lovingasoldier.com

…and today Oklahoma has a big chunk of mine. As Army wives we can lead a nomadic existence, moving wherever and whenever duty calls, often far away from family and friends. When someone asks you where you’re from, what do you say? More often than not, for me, I cite my hometown of Oklahoma City. I am proud to be an Okie, even though my okie accent may now have hints of the deep South mixed in. And I cherish my okie friends and the state where I was born and raised through college.

The past few days have broken my heart as we have all watched the devastation an EF-5 tornado can bring. All I know is to quote Psalm 34:18(NIV), The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Oklahoma is a state of strong faith and I know after talking to many of my friends that their faith will carry them through these hard times. I want to share some of their stories.

Lori Marshall, a Marine wife and Dean of Students over Dibble Public Schools, shares her thoughts:

“First of all, my husband’s name is Jason Marshall and he is a Gunnery Sergeant, active duty status. We live in Blanchard now, just moved here in December from Norman (about 10 miles south of where the tornado hit). As a school administrator, mother, and native Oklahoman, my heart sank yesterday when I started hearing that a huge tornado was headed directly for Newcastle and Moore. Immediately after the tornado hit, I knew right away things were very bad. The path the tornado had taken was through very populated areas. My brother and his family live in Moore, so I instantly started trying to call and text my mother to see if she had heard anything. Luckily, my nieces and nephews had been picked up early by their babysitter and were safe. My brother was frantically trying to get home to see about their house and check on his wife. Janna drives a delivery truck for Fed Ex and was caught in the storm. She was hit with flying debris while trying to take refuge in the Moore Medical building. They have showed her van several times on tv. She is very lucky to be alive! We are blessed.

During this time, I also started hearing about the many schools that were in the area. I have been in education for 13 years and have lots of friends that teach throughout the state. One of them, just happens to be the counselor at Briarwood Elementary, one of the schools that was hit. I finally got news just before 8pm that she was safe and everyone had made it out alive there. Several injured but Alive, as she kept saying!”

Briarwood Elementary photo by Chad Lowe

Lori went on to give her advice, as an educational provider, on how to talk with your children on such tragedies:

“Natural disasters can be especially traumatic for children and teenagers. They have not had the experiences and time to develop coping skills to help them deal with emotions. Therefore, they look to significant adults in their lives for guidance on how to manage their reactions after the immediate threat is over. We must remain calm and reassure them that we are going to do everything in our power to keep them safe. There was a mother on the TV yesterday that said to her daughter, This will never happen to you again. I personally feel that this was the wrong thing to say and could prevent her daughter from preparing for other life changing events in the future. Therefore, I think it is important for us to let our children talk openly about what has happened, their fears, and teach them life lessons to help them in case they (heaven forbid) have to go through something like this again.”

Moore resident, Natalie Schnell, shares her story:

“We are trying to get to our home. We have dogs trapped inside and no clue about damage. Our storage unit is gone for sure. We saw it on news footage. We know Meg’s (daughter) old cheer sponsor and newborn were killed. Her prior teacher and church member from Plaza Towers has passed away. Tyler (son) is almost three and his daycare was hit and so much of what he knows is gone. We need guaranteed loans so we can protect our families. Schools need shelters. Moore has no public shelters and that is wrong. Anyway, I am very angry and scared and numb.”

She goes on to explain how their day went on May 20^th. “We had doctor appointments in Edmond. We saw the storms would be worst around 3pm when Meghan would be heading home from school. We were supposed to be there at 1:15pm but they called to see if we could come early. We debated whether to take out the kids. We decided to take Tyler out and Meg too. Jimmy(husband) was done at 2:30pm but we decided to just wait for fear of getting caught in rain and traffic. We watched it and we knew. My brother in law has the Sonic at 19th and Telephone road. He is there trying to salvage food. I am sitting here in rain and traffic just wanting to check on my home and our pets. We bought food and water but we need Jimmy’s seizure medicine and blood thinners desperately. We were planning a garage sale for the weekend after next in an attempt to raise some money towards a storm shelter. Everything we had put in storage for that is gone.”

Fortunately, after talking to me, Natalie and her family were able to get back into their home. It is still there, sans the storage unit. But there are so many without homes, now. The following is a picture of what’s left of Moore resident, Bryan Wood’s home.

resident of Moore, Bryan Wood’s home, photo Bryan Wood

So many people need help and the community is rallying to their aid. There are so many churchs helping out and Red Cross donations are pouring in. Pray for Oklahoma City, a facebook page dedicated to providing information on Oklahoma support efforts, provided the following news on Tuesday:

“The National Basketball Association and National Basketball Players Association announced today that, in response to the destruction caused by the tornado in the Oklahoma City area, they will contribute $1 million to support relief efforts. The NBA and the Players Association will join forces with the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other disaster relief agencies that are mobilizing their resources to continue the recovery and rebuilding efforts. The Oklahoma City Thunder has also donated $1 million and Thunder star Kevin Durant, in addition, has pledged $1 million to the relief efforts and several NBA teams, players, and legends are contributing to aid in the recovery.”

Organizations, big and small, are offering their services. Kyle Upchurch of GrowOKC,  http://www.growokc.com/ updated his facebook page and explained how he has a chainsaw and a tree service. He wrote:

“For my neighbors and friends in South Oklahoma City, we are ready to help and we of course won’t be handing you a bill. Be very careful about people trying to profit off our hometown tragedy. Do you have ways you can help? Maybe you have some blue collar hands that can help. Feel free to message me if you would like to join in and help our neighbors. As Mr. Rogers said, Look for the helpers. It’s time to be a helper, Oklahoma.”

Prayers are being answered and there is reason for hope. Over 100 people were rescued Monday night in Moore. They were found under debris tucked away in their storm shelters. Also, the confirmed deaths dropped dramatically, after they had previously been reported to increase. It seems some victims were mistakenly counted twice in the chaos of the moment. There is light on the horizon.

Photo provided by Pray for Oklahoma City fb page

Oklahoma City resident, Amanda Salisbury, sums up my feelings well, on the future of this grief-stricken heartland, “Something I admire about Oklahomans – and Americans, really – is that we share one beating heart in times of tragedy. Recent times in our country lead us to believe our hearts are not so consistent. What could be more improbable than democracy working well and constantly?

But then my state is ripped at the seams, the place where an old wound had never fully healed. Hearts stopped. Not in the exaggerated way we liken surprise to a stopped heart. Not in the way of melodrama.

They actually stopped.

Lives and livelihoods and safe havens – wiped from the face of the earth. Still, our hearts beat. Through new threats and painful discoveries, our hearts beat. Through teardown and cleanup and grief and rebuilding, our hearts will continue to beat.”

She goes onto say, “I will tuck my children into bed this night and I will slyly find their young heartbeats. And I will linger there, hoping against all seeming probabilities that the beats continue. Because I should, I will break our connection and thank my God upon every remembrance of them. And the heart of Oklahoma beats on.”