Grateful and Thankful

We had a little bit of excitement around here today...  

Our day began with a phone call to Poison Control for Avery.  I think they are beginning to recognize the sound of our ring...  Avery was going to be fine and we went on with our day.  Noah seemed a little more "off" than usual, more out of sorts.  He was more "tic-y," more excitable, more anxious, more impulsive.  I checked several times to be sure he really did take his meds this morning.  School was taking longer because he was in need of frequent breaks.  I really just couldn't figure out what was going on with him.  I mentioned it to a couple friends in an email and we all wondered why his behaviors were increased because he's been doing so well recently.

We finally wrapped up school after lunch and headed outside to play.  I was mesmerized by how blue the sky was today: That deep, vivid blue it seems to turn as fall begins to arrive.  The green of the leaves looked so bold against the cloudless sky.  The boys and I laid in the grass on our backs and just took in the beauty of it.  I snapped a quick picture with my phone and emailed it to my mom and friends, who were stuck inside working.  I wanted them to be able to  enjoy some of the beauty I was seeing.

Then I started to feel an extreme sense of vertigo and disorientation.  I sat up and looked at Noah and Avery, who were staring at me.  Noah had a very alarmed look on his face.  "Mom, did you feel that?"  Realizing I hadn't experienced vertigo, knowing it was an earthquake I'd felt instead, but also disbelieving at the same time, thinking the quarry up the road must be doing some heavy demolitions today.  Sometimes the windows rattle when they start up, but they've never shook the ground before.  Noah said it as I was thinking it, "Mom, that was an earthquake, wasn't it?"  My phone started buzzing with texts and I tried to call Shawn, then when I couldn't get through to him, my elderly neighbor to check on her.  I still couldn't get through, so I grabbed the kids and we went over to check on her.  Thankfully, other than being a little flustered, she was fine.  I was able to get through to my niece who lives up the street for a few quick seconds, then the phone was disconnected while she was saying, "Oh no, Mamie, I have to go!"  I couldn't reach her again, so after checking on the inside of our house and the pets, I grabbed my keys and my boys and headed over to her house.  Noah grabbed his emergency flashlight, just in case we lost power and needed the light, or got lost or stranded and needed the emergency beacon.  My niece came running out of her house when she saw my car and I could see she was visibly shaking.  That's when I learned it had been a 5.9 magnitude and the epicenter was just a few short miles from my sister, my other niece and nephews and my dad.  We sat on her porch while the boys played with her dog and just started calling phone numbers over and over, hoping to get someone on the other end.  Texts were still getting through somehow, but phone calls weren't.  Shawn texted to tell me his office building was evacuated and they weren't letting them back in.  I heard from my other niece and learned she was okay, but she wasn't able to get through to her mom or brothers either.  I heard from my friends, all of us sounding off, but too far away from each other to do anything other than give support via text.  Their children were in the schools located up the road from me and I waited to hear if I was needed.  When you're a mom and something like this happens, all you want to do is to be able to hold your children, smell their familiar scents and just be with them.  It's difficult to be away from your children when things like this happen.  Because I am closest and home during the day, I am the stand-in hugger, holder and comforter.  I was finally sent on my head-counting mission; I made sure all the kids were safe, then reported back to their moms.  Meanwhile, my niece had finally heard from her family that everyone was okay and no major damage was reported.  Shawn chimed in to let me know his building had been secured long enough for him to retrieve his belongings and he was on his way home.

I do wonder a bit if Noah's earlier increased behaviors were due to his body somehow being more attuned to what was going to happen.  Shawn thinks I'm nuts, but a few other people think I might be on to something.

Tonight, I am grateful and thankful, feeling incredibly blessed.  I am grateful to our Father for keeping me, my boys, Shawn, my family and friends safe.  I am grateful I was outside with my children and not inside where they would have seen things shake, rattle and roll and possibly been more panicked than they were.  For Noah, that's huge.  I am grateful to have friends who care enough to check on us.  I am grateful that God kept me calm and focused so I could think clearly, help my niece and calm her, keep my children calm, notify my mother that we were all okay and be safe on the roads when I went out to check on my friends' children.  I am grateful and blessed to be a stay home mom who homeschools so that I was not separated from my children when this happened.  I am grateful and blessed that my friends know they can rely on me to check on their children.  I am grateful and blessed that my friends trust me to be there for their children.  I am blessed to be the stand-in comforter, to be in the position where I can help my friends and ease their fears when they are separated from their children.  For me, as a mom, being able to give other moms peace of mind in situations like this is an amazing blessing.  Tonight, I am simply grateful and thankful that all is well.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  1Thessalonians 5:18