So it has been a while, quite a while and I guess life just gets busy with work, raising kids, taking care of yourself and taking care of each other.
Since my last post Thanksgiving,Christmas and the New Year has come and gone and then Spring came bringing with it the Joplin Tornado which was just 70 miles away. Now in July we are in a middle of a Heat Wave that has been here since soon after the tornado hit. In fact, Joplin has broken heat records a few times this summer. While in Joplin, I spent several days there with a team of employees and volunteers working to put checks into the hands of the Joplin Tornado Survivors to be used at local businesses which would assist the individuals and families with what they needed in the moment to survive.
We heard many different accounts of the tornado's assault, saw some who had visible evidence of their experience written on their faces, damage to their body and heard the phrase, "My home was destroyed" hundreds of times through the days we were there.
While there I wrote the following thoughts down and thought I would take the time to share this along with the pictures I took. What we heard and saw are just a few examples of the devastation people experienced.
I can't imagine what it must have been like. The pictures I took while there do not really give justice to the suffering the citizens of the Joplin area have endured. I pray they can capture God's peace.
A Hug From My Son
by Jeff Smith on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 11:48pm
So today, is day 5 of 7 days I will be serving the survivors of the Joplin May 2011 tornado. I have seen much and heard much much more. Homes have been destroyed, businesses gone, cars have been mangled, crushed and sucked up to never be seen again, trees stripped naked of their bark and leaves .....and worse yet, lives have been lost.
I have heard of the step by step accounting of how a mother called her son and husband to take shelter, calling her son first and how her husband was sucked out of the house and into the back yard only to see his house literally destroyed, killing his son inside and how today they have his ashes in an urn.
I have heard of how a mother was killed saving her son's life only to have that son have serious head trauma and in the hospital in K.C. and how the grandmother and aunt will now be taking care of him.
I have listened as a neighbor pulled two sleeping infants out of the rubble..... they were sound asleep unharmed.
I have also heard of how a father pulled each of his two children out of their destroyed house only to witness each die in the ambulance.
The list goes on and on. People have been hurt, their grief is great and yet we are doing our best to assist them as we can as they begin to move forward. It is hard for many to move forward when such grief has struck, yet moving forward must happen.
This morning as I left again and after spending only 15 minutes with my kids, which is all I will be able to do each day the rest of this week, my son jumps up in my arms, tells me he loves me and gives me a hug...the kind that you hang on to just a little bit longer. My staff was in my house while this occurred and I caught one of them catching our moment and realized just how lucky I am and choked up. Through it all today, I was drawn back to that lingering hug and that is what sustained me today.
I have heard of the step by step accounting of how a mother called her son and husband to take shelter, calling her son first and how her husband was sucked out of the house and into the back yard only to see his house literally destroyed, killing his son inside and how today they have his ashes in an urn.
I have heard of how a mother was killed saving her son's life only to have that son have serious head trauma and in the hospital in K.C. and how the grandmother and aunt will now be taking care of him.
I have listened as a neighbor pulled two sleeping infants out of the rubble..... they were sound asleep unharmed.
I have also heard of how a father pulled each of his two children out of their destroyed house only to witness each die in the ambulance.
The list goes on and on. People have been hurt, their grief is great and yet we are doing our best to assist them as we can as they begin to move forward. It is hard for many to move forward when such grief has struck, yet moving forward must happen.
This morning as I left again and after spending only 15 minutes with my kids, which is all I will be able to do each day the rest of this week, my son jumps up in my arms, tells me he loves me and gives me a hug...the kind that you hang on to just a little bit longer. My staff was in my house while this occurred and I caught one of them catching our moment and realized just how lucky I am and choked up. Through it all today, I was drawn back to that lingering hug and that is what sustained me today.
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