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I just have some bits and pieces of information regarding Sunday's tornado. First and foremost, our family is so grateful to be alive but that being said, they're exhausted and overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of them.
My father-in-law is an electrical engineer for the power company in Joplin and I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept since Saturday night. He has to get power restored to the city, and I can't even imagine how overwhelming that must be.
My sister-in-law and I have cried together several times today. She has been at the site of her medical practice since the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out how to move forward. A make-shift clinic will most likely be set up so that she can treat patients. Her biggest concern is getting insulin to her many insulin dependent patients. She has a thriving practice with many, many patients and the thought of re-building her office space and in the mean time, caring for her patients is a huge, huge burden.
To put a few things in perspective, my sister-in-law's brother and his wife are both physical therapists at a neighboring hospital and since physical therapy isn't in the forefront of any one's mind right now, people in that profession have been instructed to work in the make-shift morgue they set up at the university.
Even though I am not from Joplin, my heart breaks in a really intimate way for that town. This is where we spend our holidays, birthdays and fun weekends. There are several really cute stores that my mother-in-law and I shop in that are completely gone. If you've been reading my blog long enough, you've probably seen at least a dozen posts including Pizza By Stout...our very favorite Joplin restaurant...gone. Gone. Family owned and operated, leveled by the tornado.
Today, I felt kind of guilty walking through Hobby Lobby. Here we are, going about our daily lives, when the people in Joplin are trying just to survive the day. Then, I went to Kensington's pre-school party and sat next to a lady who also has a 2 year old in the class...back in January, when she was 7 months pregnant with their sixth child, her husband died suddenly at the age of 37 (later they found out he had lung cancer that went undetected...and no, he didn't smoke). So, she's a widow in her 30s with 6 kids...good grief God...that's a hard one to handle!
So, I say all of this to say, we are so blessed. So many people are dealing with so much right now and if the worst of my problems are that my 2 year old doesn't like to go #2 in the potty...well, I'm a very fortunate gal.
For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
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