Semi-Traumatic

On Thursday March 13th, Mike was watching the Southern Eastern Conference , NCAA Basketball Tournament game that was being played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. As many of you know, (because it was reported on national television the next day) a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta causing damage to the Georgia Dome during the game. The games are televised live and Mike and I watched with great concern that someone may be hurt. Atlanta is a little over two hours away from where we live but, we had been receiving a lot of gale force winds and strong thunderstorms. Watching the game, (I had been reading blogs but, took interest in the T.V. screen when Mike told me what was going on) first being delayed, and then, finally cancelled, because more storms were coming, sparked a lot of conversation between us about, what we would do if we had been in the Georgia Dome at the time, and what we would do if a tornado hit where we live. (The announcer at the Georgia Dome kept assuring everyone there that they were in the safest place possible during a storm like that. I told Mike I wouldn't have wanted to leave the Georgia Dome, but I would have preferred to go out into the hallway because the scoreboard and lighting systems over the basketball court were swaying back and forth and in my mind, looked ready to snap off of their wires and come down).

Two days later, on Saturday March 15th, 2008 Mike was outside working in the garden, Evan and Adam were outside playing basketball and I was doing something glamorous like laundry or dishes. Brian came in complaining that, "Brothers never let me have the ball!" and asked if he could watch cartoons. I decided to give Evan and Adam a break and keep Brian inside with me so, I turned on something for him to watch. Immediately upon flipping on the T.V., the whole screen went red and began to beep with the message written in LARGE white letters, "Tornado WARNING" in your area. Please turn to channel 6 for further details". I immediately flipped over and learned from the map shown that our exact location was in danger of being hit. I called out to Mike and told him and he called back asking, "Was it a WARNING or a WATCH?" I told him it was, in fact, a WARNING and that I had never seen a red screen like that before. Almost instantaneously, the sky began to darken into the strangest pea green color and rain began to fall. I am so grateful that Mike is always so calm. He came in and asked me to help him get our mattress off of our bed and drag it into the hallway. The hallway is the center of our home and the only part without any outside walls or windows. Upon seeing this, the boys got very concerned and began asking all manner of questions. Mike and I calmly explained that our area had been issued a tornado warning and that we may need to huddle under the mattress. The sky really opened up at this point and we knew the storm was close because the thunder and lightening were almost simultaneous. Our electricity began to flicker but did not go off...at one point Mike went out under the carport to watch the storm. Brian and Evan had gone out to look with him and came running and screaming back into the house after a particularly LOUD BOOM of thunder.

My sweet Adam came to me with his big brown eyes brimming with tears and said, "I want Heavenly Father to stop the tornado! He can stop it and make it go away, can't he?!!?" I took Adam in my arms and told him gently, "Yes, Heavenly Father can stop the storm but, sometimes He allows things to happen. Being here on earth is a time to learn things and sometimes scary things just happen." I forget his wording, but he let me know in no uncertain terms that he really didn't want Heavenly Father to teach him about tornadoes. The ever calm Mike called us all together and we had a family prayer and practiced getting under the mattress. Being under the mattress caused Brian to cry, (I guess it was just a little too real for him at that point) so we sat in the family room and talked about the storm as it raged outside. Mike asked the boys as they huddled close to us on the couch, "Why do you think Heavenly Father allows things like tornadoes to happen?" No one answered, and 2 out of 3 children were crying pretty steadily at this point, so Mike re-phrased his question and asked, "What do people do when scary things like this happen?" (Mike was trying to get the boys to realize that things like this sometimes happen and people usually turn to their Heavenly Father in times of trial or fright) but, Evan answered his question with, People, "run and scream in terror?" I burst out laughing but, Mike calmly pointed out that many people will pray, just like our family did, and even though Heavenly Father didn't send the storm to scare us, He allowed it to happen, and sometimes good things happen when people are scared because they turn to Him. (I later asked Evan if he was trying to be funny (because, he often tries to be hilarious) when he answered his Dad's question and he said, "No, I was actually being serious."

The storm let up and left quite quickly, and the whole ordeal was over in a 30 minute span. In some ways I wished that I hadn't even seen the tornado warning because I regretted that the boys got so scared. But, I guess it is good that I did see it in case a tornado came our way. The next morning I saw on the news that 8 small tornadoes had touched down right in our area. Most were in Aiken about 30 miles from here, but some were as close as 18 miles from our home. We were very blessed not to have any damage and we didn't even experience the loss of power.

Shortly after the storm had cleared, I said to Mike, "Well, it is back to business as usual, it is still Saturday night and I have to go to the grocery store so we have something to eat tomorrow." As I left the house, Brian called out to me, "MOM, HURRY AND SHUT THE DOOR SO YOU DON'T GET ANY TORNADO ON US!!!!!" I got a kick out of that, I guess he was worried that tornadoes could whip in at any second. Perhaps, I should remind him of the threat of tornadoes because he is notorious for leaving the door open when he runs out to play.

Adam told me cheerily the next morning, "Mom, you should write in my journal (I try to keep a journal of the things my kids say...the key word here is try) that I almost threw up, I was so scared!!!!"

The next day in Sacrament Meeting, my kids' artwork reflected their experience from the day before.


Above is one of Evan's drawings. He being the continual comedian of the family also drew this one...

and, because he can sometimes have a bit of a sick sense of humor (I, of course, have no idea where it comes from) he also drew this...


Please notice the "Pearly Gates" at the top....*sigh*...

Adam, clearly the most traumatized, drew these...

And Brian, who takes takes a lot of his social, and apparently artistic cues from Evan, drew this......

You really haven't lived until you have had a classroom full of Sunbeams (children ages 3 and 4) tell you about their experiences with a tornado warning being issued just one day before class. One little boy accidentally sprayed bits of Goldfish Crackers all over himself as he described how, "LOUUUUD!" the big, "BOOOOMS!" were. Another little boy informed me flatly that, "If there is a tornado you have to go to HIS bathroom." I said, "Yes! A bathroom is an excellent place to go in case of a tornado." He then said with great emphasis, "NOT just the bathroom, MY bathroom." So, I hope everyone will take note. In the event of another tornado...please proceed calmly, in single file manner, to Andrew H.'s bathroom. (his mother later explained to me that "HIS" bathroom is the one with no outside wall or windows.)

I just have to close by saying that getting to teach the Sunbeams, is the greatest calling in the WORLD...if not the UNIVERSE!

March 2008 (Evan 10 years and 8 years old, Adam 7 years and 8 years old, Brian 4 years and 10 months old)

Middle School Orientation (gasp!) and a Fender Bender (yipe!)

So, I am a little bit traumatized...but thankfully, only a little...

So, last Monday, (March 10th, 2008) was Middle School Orientation. Mike and I sat, crammed in the bleachers and heard all about the new life our 10 year old, Evan will be experiencing next year. I felt totally nauseated, and wanted to run screaming into the night. I can't believe my baby will be in middle school this coming year. Several of the speakers said things along the lines of, "If you are 'first time' middle school parents, you will survive! It isn't that traumatic...there are many that have lived through it...your child is ready...blah, blah, blah..." I suppressed the urge to stand up on those overcrowded bleachers and shriek like a harpy, "Don't you pooh-pooh me you vice principal lady, you! This is MY baby we are talking about! I remember the trauma of middle school..."



But, I digress...



On Tuesday, (March 11, 2008) Mike called to say that he would be home late so, he needed to just meet us at church. Mike had church meetings and Evan had Cub Scouts, so we headed out. Once we arrived at church, I noticed that I forgot my wallet and didn't grab the cell phone...I was busy concentrating on making sure that we had all of Adam's unfinished homework, stuff to occupy Brian and a change of clothes for Mike. When Cub Scouts was over I enjoyed the excitement of trying to round my brood up as they protested, "We want to go home with Daddy!!" I had to lovingly (and I use the term "lovingly", loosely) remind them that it was a school night and I didn't have any idea what time Daddy would be done with his meetings. So, after all manner of protesting, I finally shoved lovingly coaxed the boys into the van and headed home. We were less than an half of a mile away from our driveway when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a car pulling out of a parking lot and headed straight for us. I tried to swerve but the other car clipped the rear quarter panel and back bumper on the driver's side of our van. I pulled over and so did the other driver and I was met with a sobbing 17 year old girl that kept repeating with rising panic in her voice, "I didn't see you, I didn't see you!" I tried to calm her by speaking softly and assuring her that no one in my vehicle was even scratched, and it looked like minimal damage to both vehicles. I knew that we needed to call 911 to have the police arrive and fill out and accident report but, she was already so upset that I didn't mention 911 and just gently asked her if she had a cell phone, because as mentioned before, I had forgotten mine. With trembling fingers she handed me this little white rectangle that I had no idea how to use...I tried to flip it open but I couldn't figure out how...I studied the front of it, but it only had a few buttons that I didn't know how to use so I asked her if she wanted to call her parents and made a mental note to pay close attention to how she operated the little white rectangle. I was then distracted by the boys yelling from their seats, "MOM! Can we get out?!" I rushed back to the van and told the boys they had to stay in the van, but they could unbuckle if they wanted to. I opened up the back (is it called a hatch? It really isn't a trunk, is it?) door to the van so the boys could see out but not get into the street. This proved to be an unwise decision on my part, because the boys were excitedly calling out to me with things like, "When she hit us I was like, WHOOOOAAAAA!!!" as they rocked back and forth reenacting the impact of the crash on their little bodies. There were also exclamations like, "Look at how it smashed the front of her car!" I shot them warning glances but then, Adam asked in a disgruntled tone why the airbags didn't deploy, (he didn't actually say, "deploy" I think he said, "pop-out"). I suppressed the urge to yell at the boys, "SILENCE! Can you not see that you are fahhhh-reaking this poor girl out?" I decided to go back to the van and tell them calmly that she was VERY upset and could they please be very quiet for me. I went back and told my new 17 year old, still sobbing friend, "See, everything is okay...they aren't hurt at all...they even wished the accident was worse so they could get to see the airbags." She smiled weakly as she continued to weep. About that time, Mike, who had gotten to leave the church a little bit earlier than I thought he was going to get to, saw us and pulled over. He made sure everyone was okay, and I whispered to him that we still needed to call 911. When I told my new friend that we needed to call 911, she handed me her white rectangle again, and cried quietly, "Can someone else do it?" I then handed Mike the white rectangle and he looked at it strangely so, I turned to her and asked sheepishly, "How do you dial?" She then slid the white rectangle open with her thumb. I have seen slide phones before, but never like this one. Mike called 911 and once they connected him with the local sheriff's office he asked permission for everyone involved to be able to pull into the high school parking lot that we were right beside. The officer said that was okay, so we pulled in and the boys jumped out and were bouncing around with enormous amounts of energy. Adam and Evan told the mother (who had just arrived) of the 17 year old girl, all about the crash and were laughing about the fact that I had screamed right before impact, "WATCH OUT!!!!!!" at the approaching car. I have no recollection of screaming at the other car to, "watch out" but, the boys were openly making fun of the fact that it was kind of ridiculous of me to think that the other driver could hear me, and do my bidding. Luckily, there was a tree in the landscaping on the side of the parking lot so, I told the boys to go climb it. Moments later, they were in the branches enjoying themselves and thankfully, out of the way. (You know how ages ago, people used to say, when they basically were trying to say, "Get Lost" or, "Scram", things like, "Go, jump in a lake!" or, "Go, fly a kite! "...I kind of felt that was what I was saying to my kids but, my words would have been, "Go, climb a tree!" I meant it literally, though).

Well, as mentioned before I didn't have my wallet (*whoopsie-daisy*) but, the responding officer let Mike run home and get it for me. We were so close to our home, Mike could have practically walked home to get it. Once he returned, it didn't take long to wrap up all of the details, flush the boys out of the tree, and head home to put everyone to bed.

Later that night I burst into tears. When Mike asked what was wrong I explained that it had just hit me that another vehicle was only inches away from Evan when she hit us...that only the metal of our car stood between a moving vehicle and my child. I don't know why I was so emotionally overcome with this realization two and a half hours later. No one was hurt, Evan was asleep in his bed...I still just sort of broke down for a moment there. Mike, as always, was totally understanding and said calming things to me. You know how you always hear that car accidents typically happen within a 5 mile radius of your house. Well, last year Mike was driving some of the young men from church back home after a service project and another car, "T-boned" him and totaled our Jeep. The accident wasn't Mike's fault but the insurance only covered for us to get a car that was a lot less in value. He was about 2.5 miles away from home when that accident occurred. I am now a total believer that accidents typically happen within a 5 mile radius of your home. Sheesh. Most of all, I am grateful that no one was hurt in both accidents.

(Brian 4 years and 10 months old, Adam 7 years and 8 months old, Evan 10 years and 8 months old)

Thank You, Grandma and Grandad!

Grandma and Grandad Marshman (Joyce and Perry) just spent the week with us and it was so good to have them here. I got to spend the most time with them because the kids had school, and Mike had to work...I called Mike one day at work and told him, "Well, it appears that we have enslaved your parents, but good." I kept telling them they were here to relax, but they were a flurry of helpful activity the entire time. During their visit, the garden was tilled twice, hedges were trimmed and all of the branches were neatly bagged, a broken window was repaired, the outside lighting that had a short in it was repaired, and new lighting was installed, a trellis that blew down in the gale force winds that we experienced one night was repaired in less than 12 hours, black plastic was put down to prevent weeds growing around the garden and pine needles were mulched over the plastic and other places in the yard, laundry and dishes were continually being done (I didn't quite know what to do with all of the empty baskets in the laundry room, it would be an understatement to say I was delighted and grateful), I got continual help with the little 16 month old boy, Asher, that I babysit, and the children got help with homework and a basketball and football teammate.

Thank you for coming Mom and Dad. It was GREAT to have you...and NOT just because you worked so hard! It was great spending time with the two of you!

This is a lovely picture of my in-laws that was taken several years ago. I missed some amazing photo ops during Grandma and Grandad's visit due to camera battery problems...namely, the rechargeable batteries refused to comply and charge up as they clearly agreed to in their contract. That's what I get for only making a verbal contract with my rechargeable camera batteries.*sigh*

Helf-fee Foods

Brian's Primary teacher stopped me in the hallway after church on Sunday to tell me about the opening prayer he had offered at the beginning of class. She explained with a chuckle, how he said in the prayer, "Sank you for the helf-fee foods and, sank you for the NOT helf-fee foods". She said he placed a lot of emphasis on the word, "NOT" and from the upward inflection he used while saying, "NOT" he seemed extremely grateful that our Heavenly Father has seen fit to place, "NOT" healthy foods on the earth. Ahhhh, a child after my own heart. I knew immediately upon hearing his Primary teacher tell the story about his little prayer, that the class discussions they have been having at pre-school about how to keep their bodies healthy, and strong, have made an impact on him.





Now, these pictures don't have much to do with the story but, a healthy food is involved. Last December, Evan and Brian were playing some sort of game. I was listening from the kitchen and I heard Brian calling himself, "The King" and was demanding that Evan feed him. Here we see King Brian's loyal servant Evan, "the minion" feeding his majesty some nectarine pieces. I had to snap a couple of pictures because I am continually surprised at what Brian can get his older brothers to do for him. Does this mean that he is only interested in healthy foods if someone has to be in his servitude? I do realize that Brian is always in that (blasted) Batman outfit. Seriously, he puts it on after pre-school each day. If it is dirty, he begs for me to wash it. He has 4 Batman outfits but, this particular one is far and away his favorite. I guess he likes the, impressive "six pack" abs decorating the front of the shirt. Remember this post? *Sigh*

Brian (4 years and 10 months old at time of the story and 4 years and 7 months old at the time of the picture).
Evan (10 years and 5 months old at the time of the picture)