Dear Glenda, The Good Witch,

Three months ago this very night, our life was literally blown out from under us.  Now, sometimes I (Cicely) feel like we haven't come very far since then!  We have been very blessed during this journey by many, many people.  I don't know how we would have made it without everyone but I still find myself asking the question, Glenda where are my ruby red slippers?!!  I am ready to click three times and wake up at home!! I am so over the process!! I am not trying to complain just trying to be honest about how I am feeling!! This has been hard and I am ready to approach the end.  However, we still have a long road ahead of us.  So thank you to all the prayers and keep them coming!! We love you all and thank you for being in our lives!

Cars down, houses to go!!

I know it has been a while since I have posted.  Just had a minute to get on here and do a little updating!  Good news is we have got 2 cars now! The car shopping is over thanks to a lot of looking and God blessing.  Bad news, still much, much more to do!!  Now, we have to find time to begin clean up at my mom and dad's house and at the "site".  Went over there the other day and one neighbor has completely cleared his lot and another is beginning.  So now we feel really behind!!  I am overwhelmed with all we still have to do on top of the regular "life" things!  Sometimes, for just short minutes, I do get a little frustrated with all we are having to deal with!  I know that it will all work out, it is just exhausting to even think about.  Please pray for us that we will have the mental and physical strength to get through these next few months.  Also for wisdom that we will make the right choice about housing.  Hope to post back soon! God Bless!

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! So busy! So as most everyone knows, they totaled out both of our cars so we are now having to look for 2 vehicles.  We went out together today for an anniversary/car hunting date.  We did look at a couple of cars and hope and pray that we make the right decision.  Hopefully we can get something settled with that possibly next week seeing as how the rental car goes back on Thursday!  I am planning on going back to work to finish up the year.  It will only be four days but I am a little anxious about leaving the kids and also all the work that there is still to do.  I really feel obligated to go back and spend that little bit of time with my kids.  I have missed them so much!! Also, I have a lot of paper work to finish before the end of the year!!  I want to say thank you again to everyone for their prayers and ask that you keep them coming.  We have a lot of big decisions to make in the next few months and we want to do what God wants.  So please pray for wisdom!

Well we had an amazing day at church!! We went back to Sunday school for the first time in a while and it was such a blessing!  The class was packed out!!  Yeah God!!  It was so good to see everyone and get to tell them in person how much their love and prayers have meant to us.  Great sermon by pastor Ramon as well!  Lots of truth that sometimes hurts (in a good way) : ).  Then we got to spend the afternoon celebrating a birthday with good friends.  We love them dearly!  The only disappointing news that we received was this evening when Josh got the call on the vehicles.  We were told that the van is definitely totaled and there is a great chance that other car will be too.  I cried for just a minute which is silly and wasn't really over the cars.  Then, I dried it up, remembered who is carrying us and realized that he has all of this under control so I don't have to worry.  Thank goodness too because there is NO WAY I could do this alone.  Thank you Lord for your never ending love!!!

Finally!!

I am so glad to be posting tonight!!!  We finally got our Internet set up at the rental house!  I have really missed letting everyone know how things are going.  First things first, I have many people to thank.  I need to say thank you to all the people in the Meigs County School system!!  You have blessed my family more than you will ever know!!  Also, thank you to the people at Ooltewah United Methodist Church!!  I do not know what my family would do with out everyones' love and support.  God has been blessing us continually ever since this happened and we are so overwhelmed by the love that we are receiving from everyone!!  May God bless you all two fold for all you have done for our family.  I also have to thank our families.  They have taken us in, fed us, clothed us and worked their tails off for us!!  We love them more than words can say!!  So after saying that, we are in the rental home and trying to get settled back into some sort of routine.  I am ready to get through anything that we need to so we can go ahead and begin the official "clean up".  I makes me sad to say that and that will probably be a hard day for me, but it must be done for us to really get to move on!!  Thanks again to all and hope you have a blessed night!

Tonight, just letting everyone know where we are in our current needs.  Since we were having a hard time telling everyone specifics, it was suggested that we go register somewhere.  So we are registered @ Target.  It isn't complete yet because we didn't have the time but we will take care of that later.  If anyone is interested you can find it under Barker Housing or under Josh Barker.  Also, we know some of the things that we already have donated and should not need.  We have the following: kitchen table and chairs, couch/loveseat, and possibly mattresses for all beds.  The Murmaid place in Cleveland is replacing mattress that were bought  there and our mattress and the mattress that Sophie was sleeping on were both purchased there.  Our biggest need is prayer and we know that all of you are doing that!  We are hoping to begin moving in tomorrow!  Everyone is excited about this!  Thanks again to EVERYONE who has helped with their prayers, gifts etc.  We are truly blessed beyond words!!

New Beginnings

So today we got confirmation on a rental house.  We are now just waiting on the finalized lease and then we can sign it and begin to move in.  Landry keeps saying "Our house is broken." so we decided to take him to see where we were going to be living.  He liked it so much he wanted to stay!  Sophie said that she really liked it too!  The owner of the property has been wonderful to work with!!  We got to spend some time with the girls today which was nice.  Sophie had her first ballet practice for the recital.  I cried when I saw her up on the stage.  She was so beautiful up there!!  She is dancing to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".  Wow! Doesn't get more appropriate than that for what we have just been through.  If not for the protection of God, I may not have had the opportunity to watch my baby dance across that stage!!  I am overwhelmed at the outpouring of generosity!!  I feel undeserving!  I am blessed just to be here on earth with my family around me!  Thank you God for your love and protection!!

Tired!!

Sorry I didn't get to post anything yesterday.  Got home late and was extremely tired.  Yesterday, we spent some time with the kids.  We took them to replace some of their favorite things that they lost.  We also went out to the "home site" and I really got to look around the house for the first time.  I looked in the bathroom where we all huddled that night and thanked God once again for our lives.  We also got to connect with some of the neighbors which I really enjoyed.  It is sad that it takes such a tragedy to bring people together just to talk and get to know each other!  We are too busy these days and one thing I have learned is that we need to value each other and try to spend more time getting to know people.  Most important thing that happened yesterday is that we found a house to rent and now we are just waiting on insurance to approve it and then we can sign the lease.  Today, we spent the morning trying to get some things sorted so that they will be easier when we move in.  Then we were able to make a drop off of things that we had gone through and knew we wouldn't be using anymore.  With all the help that we are receiving, it was nice to be able to help others that are in the same boat!!  Then, we went to visit our neighbors at their daughters house.  They are hanging in there but we all really miss living in our homes next to each other.  You couldn't ask for better neighbors and I love them dearly.  I know that some of you are reading this to see what our needs are.  Well we are about to move into a house and now we need to furnish it.  The only things that we have to go into the new home are a bed & mattress for Landry.  Also, a crib and mattress for Ava.  Otherwise, we will be going into the house without any other furnishings. So anything that you would like to let us borrow or donate would be great!  For our family at OUMC, Amy Nutt can be a point of contact for these things.  So just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone  that has prayed, volunteered, and donated.  We do not know where we would be without you all and we are truly blessed!!!

Recovery Day 2

Ok so today (which is technically yesterday)  was very hectic!  Josh went to the "site"as we so lovingly call the place that we used to call home.  He and some family did some recovery work at our place and helped at our neighbors.  I went and did other things that needed to be done since I can't really help with the heavy work.  The kids went to their cousins and played.  They had a wonderful day but I missed them so much.  We have been so busy that we are really missing the time that we usually have to spend with our kids.  As busy as the day was God managed to work in SEVERAL blessings in the form of wonderful people bearing marvelous gifts.  I feel so undeserving but we are extremely grateful (you know who you are)!!!!  So we have also done like a billion loads of clothes to see what we could use and thank the Lord, pretty much all the kids clothes are clean and useable!!  So to anyone who is thinking of getting any clothes, hold onto them and let us see what we have got and we can let you know.  If we don't need them, we know with all the devastation around us, there is bound to be someone in need.  I don't say this to be ugly, I just don't know how much room we are going to have when we move into a place and I want us to be good stewards of what we get.  This whole process has been very emotional for me and expect that it will last for a while.  Today I was startled by the sound of a helicopter and I looked outside.  Reminded me of the sound I heard before IT came.  I know that God is carrying us through this time and know that we will be better for it.  Refined through the fire!!  Going to try to sleep now.  Thanks to all of you who are helping in every way.  Please keep the prayers going!!

The story and our needs

As most of you already know, our family was hit by the tornados that came through Wednesday night.  We are so blessed that all 5 of us survived thanks to a small bathroom and the Lord Almighty!!  We have so many people that are wanting to know what is going on with us and how they can help so I decided to create this blog to keep people posted.  Right now I would say that our most pressing need is just to find somewhere to live.  My parents have been generous enough to let us stay here, but no one really has enough room for all 5 of us.  If you would like to buy clothes for the kids here are their sizes: Sophie 6, Landry 2T, and Ava 12-18 months.  We will also really need diapers size 3 or 4 and pull ups for Landry 2T-3T and Sophie 4-5T (I think that is the largest they make).