THE tornado

There are lots of professionals in the world we want to be able to trust. Your dentist. Your surgeon. Your pediatrician.

I would add weatherman to the list.

Growing up in Iowa, I have to admit that "trustworthy" was not a word we ever used to describe our weathermen. As far as I know (and can tell by facebook), this still holds true today. Winter rolls around and the weathermen start predicting crazy winter storms that might bring 10-12 inches of snow. And only 2 inches of snow actually falls.

Here in Oklahoma, I have come to view the weathermen quite a bit differently than the ones in Iowa.

Often a week in advance, weathermen will start reporting the possibility of severe weather. As the day approaches, we begin to get non-stop live coverage of the storms and second-by-second updates on how they are developing.

On Sunday, it was a very sunny day. The live coverage started with a weatherman in a car, pointing to the clouds and talking about how those were the ones that were going to be tornadic.

Those clouds were white and fluffy, surrounded by bright sunshine.

I have no idea how they can track storms so specifically, that they can point to white fluffy clouds and know that they will be the ones to produce tornadoes later in the day. But I'm thankful they CAN do that.

Tornadoes are sort of like riding a crazy roller coaster. The anticipation is sort of exciting, with no real sense of danger. The roller coaster goes up, with the anticipation building. All of a sudden the roller coaster pummels to the ground, and a feeling of terrifying excitement hits you. At the end of the ride, you are thankful you made it through alive, and you sort of want to go through it again.

This was Sunday for us.

The weathermen continued to track the white fluffy clouds as they changed to a darker color, and then as they formed a wall cloud. The wall cloud was what passed directly over Norman, continually lowering, as everyone was waiting for the funnel clouds that were forming to drop at anytime. Sirens went off multiple times for us, and we were in our bathtub at the beginning.

Once we realized the weather was already north of us (and our weather travels northeast), we knew we were outside of the threat of danger. So we headed outside with the rest of our neighbors and faced north, and watched as the wall cloud passed in front of us. We actually saw funnels forming and starting to lower, though nothing lowered to the ground until it was at the eastern tip of Norman.

The wall cloud passing over - view from our house. 

Notice the funnel cloud forming in between the two houses.

A closer look at the funnel threatening to drop down.

To be honest, that was a pretty cool experience. A roller coaster that I wouldn't mind riding again.

Other tornadoes passed through Edmond, on the north side of Oklahoma City.

The view from the deck of one of our friend's house in Edmond.

Monday was a little different situation for all of us here. A roller coaster I wouldn't care to ride again. Ever.

Once again, we began watching the news early, and saw the sky turn from bright and sunny to dark and threatening, and we watched the wall cloud form. We saw the violent deadly tornado take shape and drop from the sky, rip through Moore, and dissipate on the other side. We sat still, mesmerized by what was happening right in front of our eyes.

Two things were very surreal on Monday. One was the fact that we had no communication. Our power was fine, but cell phone reception and internet was down. We tried for hours to get text messages out to our families simply to let them know we were fine. The second surreal thing was actually watching the entire tornado from start to finish completely on real time.

We were living this thing, and getting second-by-second updates on which street the tornado was tearing down, where it was headed, and what the aftermath might show. We tried to figure out if the tornado tore down areas where our friends lived. We sat with tears in our eyes as we saw the first footage of the elementary schools, and kids and parents rushing and greeting each other with hugs.

Though we have not physically been affected by the tornado, it has dominated our lives for the past few days. We scour facebook for pictures our friends post of their houses (or what's left of them), or pictures and videos they shot of the tornado right before it hit their neighborhoods. We are glued to the TV and listen to story after story of people affected.

Tornadoes are, simply put, awesome: inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear; causing or inducing awe. They are powerful. Destructive. Impressive. One of the coolest things I've ever seen was the end of the tornado, when it "roped out". Our weatherman described it as if two people were holding a rope and twisting it in different directions, it would spiral and get smaller, and coil up. That's exactly what the tornado looked like.

Monday's tornado elicited a different emotional response from us. It's personal. Multiple families from our church have minimal damage, but are displaced and staying with friends or in hotel rooms. Others we know lost everything. One friend was actually hunkered in the bathtub when the power went out and sirens went off. Somehow one phone call got through (even though pretty much no calls were getting through at the time), and he was warned to get underground or out of town. He and his girlfriend and dogs peeled out of town, with the tornado in their rearview mirror, minutes before it ripped through their neighborhood.

All that's left is the concrete slab of their foundation.

What's left of our friend's house

Later he found his car

Because we know people affected, our personal response is different. We are setting up meals for families for when they can return to their homes. We will be helping clean our friends' yards. We are collecting giftcards for affected families. David will be going with our friend to sift through debris and help him look for any of his belongings.

I started this by saying I have built a lot of trust for our weathermen. They did an incredible job. Based on the videos and pictures, it's actually incredible that more people didn't die. Our weathermen don't exaggerate, so when they say to go underground or out of town, they mean it.

Our tornado response has become more defined this tornado season. We don't have a storm shelter, nor do we know of where the closest one might be.

I have come to realize it might not matter. If the weathermen ever begin predicting that the path of a tornado will be crossing over Norman, we will be in our car and heading out of town.

Motherhood, Inc.

You might have seen this on facebook or Pinterest recently:

It made me chuckle, and nod my head in agreement.

Then I started actually thinking about it and came up with this:

1. We find our identity in our jobs. When you introduce yourself to someone, often the first question out of their mouth is "and what do you do?" at which point, you tell them your occupation - and thus give yourself an identity. So those mothers that do not leave the home to go into a workplace have created a job title for our work. We are "stay-at-home-moms" (SAHM). It gives us an image. Like when someone says they are a teacher or a nurse or a cashier or a waiter, certain images come to mind. We have now defined this person based on their job.

2. We all have a need to be recognized. SAHMs do just that. We stay at home. We don't go to a workplace to make money. Often we don't make any money at all. :) And somewhere along the lines, SAHMs have felt like they haven't gotten the recognition they deserve in society, so we've created a job title that demands recognition. But along the way, we've gone a bit over-the-top and throw out terms like "full-time mom". But...who is a part-time parent? David is not a part-time dad. He is a full-time dad, and would drop everything in an instant for our kids if necessary. Other moms who work would do the same. While giving us the title SAHM allows others to have the perception of what our lives are like (which isn't all bad because let's be honest, those images that come to your mind pretty much do in fact describe what my life is like...) it also places what we do in the box of a "job" and fuels the need for recognition.

3. We live in a very self-centered society. The recognition that we "need" as SAHMs points out a negative trait in our society. We have adopted a "woe is me" attitude. The above cartoon suggests that exact point. Everyone needs time off. Time for yourself. Time to have a cup of coffee and write a blog entry. Time where no kids are climbing on you, when no deadlines for work matter. Time to do something you enjoy - whether it be by yourself or with a friend or two. But we need to make the time rather than simply complaining about not having any time. Rather than drawing attention to how much we do. Rather than competing with others and proving that we are busier or have more difficult lives than they do.

4. Everyone is busy. Sometimes it appears that SAHMs often describe themselves as pridefully better (or at least harder-working) moms than those moms (or dads) that go to a workplace for part of their day. We seem to need to prove that we are busy, as though the world has no idea that staying home with the kids and keeping a clean house means just that. Life doesn't seem to slow down. Everyone has projects to complete, people to meet with, papers to grade, tests to study for, kids to chase around the house, refrigerators to clean out, garages to organize. I'm pretty sure the world knows that just because SAHMs stay at home all day doesn't mean that they are able to check off any more items off their to-do lists than anyone else.

5. Happy Mother's Day. :) I was blessed with an incredible mother, who was there for me growing up, who played with me, who cooked for me, who cleaned my house, and who taught me important lessons even at a young age. A mother that has shown me an example of the type of mother I would like to be for my kids as they grow up. I was also blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law, who (although met me as an adult) has accepted me as a daughter to spoil, teaches me lessons, and is another fantastic example of a mother that I can look to and learn from.

I hope to do what I can to actively avoid falling in the trap of being so focused on myself and complaining about needing recognition as a mother who stays at home with her kids, that I overlook the fact that my life is awesome. I get to be a mother who stays at home with two wonderful kids who make me laugh until I cry, make me shake my head in disbelief, who challenge me, who learn and grow on a daily basis, and who still let me kiss them and cuddle with them. :)

Adele Marie

Henry William

"Why?"

In one of my Nicaragua posts I wrote about how looking back on past events has the potential of only triggering positive memories.

That thought holds true in so many ways with kids.

I can actually look back on pictures of my kids a year ago and get slightly emotional, remembering how cute they were. I'm obviously blocking out the memories of sleepless nights as Henry was an infant, or the attempts to get Adele to eat new foods.

Even funnier is that I can look back at pictures from a week ago and think to myself that I hope my kids never grow up and stay little and cute forever. I'm obviously blocking out the times during the last week that Henry was clingy and fussy, or that Adele threw a tantrum over her food not being placed the exact right way on her plate.

I think it's why older people always talk about how they wish they could go back to the day their own kids were 2 or 3 year olds. They are remembering the cute things their kids said. Or the fun questions their kids asked. Or the cute clothes they used to dress their kids up in.

They are probably forgetting the ways their kids discovered their independence. The hours it took to get any menial task completed. The way their houses were never clean.

I am sure I will be one of those older people. My kids are the best. They are funny, smart, adventurous, and the cutest kids in the whole world. I can say that now because I am enjoying a cup of coffee while they are both sleeping for my their much-needed naptime.

These are thoughts I will need to remember later, when I am praying for patience. Because...

Adele is in the "why?" stage.

It's not just "why", it's her questioning everything. Who is that? Where is she going? What are they buying? What did I want for dinner? When is it going to rain? Will my teacher be at school tonight? Why didn't so-and-so show up today? Was he sick? What did he get sick from? Who is that (dancer on DWTS)? Is she going to dance again? Why did she choose that dancing dress? 

And so on...

As you can imagine, most questions she asks me could be answered with I DON'T KNOW.

As if that could suffice. Oh no, my daughter never accepts a simple "I don't know" answer. That is followed up with "but you haaaaave to know. I waaaaant you to know".

Sometimes I think I might lose my mind because I just can't make up anything else today.

Thank goodness for cute pictures, that I can look at and forget about losing my mind and just remember  how awesome my kids are.