom, who took care of the building and looked out for the residents, got mad at me for using their laundry facilities.  I was too afraid to just speak up and tell her I was seeking shelter from the cold and no power back at our place and Shannon had let me spend the day and use her facilities.

It wasn’t until the next day that the reality of what we’d done began to hit us!  The storm had touched down on the corner of Redstone Arsenal and Zierdt Rd.  Then had gone over the arsenal and touched down again at South Memorial Parkway and Airport Rd.  Pretty much a straight line across post to Airport road.  We lived in an apartment on Newson Rd. south off of Drake Ave, and on the map in a direct line with where the tornado touched down on Zierdt rd and at Airport Rd. 

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=map+of+huntsville+al&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Huntsville,+AL&gl=us&ei=G5i9TbvTBoiitgfKkdTUBQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ8gEwAA

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/11/photo_slideshow_1989_tornado_a.html

After seeing all of the destruction from that storm, I was very freaked out!  Some of the images that I saw (wish I’d thought to take pic’s to document it myself), were the fact that there used to be a little florist with a green house sitting right at the north corner of the parkway and Airport rd.  After the tornado, the green house covered in Plastic, was still standing just fine, but right behind it the firestone tire place got hit and then it hopped across the street and flattened the strip mall along Airport Rd. 

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/05/in_the_history_of_tornadoes_we.html

A few other things I remember vividly about that tornado damage were the car (I think it was a vw bug, but not sure) sitting abt. 20 feet up in the air on a power transformer box.  It was crazy! Also, the apartments up on the hill going up airport road out to Jones Valley, were just cut in half!  I remember you could see right into what had once been people’s apartments and homes!

Suffice it to say, when we moved back to Huntsville in 1993, and we heard tornado sirens, my little family and I were huddled up in the bathtub together.  We didn’t go so far as to pull a mattress over the top of us, not that we really had that as an option since the only mattress in the house was a crib mattress, (we had a water bed at that time, so no help there).

So here we are back in Alabama, for the third time… I have been grateful for the advances in technology that make Doppler radar warnings so accurate!  We usually will turn on the t.v. and watch the storm track report to see if WE really need to take cover.  So often it is just south of 565 and the Airport.  We’ve seen lots of trees and fences blown down over the years, but not really any serious damage from tornadoes near us over the past years.

I spent Wednesday April 27^th, on the road to Montgomery, Alabama.  Three other friends and I went down with many other supporters from all over the state to attend the Senate health Committee hearing on our bill to legalize Certified Professional Midwives and license them in our state.  We have been working on this bill actively since about 2002.  Each year we hope it’s our year!  I have been to Montgomery several times over the past few years.  One year it was just Liam in a sling, one year I took a few of my older children with me as well and we ‘marched’ at the state house.  It has been interesting seeing up close a bit more about how our government really works. 

Anyway, we had our bill SB 238 up before the Senate Health Committee, and so off we all went to Montgomery.  The day before, a friend told me she’d heard it was supposed to be really bad weather on Wed. but no one knew what that would really mean until after.   

(I just got this in an email a week later)

CURRENT THINKING IS THAT THE GREATEST TORNADO POTENTIAL WILL EXIST

   LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING FROM COLUMBUS MS EWD TO

   BIRMINGHAM AND HUNTSVILLE AL. THIS AREA IS CURRENTLY SOUTH OF THE

   ONGOING MCS WHERE DESTABILIZATION SHOULD BE MOST FAVORABLE. AS

   SUPERCELLS INITIATE IN ERN MS AND TRACK ENEWD ACROSS THE HIGH RISK

   AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON...A TORNADO OUTBREAK IS EXPECTED. A FEW

   LONG-TRACK STRONG TORNADOES AND POSSIBLY A VIOLENT TORNADO OR TWO

   MAY OCCUR AS THE LOW-LEVEL JET STRENGTHENS EARLY THIS EVENING. HAVE

   ADDED A 45 PERCENT SIG-TOR AREA WHERE CONFIDENCE IS THE HIGHEST

   CONCERNING THE POTENTIAL FOR LONG-TRACK TORNADOES.  LARGE HAIL AND

   WIND DAMAGE WILL ALSO BE LIKELY WITH SUPERCELLS THAT DEVELOP.

Tornado potential for the remainder of the day.

We all got up early, and went on our way to arrive in Montgomery in plenty of time.   While on the road, my husband called to let me know that highway 65 was backed up near the Jasper exit  - nearly to Birmingham) from downed trees.  Luckily we’d left early to give ourselves plenty of time.  We did sit for a few minutes and traffic was slow once it got started again. There were lots of trees that had gone down and both the north and south bound lanes had been stopped while they made a quick path through all the debris (or Derbis – as one of our friends quoted from someone in her past). 

We got through that part of the road, and rain earlier as well, to clear roads and sky.  We arrived in Montgomery, found our way to the Statehouse, and went in to ‘work’.  We spoke with our Representatives, and urged them to please support and back up SB 238 to allow for licensing of CPM’s. We then found our dear friend JCM, one of  the people/MW’s, who has worked tirelessly for the past several years on our bill.  She reported to us that a tornado had hit down in Cahaba Heights  - Birmingham, a street over from where she lives around 5:30 am… she had gotten up, and put on her brave face even in the face of storm damage to her neighbors, as well as dealing with other personal life crisis, and had gone to ‘work’ in Montgomery for the day. 

I think we were all a little shocked to hear it had hit down so close to our friend’s home somewhere we’ve all been at multiple times. And after seeing the power that had torn down all those trees along the freeway as we’d driven down it gave us a real respect for the storm that had already hit.  We heard on the radio and though family back home to expect more storms that afternoon.  Just after our Senate hearing I had heard from Amanda that they were letting schools out early and sending the kids home, before more storms hit.  So, we finished our day at the state house, got some lunch (one of the mom’s with us was pregnant and NEEDED to eat some food!), then we got back on the road to head home. 

As we drove further and further North, we began to hit some rain, and we got several phone calls from our husbands telling us of the storm updates back home.  We turned on the radio to listen to storm reports, but we couldn’t’ hear about home until much later…  we were getting Birmingham news.  As we drove further we heard more and more reports of bad damage being done from tornados across the state.  We heard about the one that hit Tuscaloosa, and I immediately texted to see if my daughter Rebekah and her husband Chris were alright.  Thankfully they were, but the tornado touched down a block from their apartment, and took out blocks and blocks of the city.  It was pretty scary to think about how close they were to it!  They had hunkered down in their apartment, but they live on the 2^nd floor, and wouldn’t have been protected if the path of the tornado was any closer to them!  Amanda told her if ever another comes through they were to go downstairs and knock on ANYONE’s door to try to help protect themselves from the storm!!!

Between phone calls from our husbands, we’d listen to the news reports and hear of tornado's or possible tornado's that had come close to Athens, Harvest, Toney, Madison and Huntsville, where we all live.  Then, as we got closer to home, we were coming up toward Cullman and heard that another tornado was approaching it as well.  We pulled off the road, along with quite a few other cars full of travelers to try to stay out of the storms path.  We were all sitting in a little rest stop welcome center pavilion.  (Exit 300) They had enough back up generator power to light the bathrooms, so that was good, but meanwhile there we all were.  When should we go?  What should we do?  We contacted our friend K in Cullman to see if perhaps we could wait out the storm at her house, but, as it turned out she and W had had to stop their car and lay down in a ditch on their way home to avoid a tornado's path on their way home and no one in Cullman had any power. 

We felt an urgency to get home to our families and homes… We each had our phones out trying to keep in contact with our families.  We were mothers fearing for our families back home, and a little bit for ourselves as well.

Lisa – had three children at home alone, who were running out of phone battery power, so unable to get in contact with her kids.  She started calling on friends and her pastor to try to go check in on her kids for her.

Jeni – who drove her new Suburban that day (thank you so much for that!!!), had her 5 children in 2 or 3 different locations, around Huntsville and Madison, with family and friends. Her husband was working in B’ham for a couple of days, so he wasn’t home either, and nervous for us and them as well. 

Hannah – our sweet pregnant momma – was actually having some contractions by this time.  She was 36 weeks, and the driving for 4 hours and the walking around the Statehouse, and the stress of the storms was not reacting very well for her.  At one point she was talking to her hubby while he drove home from work, along 53 North.  He was talking to her,  told her the sky was turning green, he said, wow that was close!, and told her he had to go…  that really put stress on poor prego momma!  Then for a long while (perhaps close to an hour) she could not get in contact with him. 

When she did get through to him I’m not sure if it helped or not since he reported that he’d been on the edge of the tornado that took out a bank, and gas station and some other things at Jeff Rd and hwy 53!  It had actually picked his car up off of the ground and shook it around and then he was back on the ground.  Very frightening experience for him and very much for his sweet prego wife as well!

As for me, I heard that my two older girls had gone to hang out with friends after they got out of school early, so my three youngest were home all alone.  This made me very nervous.  My husband was at work still since every time he thought he’d head home another storm front would come through and he’d have to stay put until the next break in the storm.  SO… my brave little children were huddled in the bathroom, coloring, and eating snacks.  Hannah had called and asked for my computer password so they could watch the news, since the power was out, and they couldn’t watch t.v. to see the storm path, and the sirens had stopped working, when the power went out at the Browns Ferry Power Nuclear plant.  Finally Bill was able to make it home in the 20 minutes between storm paths. 

Meanwhile, we had pulled off in Cullman, and then after getting back on the road, we drove further north, we watched and heard as the storm was building up again and so we pulled off the road in Priceville, just south of Decatur and watched with a lot of other people as a large wall cloud/shelf cloud, crossed the River and headed toward Huntsville,  just south of 565 again.

As we watched we listened and the reports that another large storm path was heading from the Tuscaloosa area to Birmingham and then this siren went off, and we all thought it was an odd sounding siren.  Not the regular tornado siren sound that we are all accustomed to, but a strange sound… then an announcement comes on that said there was a chemical leak and to evacuate the area immediately!  Not only do we have all of us sitting there together, but we had a prego mom and beloved Pumkin seed/baby to think about!  We couldn’t let them ingest anything from a chemical leak! 

We figured we had to get back in the car and on the road, but which direction should we go?!?!?!  If we go back south, we know there is a large mile wide cloud coming on a path through there, and we would be that much further away from our homes and loved one’s, so we headed north.  We watched as that big black cloud was hovering over 565 going toward Madison and Huntsville.  We tried to decide if we should go on 565 since Lisa’s car was parked along there, where we’d met up at this morning, and we’d already heard that a tornado had touched down at Wall Triana and 72 – Oh well, that’s where I had left my van at that morning, when I met up with to car pool.  So we decided that we’d take 65 North and exit at Hwy 72.  Somehow we’d missed some of the reports that 72 had been hit, a couple of times and we most likely wouldn’t have been able to get home going that way anyway!

So there we were driving North on 65 we made the decision to pass the exit to 565, and then we got stuck in traffic.  Shortly we heard that two 18 wheeler trucks have gone off the road, and that is why it’s all backed up. We decide we can take the Browns Ferry Exit.  Now, I’d never taken it before in my life , I’d been planning on it in the recent past, just never got around to it.  But over all Browns Ferry comes out by my house, so I figured we might have to do some twist and turns but hoped it would get us home…

We are sitting in traffic and the weather clears a bit… I remember that several of us commented on how eerily still it had gotten, then the sky begins to get dark, the wind begins to whip the trees around and the rain starts pounding us again.  At one point we hear a large clanking sound, like we’d been hit with a rock, but on the roof, and perhaps it may have been a rock, or some debris (derbis), but then we heard another one, we wondered if it was hail but never saw any other evidence of hail.  Of course in the aftermath and hearing peoples stories I hear that Hail is part of the storm front as the tornado gets ready to touch down…  So there we sit, and I start praying as we can go nowhere, we are in stopped traffic and I just feel like another tornado is about to hit us!  I was trying to not show how scared I was and keep conversation light, but I was so afraid!  I really thought that was going to be it!  Then the rain let up a bit, and the clouds passed by and it got a bit lighter, and I thought we’d be alright. 

We eventually passed one of the overturned trucks, it was an oil tanker, all twisted up, I wondered at which direction it had actually been heading in the first place.  Then we finally came up to the Browns Ferry Exit and so we took it.  Well, we took the exit but somehow didn’t’ realize how badly that area had been hit, even though we had heard while waiting in Cullman the power was out at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, and Lisa had talked with a gentleman who’d worked there for years and asked questions about it’s safety features and could it leak like the Fukashima Nuclear plant in Japan.  I don’t know exactly where the Nuclear plant is located off of the Browns Ferry road, and exit, so we just took it anyway, otherwise we were trapped on 65 N and we all just wanted to get home to our families and off the road!

Well, as we drove evening came on, and we found ourselves driving past what had once been homes and there were trees down everywhere and debris strewn about all around us and houses smashed and some completely gone down to the foundation.  We were driving through flood waters up to the bottom of the suburban.  We certainly were glad that Jeni had just bought the suburban and that she’d been willing to drive.  I had been willing to drive my van, but it certainly wouldn’t have fared as well as the suburban, and  not in Hannah’s car.  Not to mention the fatigue and stress of having been the driver in all of those storms all day long, the rain, wind and then all the debris, etc…  Thank you Jeni so much for getting us through it all and bringing us home to our families!

We’d also heard reports of flooding becoming worse and worse, throughout the evening and next day with all the rain from the storms.  I have often watched the news, and seen people who have been trapped in flood waters. They are climbing on top of their cars and having to be saved by someone in a boat, or air lifted out.  I have wondered how does this happen?  Can’t they see the deep water and avoid driving on that particular road or in that area?  I have a lot more compassion for them now! There we were, driving on what seemed our only option of roads, and suddenly we were in flood waters.  The fields were completely full and covered with brown rushing water.  I had driven part way out from home on Browns Ferry Rd recently so I knew there were several bridges along the way and all of those area’s were completely flooded.  The water was up several feet on the road, and just rushing across, and we couldn’t even see the actual road at all.  We were following other cars and following the lights of the other cars as it got darker and darker as night came on, and we just hoped they would stay on the road so that we could follow them.  I supposed it was nearby residents that had gone out and were cutting of branched from all the downed trees so that there would be at least a one lane passage and then we’d have to take turns going through that stretch of the road.  http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/floods.html

At that point I’d lost track of time and I have no idea how long it actually took us to get home from this point.  That drive seemed to take us forever! We still had to get people back to their homes and cars.   I had told Bill about leaving the van parked at Mc D’s on 72 and Wall Triana, so he got Amanda and they went to pick up my van.  It was fine, as was Mc D’s, but there had been a tornado that had hit the next corner south at Gooch and Wall Triana.  It had knocked out a bunch of power lines, and torn up trees!  One of our friends M, who lives on Gooch had been driving home and had been almost at the corner as it hit there and he watched as it came almost directly over his own home then hit down at that corner tearing up trees all over the place.  His house was essentially fine, (small  damages to the siding and flashing on the roof), right next door however is another friend of ours  N&A, they had been in the closet or bathroom taking cover with their 4 children, and could hear the storm outside, and hear trees snapping, and then they heard parts of their house being torn up.  Luckily for them it was just roof tiles that they lost and the storm went a bit farther before touching down completely at the corner, but they lost fence and trees and roofing tiles.  Now several days later they have flooding inside their home form the roof damage.  What an experience, and so close to home and to good friends, but all are safe.

Anyway, back to getting home and getting our friends home.  Once we arrived at our house, we decided to have Jeni take Lisa to her vehicle, since even though Jeni lives north and just up the road from Hannah, her house was empty and her small children were at a friend’s house to the south, and closer to where Lisa had parked that morning.  We sent them on their way, and they all made it home fine.  We had heard however that the road North up Old Rail Road Bed Rd was flooding and had trees and power lines down and it was nearly impassable.  Hannah had talked with her husband who said he’d come get her, but I didn’t want to make him get back out in the storm after having been in the edge of that tornado he’s experienced, and besides he has a car and we have a truck.  So Bill put his chain saw and gloves in the  back of the truck and I put my birth stuff in the back as well since Hannah was still contracting some, just to put her at ease.  Then we headed out.  The drive was definitely not a fun one.  The road was bad.  Lines were down everywhere.  Emergency crews were out cutting back the trees.  Along the way were a couple of cars here and there that had been hit and smashed by trees as they came crashing down.   The drivers had left them – I certainly hope the people of those vehicles were alright and had made it to safety from the storms.  We also saw more homes that had been smashed and destroyed as well as another or more swept from the foundations. 

We were able to get Hannah home and her husband was so happy to see her safe and well!  We went inside and we listened for baby, all seemed to be well, and once the storms were finished and she was reunited with her hubby, things seemed to calm down for her a bit, and I suggested he give her a massage and that she get some rest. We got back on the road and made it home again to our family.

 In the dark of night it’s hard to see all the destruction clearly.  I am so thankful my family was safe and that our homes are still intact.  I feel for those who are suffering from loss of homes and loss of family and friends in all of this.  They had already said that it would be days before power was up and going again, and as much as we wanted to help until they had things organized they asked that volunteers just wait.  There were going to be plenty of opportunities to help out, it might take months to clean up and recover from the storms. 

We got up on Thursday morning, and we went looking for gas.  Bill had called the gas station on post and they confirmed that yes they had gas and that their pumps were working.  So rather than clog up the already over burned communities to our North in Fayetteville, TN or over to Athens to our West, or further, we thought it would be helpful to go on post where the military could help us.  After driving there they had lost power or something and the gate guards were turning all but essential personnel away at the gate.  Still needing gas, we went ahead and drove out to Athens.  We found a station that was operational, so we got in what seemed like a short line.  Shortly after getting in that line we saw a tanker truck pull in and so we knew they would have ample supply. However, after sitting in line for a long time and we got closer to the front, we saw that they were only pumping from one gas pump and had one line coming from each direction (yes, cars had lined up going the wrong way across the highway to access the gas station).  Anyway we were just happy to be able to get gasoline.  It took us an hour and a half or a bit more, plus the drive time, but we were filled and able to go forward.

The mayor made an announcement that basically said, there were limited resources and the entire county of Madison, Alabama was without power, and some areas surrounding Madison, in an effort to conserve, water, food sources, gas, etc… if you were able to leave the area to go.  We had just the previous weekend gone to Atlanta to the Temple open house, and had spent the day at Stone mountain State Park, where we ended up buying a year pass, so we decided to go back.  We would still be paying for food (which we’d have to pretty much go in search of and eat out at home), and we’d have a hotel bill, but we could keep the kids occupied, and have plenty of water, gas, food, etc.  So once we got home from the outing to get a full take of gasoline, we packed up and got on the road.  On the one hand we felt a little guilty, and when they did get some work parties organized on Sat, we weren’t here to help out, but we had done what was asked, we left so more resources would be available to those who couldn’t leave.  If we had had only older children, or no children like we did back in 1989 when we were here for thee other tornado, we would have stayed and we would have tried to help, but this time we did what we felt was right for our family.

Poor Liam, was supposed to have his birthday party that night at Chuck E. Cheese with his friends from school.  I knew I was going to be gone and busy on Wednesday, so I had worked really hard on Monday and Tuesday to prep things in order to be able to throw his birthday cake together on Thursday.  With the storms and the change of plans, while packing clothes, I also packed up part of the cake and decorations that were already made and took it with us. 

I’m sure we will remember Liam’s 5^th birthday for a long time to come.  

After spending the day at Stone Mountain, we got back to the hotel, Sariah and I put the cake together and decorated it and we had his birthday in the hotel.  

He was very cute all day in his Birthday Boy T-Shirt. 

Not having unlimited resources, we knew we had to come back home at some point.  We thought about me and the kids heading over to visit friends of ours in N.C., and were grateful they would have been willing to put up with us, but after driving 4 hours to get home from Atlanta on Sunday, May 1, 2011 and knowing some people were starting to get power back up, we decided that driving to NC to spend only a day or less, if we had to be back for school on Wed – if power was up by then, that we ought to just stay home and work on clean up.

Monday we spent the whole day cleaning out refrigerators and freezers.  We did throw out a lot of stuff, and had lots of cleaning form the Popsicles and chicken that had defrosted in some of them, but we were also lucky that we had meat that had only begun defrosting.  We felt very blessed that our power came back on Monday afternoon, after no power in the area for 5 days.  We began the cooking in order to save some food.  We cooked chicken and froze it for future meals, we cooked up taco meat,  I pulled out my food dehydrator that I had never yet used in the 6 or more yrs I'd had it, and made some beef jerky.  – It turned out pretty good.  We ate steak, and cooked some more that we froze, we made a pork roast and ate that for dinner Tuesday night, I had frozen roll dough that had defrosted and begun to rise, so I made bread to have with dinner.


It's been a couple of weeks now, and it has been interesting to see how the storms affected us.  We've had a few cloudy and or rainy days in the past week or so, and it sort of freaks me out.  I was walking on the treadmill at the Gym at the new Y one morning and it got dark and we heard some Thunder and it was a little disconcerting how uptight I felt.  My chest got all tight and I was just gripping the handles on that treadmill very tightly…  I wonder how long I'll have this kind of reaction when a thunder storm heads my way.


It has been so sad to see all of the destruction.  I honestly can't truly imagine the massive amounts of destruction near Rebekah down in Tuscaloosa.  Around here we have lots of destruction, but it is so spread out.  Every where you look, everywhere you drive there are trees down and holes in roof's, piles of trees sitting by the roadside.  We have been able to help for a couple of weekends now, to go out and clean up trees from people's yards, some are our neighbors, in our neighborhood, others - neighbors in the community.  I have felt some survivors guilt at how our lives, once the power came back on and I cleaned out all the refrigerators and freezers, have just gone back to normal really.  There are people who have no homes or the home may still be standing, but the inside is just ruined and they have to move out while it is cleaned up and put back together.  These people are so brave and working so hard to move on with their lives.  

A friend of mine wrote this blog post about her tornado experience...  as I read it I had tears streaming down my face.  April 27th, 20011 is a day I will not soon forget.  You can read her story here -
http://mayfield-6.blogspot.com/2011/05/april-27-2011.html

I have lots of pic's too, and will be posting them some time soon.

Growing Up...

My kids are growing up.

I've been in denial about it for a while I think, but over the past year, as my oldest got engaged and then married, and my oldest of my 'little girls' started growing up, turned 12 and moved on to Young Womanhood, this has slapped me in the face and I can no longer deny it!

These are some of the thoughts I've had lately -
My oldest is now a married woman, friends that age are getting married too (two of Rebekah's classmates from Church have gotten married over the past year and one is about to become a mother!).
Along with this it has occurred to me that Amanda our #2 daughter will be moving out and going away to college this fall.  She is currently writing to a 'friend' overseas and in another year and a half or so she could be married (or she could meet someone when she goes off to college).  The mere idea of having two married children is sort of freaking me out!

The fact that we have had such a full house for so many years, and soon we are only going to have 4 children living at home - it's crazy!!!

The other thing that has gotten to me recently is that my BABY is going to be in Kindergarten this upcoming school year!  How did that happen?  when did life rush by and all my kids have grown up and are moving on in their lives!  Just this morning on the way to his preschool, he was asking me when he gets to go to the school with Marissa and various other friends.  We were talking about it, and he is excited to ride the big yellow school bus! Then we were talking about all the kids in his primary class and who would be in his school with him, etc.  Nate Dog, Katie, any others that will go to our same school?  How can this be?!?!??!  HOW can all these little one's possibly be old enough to be possibly/probably heading off to BIG kid School?!?!?!

I'm NOT ready!


Slow this world down!



I don't want time to go so fast, yet MARCH right along it does!

I'm sitting here now thinking of all the continued changes that will just keep happening and coming along in my life - and the lives of each of my children!  I guess... I'm old. I'll just have to accept it!

~~~Weddings ~~~

Well, this is all new to me! Wedding planning.

It is fun, and sometimes a bit stressful, and fun, and crazy!

The Engagement pic's are so fun. You can find them here at:
http://agreenfieldphotography.com/blog/?p=8867

Bill asked me the other day if I was glad we didn't go through all of this craziness... * (side story below, if you want to know)

Honestly, I sort of wish there had been a little craziness. It's what we girls do, I think!

We got married, that's all. Ok, SEALED for Time and All Eternity, which is way more than just getting married, but, no reception, no party, that was it. We had hired a photographer, but with the change in dates, he had gotten a job out in SLC, UT and was moving and tried to hook us up with another local photographer, but it never ended up working out. Bill's dad took some fun pic's so we do have memories of our day.

We stayed at the Marriott in DC for two days, then when we got home to Bill's parents house, they had bought us a cake with a little bride and groom on top. It was very sweet of them. (then a week later we went to Disneyworld for a week).

Because of the date of our marriage, we had to change our date from May 24, to June 20th, due to some military dates, etc. Very few of our friends were still around, once graduation is over, everyone leaves, that's it, they are gone! We had lived in NY for 4 years, Bill's parents had retired from the Military and lived in Virginia where Bill hadn't lived since elementary school, (he went to West Point straight from Germany where he attended High School.) My family was from out west and in Idaho, and I hadn't lived there in nearly 5 years, and my parents were both gone, so, we just didn't have anywhere with lifelong family and friends to really have a reception at.

So, here we are and this is the first Wedding reception I've been priveleged to be a part of the planning and all the excitement!

I will be posting more updates and sneak peaks as time goes flying by and of course when the wedding is over we'll have all those lovely pic's and stuff to post as well.

*********************************************************************** When Bill and I got engaged, we had a long engagement, since he was a cadet at West Point, and you can't be married and be a cadet... so traditionally there are quite a few weddings in the hours/days after graduation. It's a pretty big deal. Many people get married in the Cadet Chaple on post. (Last week we watched an episode of Cake Boss where they were asked to make a cake for the 100th anniversarry of the Cadet Chapel. It was fun to watch and hear them talk about the history, etc. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2010/11/cake_boss_recap_buddy_honors_w.html
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100608/NEWS/100609797
http://www.westpoint.edu/Dcomm/PressReleasesbd/nr37-10cadet_chapel_centennial.html)

Anyway, when we got engaged, Bill called my dad and asked for his approval. My dad passed away a month later. Then we waited for a year for Bill to graduate, and of course we didn't plan a wedding at the Cadet Chapel, we planned our marriage at the nearest LDS Temple - which at the time was Washington D.C. to be sealed for time and all eternity.

In the next months I went to California to visit my good friend and she went wedding dress shopping with me. I found and bought a dress, and drove it across the country from CA to NY.

I wanted to have friends and family at my wedding, but due to various circumstances, that wasn't completely possible. We ended up getting married on June 20th, nearly a month after graduation, and in the Military, it also happened to be after the move exodus had begun for families moving duty stations.

As it was, we had a dear family I'd know the whole time I'd been attending Church at West Point. Sister Lemperle was my Escort when we went to the temple. She and her daughter(s) came down to DC with us. My dear friend Jessica who had to change her plans and her airplane tickets, etc to be with us came. (She had to have a copy of our marriage certificate to show the airline to get her ticket changed with out a charge, since our date had to be changed... so imediately after the sealing we had to go get a copy of the certificate for her to take to the airport with her to fly out the next day.) Jessica and I stayed ina Hotel in DC the night before the wedding and she helped me get primped and all ready for the big day! I love her for all she did for me! All of this and she hadn't yet gone through the temple so waited for me outside...

We had another family from church at West Point who also came down and he and his wife attended the ceremony and he was one of the witnesses. Ken Alford had been a good friend and mentor to Bill in learning about the Gospel. My good friend Wendee's aunt lived in the DC area. We'd spent several holidays at their home over the years we'd lived in NY. She came to our selaing, and she brought her son and daughter in law as well. We were glad, as then we had a 2nd priesthood witness to sign our marriage license, and we didn't have to have them just track down a strnager in the hallway... Another sister who had been in our ward at WP but had since moved to the DC area also attended. She was very kind and let my Brother stay at her house overnight so he could be closer to the airport, and get to see some of the sights in DC while he was there for the two days. I'm so appriciative that he was able to come out and be there for me as a support from my family. He waited outside with Bill's parents and our friends, while we were sealed.

It was a bittersweet day for me. I was so happy to be doing the right thing, that Bill and I were able to make it to the temple to be sealed together as a family For Time and All Eternity, instead of just 'till death do us part' as the world does, and yet it was a rough day for me as well. My family and friends were outside waiting, and my parents were no longer living, and I had so hoped to feel of their spirit(s) while I was in the temple, but I ws so consumed with my own grief and missing having my mom be there for me at this important occasion, that I couldn't feel it. I cried many a tear that day... thank goodness for waterproof mascara.

Here we are 21+ years later, and our first child is preparing now to go to the Temple to be sealed to her sweetheart for Time and All Eternity. It doesn't mean it will always be easy, we all have our struggles, but, it is so wonderful to know it is worth it, and that we will be able to be together forever as a family if we continue to live worthily, and do our part. We are so proud of Rebekah, and we like her new sweetie too. :-)

Oh, A Camping we will go...

I've been trying to blog this for the past couple of weeks... but was waiting to put pic's with it... that isn't hapening right now, I haven't had time. So, I'll post pic's later.

Last week was Fall Break. We used to get a full week for fall break, but last year they decided we needed more school days, so now we only have a long weekend. They had thursday and friday. I talked to Bill and we decided we should do SOMETHING fun with our kids. I suggested camping, and Bill came up with a wonderful place.

OAK MOUNTAIN State Park

It is just south of Birmingham. So not too bad a drive, and Rebekah was even able to drive over from school and meet up with us.

We got to go trail riding, they had a little petting zoo, and then we stayed in a cabin by 'Lake Tranquilty'. It was lovely! The kids went out in a row boat (all 6 of them together) and tried their hand at fishing (the very first time, for most of them).

We grilled out for dinner, and then roasted marshmallows and made smores! Yummy.

We played games together as a family.

When we woke up in the morning, Bill made bacon and eggs, and when I got out of the shower, I found that while Bill was cooking, the kids had all gotten up and gone out on the dock and were fishing again.

Noone ever caught a fish - they were a little annoyed that the people in one of the other cabins went out for a short time and caught several, but my kids didn't manage to catch anything, but they had a lot of fun!

And here's Easter 2010

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Birthdays and other days...

We have had 2 birthdays since I last Blogged...
Liam turned 4 and we went to Chuck E. Cheese! He had lots of fun, other than the LOUD singing and cheering for him, and when he refused to have anything to do with Chuck E. and of course that was when all his friends were there. The birthday helper put the Birthday Crown on his head, (several times), and he kept pulling it off, with a GET this THING OFF of ME!!!!!! attitude!

Later he played and hugged Chuck E. and had a grand time. He did enjoy playing games with his tokens. He also loved opening presents. (Who doesn't?)

One of his favorite friends this year is a little girl named Elizabeth in his pre-school class. I think he's in love... she has been very influential on him this past year. When he comes home from school we will ask him what he did at school today, and he always says, that he played with Elizabeth. She loves pony's - My little pony, and that is what she always plays so that is also what he frequently plays. For Christmas we gave his classroom some dinosaurs, so now he usually reports that he played pony's and dinosaurs. ;-)

Liam's favorite color has been GREEN for a very long time! Recently however, when you ask him he will often tell you his favorite color is pink. Can you guess WHO'S favorite color is PINK?(Elizabeth)

We had talked about Liam's cake and he had asked for months to have a GREEN birthday cake. I managed to incorporate that into the Super Hero Squad theme that we went with, since that is his favorite thing these days... I put colorful swirls inside the cake mix - mostly green until I ran out of green food color. I had worked on the cake the night before his party when he was asleep, so in the morning I asked if he wanted to see it? He looked at his cake all covered in Super Hero squad guys and everything on the green grass icing, and said, "I wanted a PINK cake"!When the Birthday Helper lit the candles, Liam refused to blow them out, and didn't WANT anyone else to blow them out either. Finally a couple of sly blows later by dad, myself and possible a kid or two... the candles were out! Then we began pulling some of hte guys off the cake in order to cut it and serve it. Liam got mad and tried to put them back ON the cake. Later... he decided that licking the icing off the guys feet was a pretty cool thing, and then he got to have his new Super hero guys... so he got right to work! In May we had Sariah's 14th Birthday and she moved up to the Mia Maid class in our Young Women's program at Church. She had asked me to make her a dress for her birthday present. I worked on it all week whenever I was home and not out doing other things. I had to add 6 inches to the patern length for the dress to fit her long legs... I worked on it saturday, late into the night so she'd have it for her birthday on Sunday. We got up on Sunday - mother's day she put on the dress and it fit... then as my luck would have it... the zipper broke. We had quite a time even getting her out of the dress! Then we had a few emotional moments.

The family went off to Church, and we came home afterward, picked up Sariah and the picnic lunch dad had put together and had a lovely lunch at the new greenway, and then the kids wanted to go see the new playground at the new elementary school... we obliged and everyone had a fun time playing on all the new playground equipment! After we went back home the kids and dad put together my mothers day dinner. They all pitched in and helped. Even Liam... We had a yummy dinner, and an over all really nice day together as a family (minus Rebekah who called me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day).

Other than that, Bill flew up to NY to pack Rebekah up and bring her home from College for the summer. We worked on the house a little bit the weekend before, and moved Liam and his Toddler bed back into our bedroom, and put the trundle bed in his room so Rebekah would have someplace to live for the summer months while she is home. the kids all have one more week of school - they would be out already but we actually had several snow days this winter so the kids have to go extra now to make up for it now. This summer we have some things going on, the big girls will be working, Sariah is taking a trip to Europe. There will also be EFY and Girls Camp, and Hannah will be going to a softball camp for a week and then a police camp for a week, through school. Marissa will continue on with karate. Liam will be getting surgery on his hip in the middle fo June, and that will make all of our lives interesting.

I'll try to do better at keeping up with all our lives and activities.

Christmas is around the corner...

Christmas Festival is over, (lots of fun, but lots of work and lots of long hours). (all my boxes of Nativities haven't even made it out of the back of Bill's truck yet! I guess we won't be putting them up in the house again this year...).

We've had sickies... 3 of the 5 kids who've been home have had it, Now Bill has it. We are hoping that NO ONE else gets to go through this one. High fever, body aches, throat hurts, etc...

School is over! No more stressing over finals...

Bekah is home! YAY!!!

Now to really get ready for Christmas! Hoping to have a wonderful time together as a family!

So much to be THANKFUL for!!!

Last year in November I found and participated in the http://nablopomo.ning.com/main/embeddable/list blog post every day to give thanks, this year life has been crazy and I realized it has been over a month since I've posted anything!!!

I do have soooo very much to be thankful for. I'm thankful that when Liam got sick we had Dr's who figured out what was wrong and that now all we have to do is go in every so often to check on things and band off any new veins that may have become enlarged since the last procedure. I'm thankful that after the one at the beginning of Nov, we don't have to go back for another 6 months.

I'm thankful for a husband who has a job, even when it keeps him very busy, and the kids don't always understand why he works such long hours... I'm thankful for a husband who seeks learning and as a bonus after all his years in the service that he is able to take advantage of the G.I. bill, and Though it means more hours 'working' on homework, he is able to have his Doctorate Degree paid for.

I'm thankful for wonderful children who are learning and growing. Who are over all compassionate towards others (even if it isn't as often shown toward their own family members), and who often go out of their way to help others. I'm thankful for children who are growing in the Gospel, and willing and unembarrassed to share it with their friends.

I'm thankful for the opportunities we have had to travel this past year. I'm especially thankful for a wonderful extended family who is able to put up 8+ people over a long Holiday weekend, who are so welcoming and willing to share with us. I'm also especially thankful for all the friends who have helped us out over the past year in particular when we have traveled, and for when we've been in the hospital with Liam. It is so wonderful to know that I don't have to worry too much about my family back at home, as others are so kind and willing to jump in and help in whatever ways we need.

I'm Thankful for my health - for limbs that work, since when you sprain an ankle or hurt your hand, thumb, wrist, etc. you realize how lost you would be without them on a regular basis! I'm thankful for insurance that covers (most) of the medical care and attention we need.

I'm also very Thankful for the opportunity I have to witness Miracles! The see the Miracle of Birth unfold. To help women find their strength, and to see that little life as it comes forth from it's mother, fresh from Heaven! I am always in awe at the miracle of life! I wonder how anyone can see that sweet new little baby, and not know that God has created this amazing process! How from two little cells, a whole little person develops and grows under his/her mothers heart, and all the intricacies of the human body, and all the processes from breathing to circulation, to reproduction again that can create a whole nother person...

And as we approach this Christmas Season, I have so much more to be thankful for... I'm Thankful that God has a plan for me, even if I'm a bit impatient or don't always ask for the help to know what that plan is, and how to implement it in my life. I'm thankful for the Birth of My Savior Jesus Christ, and for the season we have to remember it. I'm thankful for the opportunities I have to share my love of the Gospel and Jesus Christ at the Christmas Festival that we hold each year.

Life Goes On...

We are home from the hospital. Liam seems to be fine, over all, a bit whiny and clingy, but fine in general.

Liam had a Dr's appointment with the G.I. Dr. on Friday. We will have to go back for more endoscopy and banding of more esophageal varicose veins, over time. It is all a play it by ear situation... we will go back again (for outpatient treatment unless something comes up during the procedure, and he ends up back in-patient) every 2-3 months or 6 months, or whatever we determine over time for the next however many years. We’ll have to keep an eye on him, and somehow allow him to be a regular kid and play like he always has (he’s a wild man!), and if we ever see any signs of bleeding, vomiting or bowels, we need to take him in immediately! That is quite scary to me, and yet, I can’t tie him down... (last night he bumped his chest against the table at dinner, and cried and said it hurt. It makes me wonder if it is ‘sore’ because he just had all the trauma to it this week, or will it continue to be tender as long as it is vulnerable?).

Will I be freaking out whenever he wants to play rough? Will he be able to take karate classes like his dad had earlier suggested? What if he got hit or kicked in the chest? I do not want to become an overbearing, overprotective mother, but how can I not? This week he is on a soft food diet, but honestly even after that... he could scrape an enlarged varicosity in his esophagus, by not chewing his food carefully enough. He could cause himself serious injury by eating a chip! how am I going to get through this?!?

On we go... Bill was supposed to have left for a trip on monday morning last week, but with Liam in the hospital he postponed his trip. We came home from the hospital on wednesday, and early on Thursday, Bill left for NM. He will be gone for a week. Kids have projectds to work on for school, I have Childbirth classes starting back up (I was supposed to have the 1st class last week, but put that off while we were in the hospital), I have mom's approaching their due dates, choir...
and LIFE goes on.

My Sister's Keeper... (possible spoiler, so be warned)

I leave for a conference in B'ham tomorrow after Church. I get home late Tuesday night and Rebekah will be leaving on Wed. for NY. I won't see her again until we go up to NY in Oct. for Bill's 20 yr reunion at West Point (we will have her come down for the weekend).

Bill suggested that since this is our 'last day together'... perhaps She and I should go out.

Well, before we could go, Rebekah had to spend some more sister time! She has been having girl time, and 'girl talks' with Hannah, since 'she won't be here for her'. So the last thing she really wanted to do was 'teach' Hannah to shave her legs. I should have taken some pic's but, there was some levels of undress, so I opted out..
But here is the scene, Hannah, Rebekah and Amanda all sitting along the edge of thebathtub in my bathroom. Lots of shaving cream was involved, and a little bit of blood... Hannah managed to nick herself once. At one time Amanda was shaving the back of Hannah's leg, and Hannah was gigglign that it tickled. Well, after the giggling, she managed to nick her also.
It took a lot longer than Hannah was expecting... and she got a little bored, after the sisters had finished shaving and Hannah was just starting on her second leg. She sort of wanted to quit and do that leg 'next time'... ;-) Well, the girls would have none of that! Since Rebekah adn I were getting ready to leave, Amanda spent the time with her and helped her finish up removing the light carpet she had started to carry along on her legs. Now... she has really smooth legs. She was so proud of herself!!!

**************************************************************
Possible spoiler:
Rebekah and I were going out, we wanted to get dinner, and a movie. We had decided to see The proposal, but when we arrived at Bridge Street, the theater was sold out for that veiwing, except for the very front seats... yuck, no thank you! And... Iwas NOT staying out late enough to watch the 10:20 showing!!! So, we changed out thoughts, and got tickets for my Sister's keeper. I figured it would be a girly show, and fun for us to watch together.

They had very few seats available for this movie either, but there were two individual seats, separated by two seats - previously taken, o the back row. So, by the time we bought tickets, an got popcorn and a drink (to share, we got two straws, etc...) We hoped we could get in there and ask the two in the seats between us, if they would mind sliding to one side or the other, so that Rebekah and I coud sit together.

Not only did that 'plan' NOT work out, but I got in there and someone was in my seat, and they said they were in the wrong seats (mine and someone else's) because some younger girls were sitting in their seats just in front of where they were at. But, what did this mean for us??? we only had ONE seat! The movie had already started, we are standing there, trying to figure out what to do. There were two seats right in front of the other (still empty) seat we had bought a ticket for, but, there were still people coming in and we didnt' want to take someone else's seats, and have to get up and move again when/if they showed up. Rebekah just went down and sat in a single seat up closer to the front/of the back section. I felt really bad. After the movie had gone for a while, I decided the seats in front of me were still empty, so I went down to try and get Rebekah to come sit in them with me... she didn't want to disrupt other people since we would have had to climb over 6 people in order to get to the empty seats. I sat down and was just going to sit on the stairs next to her. She said no, don't do that, as that would make a bigger problem, with the workers comming and telling me I was not allowed to sit on the stairs.

I, however, JUST wanted to SIT by my daughter, since it was our Night out together... and the point of the movie we were watching was abou a mother and her daughter(s), and how much they loved each other... I got upset but went back to my seat (leaving the popcorn and drink with her so she'd have it... although she didn't have any of it either, so that was a big waste!). But as I turned round and walked away from her back to my one seat, I began to cry. From that point on, the movie got very sad, and emotional and I was pretty much sobbing. Everyone around me was crying also, so I wasn't alone at least.

I however was crying about more than just the emotional efforts of the film writers, etc. I was crying at the fact that I will miss my daughter who was leaving me in 4 days, and going out into her life all on her own. The daughter I couldn't even sit next to and share this emotional movie with!!! I was crying and feeling guilty for any silly thoughts and feelings I've had over the years, with any of my children. Life is so short and so important!!! Why do we let ourselves (MYSELF), get all upset about silly little day to day things in life?!?!?! I love Rebekah dearly! She has the potential to be an amazing person! I wish her all the best in her future endeavors. I want for her to have a happy life, a good life, to find a love that is and will be Eternal. I want for my girls (all my kids, but especially my girls), to grow into amazing women, and I want for them to be friends. To be willing to give their all for each other. Willing to stand up for each other, and support each other.
I want them to LIKE and to Love each other... I hate all the bickering, and unkind words, that have flown around at my house at times. I hate to see my family hurting each other... I love the times I can remember, where they spent good fun quality time together; whether it was just going out running errands, or helping one another with some project or another, or going shopping or out to eat or something else with each other. I love when they plan special surprises for each other. (Rebekah made these adorable little hopes and dreams jars for Amanda and Sariah and she took them up to girls camp one night when she got to attend one night up there. she really worked hard on them, and wanted the girls to like them a lot. I thught they were adorable! If you go to Rebekah's blog, you can read about the jars, and see pic's she posted.

As for the movie, I wonder if it would be inappropriate to contact someone I used to know, who lost a child and sort of 'warn' them of the movie. I think it would just make them all fall apart, due to the content of the movie...

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

We've all been a bit busy lately. Ball practices, games, births, playing Wii, work, school, field trips, etc... Needless to say, we haven't spent much time together as a family, rather than running someone here and there.

This afternoon we took a picnic to the park to eat and we had a lovely time. (thanks to the H family for their recent trip to downtown Madison for the inspiration).

Liam didn't eat much. He mostly just ran around... of course his favorite thing to do is run AWAY from anyone trying to 'catch' him. He ran across the street a time or two. At one point we said, don't go in the street! Dad told him to go look at the train tracks (he meant he could go up to that point and look through the fence). We are all sitting down, watching him and all of the sudden Liam flops down on his belly and goes UNDER the fence!!! He's now on the side with the tracks! Amanda was the quickest, and was able to get under the fence and retrieve him! She passed him back over the fence to Sariah. The other people nearby were laughing at all our crazy antics.

Amanda didn't want to go back under the fence as there was no IMEDIATE hurry any more, so she walked around. As she was about back to us, we heard the whistle of the train heading towards us. WoW! That was pretty close timing! I THINK Liam would have turned around and crawled right back under the fence in a hurry, with all the loud noise, etc. of the big scary train!

Later we found out he could just slip right between the bars of the fence... then, that Marissa, and Hannah (just barely) could also slip through the bars of the fence.

Liam also picked some flowers for me, For his sisters, for himself... he blew the dandy lions...

They all had fun playing in the Gazebo. They danced, and pretended they were in the Sound of Music... I am 16 going on 17...

Liam as usual, climbed on everything...

Later in the afternoon when it cooled down a little bit, we decided to take a walk (the kids rode scooters) through the neighborhood. Hannah (and possibly Marissa) thinks she wants to walk -or ride- to school, instead of taking the bus. So we sort of meandered that direction to see about how long it migth take them in the morning... with having to either wait for Liam, or to have to push him along on his scooter, or to have him walk, and one of us would end up having to carry or push the scooter, we took much longer than I'm sure they will in the morning by themselves.

After we walked to the school (across the street from the school) we went over to visit the H family to see their new baby! She sure is a cutie! Then we wandered through the neighborhood again, and finally ended up back home. We spent about 3 hours on our walk/visit. It ws a very pleasant way to spend our afternoon together as a family.

Tonight Sariah finished off the rest of her project. She had to make a totem pole for herself - each animal had to represent her in some way. I thought she did a great job.