Healing in the Heartland

Having never been to a live show that was on tv, I wasn't sure what to expect. When there were commercials, we were told it was a commercial and how long until we came back. They told us applause as we came back or when we should be using are smart phones to light up the arena.

Vince Gill - simple yet elegant

Before the show Blake Shelton had told us that we would have a concert after the tv portion was over. And it was quite the show. First Team Usher and Team Blake along with their coaches performed a song to be broadcast on I believe Monday's show. The teams had sung the national anthem earlier and they sounded incredible together. Amazing how their voices could blend together so nicely.

Then Blake sang a couple of songs.
Miranda Lambert had put on the tshirt they were selling. The crowd was pretty rocking by this time.

Blake and Reba did Oklahoma Swing and he forgot the words

Usher sang Superstition

By far the loudest the crowd got all night was when Luke Bryan came out in the after portion. Oh my, the women were up dancing and he was working the crowd. I hadn't really lost my hearing until then.

It was a very interesting crowd. The people next to us were all about Reba. The people in front of us were most into Luke Bryan. And then you had us. I only knew a few of the songs. But I enjoyed the music. There were a lot of families and lots of cowboy boots.

The news said they raised $6 million dollars. Thank you to anyone who donated.

Preview Post - Benefit Concert

I forgot my cord to hook my camera to computer and too many pictures and video to do this justice from my iPad. So I'll write a big one up tomorrow.

But concert was awesome. Went for an hour and half longer than tv. They taped a song for next weeks The Voice show.

It was interesting to see a live tv show being done.







I promise that is Blake Shelton on the stage!

Healing in the Heartland

I'm heading to the benefit concert tonight that Blake Shelton is putting together for tornado relief. You can watch it on all of the NBC stations at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central. But I'll be seeing it live so I'm sure it will be a lot longer than the one hour they get on tv. It starts at 7:30 our time. There are three other big events going on downtown and the threat of severe weather. Hopefully no tornadoes around but wouldn't that be ironic?

Hopefully I'll have a full report tomorrow with pictures. Our seats are all the way across from the stage but we'll see what I can do.

Long Weekend - Nothing Done

I was so looking forward to a three day weekend. Unfortunately I got majorly sick Saturday afternoon. At first I thought I had overheated at the big tent they had to store tornado supplies. But after barely making it home without throwing up in the church parking lot and six hours later, Whitney got sick. So I knew it was a virus. I rarely get sick so this was very unusual for me. I almost went to the ER Sunday morning because I couldn't keep anything down and was afraid I was going to dehydrate.  But later on Sunday I just felt tired and the body aches left. Monday I weighed myself and had lost four pounds in two days. Crash diet I guess. I was able to do a little bit around the house yesterday but not a lot. Whitney just had the tiredness yesterday.

Of course after all that sleeping and laying around I couldn't sleep last night. I was late to work because I just couldn't move. I'm actually not sure how long I'll last at work today. Climbing one flight of stairs winded me. But I have some work that absolutely has to be done today so I'll get that done and then see.

Friday Fragments - I Need To Do This

Joining up with Mrs. 4444 for fragment time.

I debated if I should do this and then I decided I needed to do it.

No stupid criminal this week. Maybe the were some but our radio stations have been all tornadoes all the time so I don't know about the criminals.

The outpouring of assistance from around the country has been huge. My church is coordinating the efforts from Norman since it is only 3 miles from where it hit. Well word got out among lots of churches and everyone is sending huge truckloads of stuff to us. Ryan Seacrest even tweeted about it. 

So I'm going there Saturday afternoon to help unload and load. Whitney has been to the church twice to volunteer and will be going Sunday with her sorority. Dan is trying to hook up with the animal rescue people to help take care of the dogs that have been found so they can be reunited with their owners. 

Well after joining the gym less than two weeks ago I can tell it is working. I bought a new pair of tennis shoes last weekend because all I had was Keds that really aren't workout shoes. Mostly I just walk on the treadmill but I like being able to watch tv while I do that. Better than fighting the weather outside. And it gives me a chance to just get away from things. 

We have had so much rain that I think I can safely say that we are out of the drought. Thank goodness. Here's hoping that over the summer we continue to get some and it not be too darn hot.

In one month I'll be in China. Hard to imagine. I've got my passport and visa back from the consulate, plane ticket is bought, hotel reservations are made. I need to get a power adapter and finalize some things I want to do there, but otherwise I'm getting ready. I think it will hit me in a couple of weeks.

Whitney decided to go visit her roommate over the July 4th weekend. She will be going to San Francisco. She's flown lots with us but this will be her first time by herself. And then she gets to navigate the BART to take the train from the airport out to where her friend lives. But what a fabulous opportunity for her to be able to do this.

Let me end by saying that Memorial Day is set aside to remember those who have served our country to insure our freedom. Thank you to all who have done so. I never forget that this is the greatest country in the world to live in.

Heavy Heart

This is going to be a rambling post but I'm not sorry I'm rambling. I mention often that I live in Oklahoma. Well I live just a few miles from the devastating tornado in Moore. It would take me 15 minutes to drive there from my house. I know that area well. And it breaks my heart to see it like this. I lived here in 1999 when May 3 happened. But I didn't know Moore then like I do now. Moore took the devastation that happened and reenergized their town. They grew exponentionally and they were strong. The number of storm shelters in homes in Moore is probably greater than anywhere else in Oklahoma. I'm sure they will rebuild again.

But it won't be the same. The tornado took lives. It hit two elementary schools. From the air they both look to have taken somewhat similar damage. Yet one was built more recently and all the children were found alive. The other one was older and children died. As a parent, my heart breaks for the parents that still don't know what happened to their children. They are still waiting.

Last night I had a talk with Whitney about this. She is hurting. This is the first time she is old enough to truly understand what is going on and what it all means. I'm trying to help her understand and yet I don't even comprehend it all. I've donated money. I know to avoid the area. I pray for the families. It doesn't seem like enough.

I was awake most of the night with my mind racing on what we can do. We will be going to our church today which is acting as a shelter. I'm working on trying to organize our building's efforts.

I talk often that I work with weather people. We knew it was coming. On Friday they were posting the three day risk area. We were in the severe area for Sunday and Monday. Yesterday morning they said it would hit between 1-7pm. There was 20-30 minutes of lead time before the tornado hit. And once it was on the ground in Newcastle there was 15-20 minutes before it hit the schools. The work that my colleagues does has worked hard to increase that lead time. You will see many people that I work with on tv. I'm proud to work with these people. They ARE making a difference.

I told you this would be rambling. Thank you for reading.

Weekend Excitement

May is tornado season and tomorrow lived up to it. It started around 3 with a tornado about 40 miles north of us. That tracked for awhile and the storm chasers on tv were excited. Frankly I appreciate a calm voice and the normal station I watch just hired a rival stations big chaser who drives me nuts. So much for the calm voice. I can't even watch that channel anymore.

Anyway there was a storm popping up southeast of us but they weren't covering it much because of the bigger tornado on the ground...even though it was over sparsely populated areas. I wasn't too concerned. They even had to drag out morning meteorologists to go chase because all of the other ones were north of us. We kept watching and it was slow moving so we decided to just stay put for awhile. Northwest in town started to get baseball size hail so Dan decided maybe we would go drive away from the storm and pull Whitney's car into the garage. So of course we decide to do that just as it starts to pour. We drove about a mile east and it was clearing. On the radio they were saying a tornado hit our town near the lake which is about seven miles east of our house. We looked that way from the parking lot we were in and could see some rotation.

The big damage from this tornado happened about 30 miles east of us. A mobile home park was destroyed and one person was killed. Mobile homes are the worst place to be. Houses near them weren't heavily damaged.




This was how concerned our dog was before the storm hit. She just got excited to be riding in the car.

There might be another round of storms today.