Tornados Hit Home

Since moving here to Oklahoma, there’s never been a dull moment for weather. Whether it’s flooding, blizzards, ice storms, hail or tornados, I’ve seen it all. And this week created the most heartbreak and anxiety this city has seen in quite awhile.

Our hearts, prayers, and thoughts go to those who are picking up the pieces this week, just a few short miles away from where I call home. Some homes were completely taken away, just leaving the foundation and debris on the ground. Families lost loved ones and the community has mourned with them.  Yesterday they found the body of a 3 year old little boy who got taken with the tornado and was missing for two days – horrible stuff that we are dealing with here.

But we’re not the only ones dealing with loss. Everyone has heard about the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, and the images we see tear at our hearts and make us want to do SOMETHING, anything, to help.  

One organization that I’ve been hearing a lot about is Convoy of Hope. They are on the ground in Joplin currently and as of Friday, Convoy of Hope has delivered nearly 500,000 pounds of food, water and supplies to victims of the Joplin tornado.

Never seen what tornado damage looks like? I pulled this off a summary article on their website:

“The view from within the swath is surreal. Steel buildings are twisted like straws, cars and trucks resemble soda cans twisted into oblivion, power-poles and fence posts are blown over as if made of rubber. Trees have either toppled over or are stripped bare of leaves and bark. Boards stick precariously out of the sides of walls and the dank smell of wet wood hangs in the air.”

So, needless to say, the tornado victims have really held a special place in my heart this week. And because of that, I want to give my monthly donation to Convey of Hope for the month of May. If you’d like to do the same or find out more about their efforts in Joplin, check them out at http://www.convoyofhope.org

Yay for Mobile Blogger and Stamp Out Hunger day!

I just figured out how to use mobile blogger and I'm pretty excited to now send pictures from my phone to the blog... I'm hoping this will increase the amount of posts I'm able to put up each month, so let's keep our fingers crossed! :) It'll definitely be a time saver!

I wanted to show a picture of my "Stamp Out Hunger" contribution. I was so excited when I got my mail a couple days before May 14th last week, and there was a plastic bag just for the food bank! It made me proud that my little area of OK was doing it's part to "stamp out hunger". On May 14th, Saturday morning, my mom and I raided my panty and took the goods to the mail box. I'm pretty sure I missed the pick up time, but lo and behold, the mailman picked up everything anyway, even if I was a little late. Thank you Mr. Mailman! 

Did anyone else take part in this National Day? Refer back to one of my older posts if you have no idea what I'm talking about :) Here's my mobile picture:

March of Dimes

I'm so bummed as I write this that we didn't take any pictures today! I've been excited to write this post for a few days leading up to this morning and was planning on taking a bunch of pictures to document what we did - but lo and behold, no pictures of us :( By the time I realized it, it was too late! But enough about regrets... let me tell you what we were able to be a part of today!

My Life Group has been wanting to volunteer more often and do things in the community, and so my friend Zack found out about this 2 mile walk called March of Dimes, that benefits babies who are born premature. We joined teams with Bank of Oklahoma and all met up at the OKC Fairgrounds this morning. Here's what the funds go to:

where your money goes 

The money you raise in March for Babies is used to fund important research and programs 

that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it helps us 

provide information and support to families whose baby was born too soon, or sick. 

It was so humbling to walk alongside others who had t-shirts on that said "In memory of ...... " and you knew it was for a precious baby that they grew to love. Some shirts had weights on them. For example, "In memory of Amelia. 4 lbs, 3 ozs, 19 in" and it broke my heart to imagine the hurt and loss those people had. 

Checking out the website more, I stumbled up on "Share your story" with this description: 

Parents love to talk about the trials and tribulations of having and raising kids. Unfortunately, it often isn't easy for the parents whose children were born prematurely, with a birth defect or who have suffered infant loss to find other parents who understand. That's why the March of Dimes created Share Your Story , an online community to support the parents so closely touched by our mission. The site provides parents with a place to share invaluable information, encouragement and support. 

It also brought to mind a special baby, whose family I knew growing up. I babysat for the family's other three kids, but their 4th little baby girl was born premature and struggled to survive for months. Her's is a happy story- in that she survived and is a blessing to her family- but I know there were months, even years, that were very difficult because of her premature birth. Whether it was feeding tubes or hundreds of doctor visits, I saw with my own eyes how much of a toll it takes on families. But those babies are SO PRECIOUS and SO WORTH IT, and it was a wonderful morning this morning, marching to support this cause!

Also, I loved marching with Jake and our other friends, and look forward to the many other volunteer days we will share together! There's nothing like serving alongside friends and having a common purpose to do so!

We finished the morning with BIG TRUCK TACOs!!! (one of our favorite local stops) and as always, it didn't disappoint!

*****

Also I wanted to let you know that for my April donation, I decided to give to

 

There's just something about giving to what you participate in. Seeing those families marching for the babies they lost just made my decision all the more easier. What a blessing to have doctors studying and researching to give babies healthier lives!

What can you do here and now?

So often when I talk to people about my desire to help others and serve overseas, I get a lot of questions like “Why not help Americans- here in the United States? Why travel around the world?” to which I have many answers and reasons. But today, I want to share with you something that you can do HERE and something that can make a real impact NOW… actually in 10 days to be exact!

Women’s Day magazine brought to my attention the subject of this blog post today: the Stamp Out Hunger program, run by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Here’s a flyer to sum up what you can do on MAY 14^th this year:

http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/thankyou.aspx

So by just putting a few perishable items in a sack by your mailbox you can make a difference. So often giving and serving requires a lot of effort (effort that I think makes it even more worth it!) but this is just as simple as it gets. Tell your neighbors, call your post office to make sure they are participating, and jump on board as we fight hunger here in the good ol US of A! And if you have any questions, check out the website here.