It is not time yet!!

It is late at night and I just can't seem to find it in me to sleep. I am constantly thinking about my friends mother Sandra. She has been a second mother to me since I was 7. A best friend to my mom and to my whole family. She is laying in a hospital bed in Little Rock tonight dieing from breast cancer. This is a battle she has been fighting for 2 years. We have watched as she went from a healthy mother/grandmother, to a person who could not get up. I set here with tears streaming down my face because I don't want her to hurt anymore...yet I am not ready for her to go!! I have not seen her in some time and that has bothered me dearly. I did not want to take the kids by her house, since she was so sick and I never knew if they had something that they would give to her. So many emotions are running through my mind right now. I feel such hurt for her kids who are setting by her side with her till she leaves this earthly life. Of all the good times that we had and all the bad. She has fought with everything she had..every breath has been in fighting this horrible disease. The time has came that the Lord wants to call her home. The phone rings and I cringe, the cell goes off and I cry. I know that soon that call is going to come...I am on edge!! We all continue to text her kids to try to find things out...is she ok...is she making it???? So in ending tonight I ask you all to pray from the bottom of your hearts and souls that Sandra Harvey is spared the pain of this life.......and taken to the comforts of the heavenly life!!! That her kids will hold strong together and heal slowly from this pain that they have!!

We love you Sandra and the Lord is going to call you home...

I have been missing in action.....

Yea, I have been missing in action. I guess you could say in the witness protection program!! J/K!!!! To be honest I decided that I needed a little part time job so a friend of mine needed a babysitter for her 8 month old. Guess who took it? ME!! I must have forgotten that I have a full time job with the two I have in my possession already. I don't mind though since it keeps me busy during the day time. The girls are entertaining her and she is keeping them busy!

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You know I went to town this last wkend and it was sad. I guess that you never really think about what will happen when the "help" leaves. Will they remember Mena in 6 months? Will they remember that there are those here that have nothing left? I pray they do!!

I was saddened to see them all leaving. First, the FEMA (who did not help much), then the national guard (didn't mind that one), and then the Christian Disaster Relief. I have seen them all going out 8 west and leaving town. Makes you wonder what the families are thinking that lost everything? Do they think that they have been forgotten? So many questions and so many answers!

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Well, my friend called me and she had her new baby this wkend. A little girl named Keeta Marie. I know that her big sissy Joslyn is really enjoying have her little sissy there. So congrats to Brian, Candina and Joslyn Lay on the birth of little Keeta Marie!

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So I guess everyone has heard of the bobcat that is on the loose. Yes I said BOBCAT! The man who owns the animal reserve on the mountain lived on Westmorland and he had a "pet" bobcat. Well, Westmorland is about 4-5 blocks from me. Yea, something else to worry about in this little tiny parcel of land of mine!! HA HA!! So this thing is declawed (WHO CARES) it still has teeth right? That means dog+bobcat= a bad event in the front yard!! So I am sending a message out to the "bobcat" of polk county.....HEAD SOUTH!!!!!!!!

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I am proud to say that Aleeyah has learnt to write her whole name. First, middle and last!! She can even write her telephone number! I am so proud of her!!

Averrie has learned all her ABC's, and can count to 15 at the age of 2. I knew that there was smarts somewhere in my family. It just skipped a generation with Sam and myself!! HA HA!!

I guess I should run since the 8 month old is eating something that is not supposed to be used for that purpose!! Until later bye from the WPP (witness protection program).

Someones memory!!

Sam has been volunteering with a local church. This church is across from the library and across from the park. Sam was tearing down a storage unit that was destroyed in the parking lot of that church when he located a picture.

This picture came from someones home and is a memory for them. If you have seen these people, if you know them, or know someone who might know them send me an email. As you can see it is a man with two women and the date is Aug 21st, 1977. I have downloaded this to Channel 4 news in LR in hopes someone might see it! There are allot of people who still don't have cable or dish so that will not get to all of them. As soon as they will let me out I am going to start walking through the devastation area and see if I can find them. Then if that don't work to the Mena Star I go!!

Tornado? What tornado?

Well that is the new thing around here. Aleeyah seems to be having ALOT of problems from the recent tornado. She has even gone as far to say

"Mommie, our house was supposed to blow away! You know like everyone else!"

WHAT?!?!? I don't understand why she thinks that. I can't drive around the devastation, but I can go through the areas that are not hit the hardest. Peach orchard to 375 West and that way don't look so bad. She really thinks that our house should not have been spared! I just don't know what to do. Sam says that it is just a 4 year old being scared but I am really concerned! She has heard and seen so much in the last week that she is associating tornado=death. Totally heartbreaking to me.

So the new "rule" around the house and around Aleeyah is to not mention the tornado. Act "as normal" as we can around her and speak of things when she is not in the room or asleep. Not lie to her if she asks but just don't mention it. That is the only thing I can think of right now. It is horrible, she won't let go of my pants pocket when I walk. A little girl came into mom's and ran in and told Telissa about the tornado. Aleeyah came screaming and crying. She misunderstood and thought that a tornado was coming. What scares me the most is that Sam has to go back to nights tomorrow night and how is she going to react to him being gone? What is she going to do with him not here to tell her every night that it is ok? We are building a safe room in the garage, starting on it SOON. I contacted a man about putting a shelter in, but Aleeyah REFUSED to

crawl into a hole in the ground. Looks like we will be standing up in a safe room instead. As long as we have something, next time we might not be so blessed. Continue to pray for all those who have been effected, even in the littlest ways!!

Terrified!!

I am not sure how to get the girls through this "terrifying" time. The minute it turns dark Aleeyah starts hanging on to me and literally won't let go. So I am spending all my night time hours trying to convince her that things are ok!! The NOAA weather radio went off last night (who knows why) and Aleeyah and Averrie was eating. I was standing at the end of the kitchen bar when they both came FLYING out of the bar chairs screaming!! It took me two hours to calm them down. This tornado has taken homes, lives, cars and my children's innocence. A child should have no cares in the world. They should be able to trust that things are ok. Averrie wants to know when the "dark" is coming back.

Aleeyah is just plain terrified!! She cries if she hears thunder, a train, the NOAA radio goes off, anything. I am not sure what to do with her!! I know that some have told me not to take her through the hit area. Well, I live in the hit area. To get to walmart I have to drive through it. To get home I have to go back through it. It is everywhere around me. There are no back streets for me!!! I mean think about this......I go to town, I have to take 8 west to Sampson...ok then I can't take main cause of damage..so I have to go over the mountain to Eagleton and back through 71. OHHHH but Gilcrest got hit, so there is damage!! So instead I take 8 w and go to peach orchard and take 375 back into Reine by the radio station. Yea, have you seen 375? DAMAGE!!!! It is every where!!!

I just don't know what to do with Aleeyah. Averrie is not having such a hard time with it, but Aleeyah is not doing good. I have just been leaving them home, or staying home while Sam gets what I need. I can't do that forever. Sam is volunteering and helping people with their homes, and goes to work at 1:00 pm. So that leaves me to take and get what I need. The girls are having to go with me. I am just lost at what to do. Maybe something will come soon!!

Let there be light!!

A United States flag hanging high in a tree. Where did it come from? Who really knows!!

I have electricity!!!!!!!!!! Finally after 2 1/2 days I have lights. I have heat, a stove and can wash clothes. I just am heartbroke that so many more families tonight don't have that luxury! They are in shelters without a home. Little children have lost their sense of security and comfort. I set and look at my two daughters laying in bed and it cuts me to the bone. To think that 400 more yards and there I would have been to. Pray for the families you guys. The ones in Arkansas and the ones in Tennessee. That young mother and newborn daughter gone in the blink of an eye. The weather forecast is calling for more storms tomorrow. I don't know where people will go. They have NO where to go! I set here tonight and for the first time I hear a train going through Mena. Showing that there is life coming back in this ravished town. I don't remember the tornado of "93" that much..but this one will be forever etched in my mind. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The hurt, the pain and the tears that I have shed for so many. So tonight I go to lay my head down in my bed and I pray for all those who are without a bed tonight. I ask the heavenly father to lift them up. For he is a mighty GOD, and a just GOD, and a loving GOD!!!!

Toto...we are not in "Mena" anymore!!

A truck next door to Brenda and Gary Moore's
Twin Oak Apartments, see the car on the sidewalk

Off of Hensley street on west boundary

On the corner of Averritt and West boundary less than 1/2 mile from the house

R&D industry

This is the honest truth about it all. Everything that we knew is gone. I went to see Brenda and Gary Moore today, and I had to walk there. AMAZING!! I could not believe it, I did not even know what street I was on. There were people setting and just holding their heads in their hands. Such a sense of loss and confusion. Then there were so many people laughing and hugging, and telling each other that we WILL RISE out of this. We will come back from this. Today is the first day that I have been able to get to west boundary. I live just a stones throw from west boundary. When we seen that twister on the ground it was hitting the field in front of me, and west boundary. I cried the whole time that I drove down that road today. God had his hand on my house, I now know that!! He did not see it time to take my home. I was to close to the destruction to be saved, YET I WAS!!! Thank you precious Lord for that!! They are now telling me that my electricity won't be on for another a few days. Up to five is the word. That is ok, we received information that Sam will have a job. He will work 1:30 to 7:30 at night. Thank goodness....... I wanted to share some more photos with you from around town. No one knows what I mean by the statement that we are not in "mena" anymore until you have seen it. I know that Holly, Kristy, Shauna and Kim know what I am talking about. To be in a place and not even know where you are!!! AMAZING!!