A Day in Moore, Part II

And here are the photos of some tornado damage around the Warren Theatre in north Moore, Oklahoma. The large demolished building was a hospital. The parking lot was filled with ghostly, abandoned cars. It was the cars that shocked me most, crumpled and shattered. I didn't realize that wind could do that to a car- blow out windows, crush in doors, rip off tires. There was a strange, sick silence to the bright sunshine to the day. It was very similar to the time I visited Aushwitz at fourteen years old. A beautiful summer day, paled by the cold linger of death and destruction. God is very real, very powerful, and the tornadoes have been a great opportunity to witness to my coworkers, for which I am thankful. Even now, almost a month later, so much of the city lies in ruins. The girls and I found some small souvenirs in the rubble. We also took some scrap metal and formed a heart, which we hung on the gate by the hospital. The girls kept the card and I kept the flower. The roll of duct tape made me smile and think of the Myth Busters' episode on how you should always have some handy during a crisis. It's true!

A Day in Moore Part I

Not long after the tornadoes of late May ravaged through the south side of my city, I threw on a pair of boots and and gloves and drove down to help clean, salvage, and organize the mountain of rubble. It was almost traumatizing, even though I wasn't directly affected, to stand in the middle of a city completely bombed into debris. There was so much loss, so much grief, so much shock. It was good to be able to do something tangible to help, to do anything. Later, I went back to the tip of the demolition zone with my camera and took some pictures.
On that same day, I was able to have the privilege of spending the afternoon with two of my high school girls whom I taught all semester in Norman. I have missed my kids!!! Student teaching was such a huge experience for me... I miss their faces, their stories, and seeing them each day. I miss being a teacher, in a small way, in that I miss my kids. I wonder where they will all end up in life. Who knows? Life is strange and uncertain. When I left Community Christian School on my last day, the tears rolled down my cheeks as I retraced my journey up the highway for the last time. I cried on the first day, too, but in dreaded agony of what was to come. God was merciful to me. He gave me such a wonderful classroom, such a wonderful teacher, such wonderful kids. Sometimes, it doesn't feel like that semester was even real. It came, it went, it will never be again. That is life.
After we went to get snow cones, we went to lunch and then to see the wreckage around Warren Theaters. It was my first time to have a snow cone, which the girls were sure to make fun of me about =) I was so thankful that God spared all of my precious teenagers who lived in the direct area of the tornado. He is so full of mercy!!! Here are some of the photos from that day, starting with the early afternoon at The Lake, the snow cone place, and TGI Friday's. =)

Roadtrip to Idabel

Summer in Oklahoma City post graduation has been a strange feeling. However, despite the plethora of sad changes, the absence of educational pursuit has given one small benefit: the opportunity for new adventures. I've been able to participate is very few church or college activities during my time at Heartland, thanks to the heavy work hours I had to maintain in order to pay off my sizable monthly college bills. So when I heard about the trip to Idabel, Oklahoma, to run a VBS for a small church plant in the rural community, my first instinct was to decline. But then I realized that although I would be missing work and have to survive in close quarters with many people strange to me, I actually had the option available for once. And it was the definite voice of God coming through the soft darkness of my lonely lodging in Edmond at night as I prayed about His will, telling me that I should go. So I did. The experience was nothing like I anticipated... and so much better. The best parts of the trip were not documented with my camera, they were memories lived. I hold them in my heart. But in the quiet, free moments I did take a few snapshots of my time in Idabel, and here they are.

Top: Noah Vaughn (green) and Lucas Binswanger (blue)
Bottom left to right: Jenni Couser and Brad Couser and three boys Clay, Cason, & Creed, Johnathan Scruggs (red), Cody Pirkle (plaid), Jocelyn Dick (green), Megan Sprague (center), Sarah Estep (blue), Julie Hinton (black), Lindsey St. Hilaire (purple), Elizabeth Lyhn (striptes) and Noelle O'Brien (far right).
John and Grace Lande are hiding behind me with their two boys Uriah (right) and Luke (left)