Sisterhood of the Rogers Clan

Every year, the Rogers side of my family has a Cousin's Weekend Retreat at the home of my Aunt Juanita.  If you have ever been to Big Cedar Lodge on beautiful Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri then you know what beautiful country it is.  Well my Aunt lives a couple of miles past Big Cedar in a huge two-story house on the lake all by herself.  Oh my, I did not want to come home, hehe!

It was a very nice June weekend and most of our time was spent outside on her double deck.

I left Catoosa, OK Saturday morning and met my mom in Ozark, MO for a wonderful cashew chicken lunch.  I left my car at my sister's house and then we headed on down to Branson.  Aunt Juanita is so gracious to open her home up to all of us!

As you can see, it is a fabulous time of laughing, eating, laughing, eating, and on and on.  I wish I had thought to get pictures of all the food.  Oh my!  We could have fed an army for weeks, lol!  The food was on the table, crammed in the fridge, covered the counters completely and we even had bags on the floor.  WAY too much.  But that's what we Rogers gals like to do... eat and laugh.  =]

I have to share these two picture because I love my family and I'm proud of my heritage!  My Aunt Juanita, our fantastic hostess, is on the left in the lime green shirt.  Then on the couch is Great-Aunt Vivian, Connie my mom, Great-Aunt Pauline, and Great-Aunt Susie.  Although they are my "great" relatives, we drop the great and just call them aunt (and uncle).  My grandma Blanche Anna was the oldest of 11 children.  Every year we have a huge family reunion of the Rogers clan in September.  It is so awesome because we are all so close and get along so well.  Good times, always!

Normally for these weekend retreats, it is girls only because we have a big slumber party.  There are plenty of beds in Aunt Juanita's huge home!  But sometimes, the men come down for a few hours during the day.  I love my Uncle Glen and Aunt Vivian.  They are the sweetest, cutest couple.

Breakfast Sunday morning on the deck was my absolute favorite part of the weekend... well besides spending time with all my aunts, sisters, and cousins.

Fresh fruit, homemade bread, and cinnamon rolls, beautiful view and weather, wonderful company... I mean really, can it get much better than this?

We had a most wonderful time together without the interruption of phones, kids, husbands, and just everyday life.  I missed my family and was ready to get back home but this weekend was much needed and will always live in my heart.

The Rogers family is faith based and has a strong love for His Word.  I'm grateful for the family that God has put me in and the heritage that goes along with it.  I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such a huge family that loves each other and gets along so well.  

I'll leave you with the Rogers family Bible verse (yes, we have a family verse) that we use to maintain the principles of our ancestors.  "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

~Micah 6:8

Joplin, Missouri

As I was coming home yesterday from visiting my family in Branson, MO, I was trying to decide if I should take a drive through Joplin to see the tornado damage from exactly two weeks ago.  I was by myself and very curious to see if my favorite antique shop survived but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle what I was about to see.

I have no family and no close friends that live in Joplin, just acquaintances.  Since living in Oklahoma the past 15 years, I have made many, many stops in Joplin on the way to Ozark, MO to visit my family.  Joplin is the half-way mark between my parents home and my home; where I sometimes meet my parents to drop my kids off in their care or pick up my kids, or we will stop there to stretch our legs and get a snack.  I meet family and friends from my old home town to shop and eat.  

For the past two weeks I have seen numerous photos and news accounts from this devastation and heard numerous stories from family and friends that have been to Joplin the past two weeks to help out.  Everyone that has been says you can't prepare yourself enough for what you are about to see.  You can't even get a picture that shows what this devastation is all about.  You can't grasp it until you experience it.  Truth!

I'm at mile marker 15, the main Joplin exit is mile marker 8.  I start crying... wanting desperately to see the damage but wanting not to see it because I am and always have been an emotional girl.  On the outskirts of Joplin, you see a touch of where the tornado came across the interstate.  Although it destroyed a home & many trees and damaged a few around it... it still doesn't even prepare you for what you are about to see.

I drive up that exit ramp praying, crying, breathing deeply.  I look around and I'm relieved to see so many recognizable places.  I make the right turn off of Range Line Road and travel down to my antique shop "Antique Gallery".  I breath a sigh of relief as I see the little white building peeking out of the hill only to pull in and see a closing down sign.  I wonder why?  Did he lose his home?  His family?  Was he one of the 141 confirmed dead so far?

I get back on Range Line Road and travel further down the road.  I can't stop the tears from flowing.  I don't even know which fast food restaurant this is from... there is nothing left to identify it.

These pictures look small.  Please take the time to click on them, pull them up to get a better look at the destruction and pray for these people and the workers that are trying to restore this town.  

The Hobby Lobby store that I helped get ready to open many years ago was still standing.  Then I drove down a side street and another and came across this picture that was so eerie to me.  The playground was still standing but the subdivision it belonged to was completely destroyed with not a thing left standing.

This is the subdivision that the playground belonged to

Two weeks after the tornado struck, you can see where much work has been done already.  The streets are cleared and the piles are being made.  I just stood in awe in the middle of the street.  Every direction you look, there is piles of rubble that used to be a home.

Major clean-up started immediately after the shock of the tornado wore off and people realized there was much work to be done.

I can't even emphasize enough the feeling of eeriness this was for me.  I traveled through at 8:00 pm on Sunday evening after all the workers were gone for the day.  No one was out sifting through the remains of their home, it had already been done.  There were a few drifters like me out assessing and taking pictures.  The loneliness just consumed me and I couldn't quit sobbing.  I imagine this is what a ghost town must be like.  Or maybe even the rapture when Christ returns?

Amazing how the stop signs are still standing in all of the pictures that I took.  What normally seems so nondescript, now stands tall amongst the piles of wreckage all around it.

Yes, Thank You America!

Although I could not stop crying throughout this journey, it was somewhat comforting to see signs like this and the ones that said "God Bless You", "God Bless Joplin". The American flags amongst the ruins were a welcoming sight as well.

How can there not be more than 141 deaths in this catastrophe?

After driving down street after street you realize they are all the same.

Eeriness... you can see the dishtowel still hanging on the rod under the sink.

Eeriness... you can see a box fan dangling by its cord hanging off the side from what was at one time the second floor.  Also hanging off the side is bedsheets and clothes.

I stuck my camera out the window and took this picture as I was driving down the road.  It was the weirdest feeling to be surrounded by so much devastation for miles.  Oddly enough, the water tower still stands although their water was not safe to use for the first week.

Ironic... Yes, Alabama knows, don't they Cora?

I saw this as I was slowly driving down the street.  I had to turn around and go back by it again for it immediately caught my eye.  It was on the main street so I couldn't stop and take a picture.  Although it is blurry, it was a drive by shooting and I didn't think it would turn out but I'm glad it did.  In the pink and purple bedroom of a little girl, there is a little pink dress and a little purple dress still hanging in the closet.  So very eerie to me...

There is hope.  They will survive.  They will rebuild.

Please pray for them.

I had sensory overload in this short hour which seemed like it lasted for weeks.

• the smell... rot, decay, death
• the sound... deathly quiet
• the touch... of my broken heart for these poor people
• the sight... of nothing like I've ever seen in my entire life

The only word I can describe this experience with is Eerie.  To see so many things that I use every day in my home that I don't think a second thought to and seeing these same things laying around in the rubble of what used to be another's home... really brought this tornado destruction to light for me.  Now it's not just pictures I see or  stories I hear... it is another person, like me that is now without a home, their belongings, their family heirlooms, their memories in pictures or photo albums, or worst yet possibly without their loved ones.

I cried the rest of the hour and half drive I had left.  I prayed for these people.  I prayed for the workers as the past week and week ahead have been 90+ temps that they have been and will be working in.  I thanked God for my family and my friends.  I praised Him for all that He is and He has blessed me with.

My family will be heading that way sometime to help.  I'm not sure how soon I can go back but I know that I must.  As heart wrenching as this situation was for me, I am so very grateful that God allowed me to experience it.  I was fully reminded that God's grace is receiving what we do not deserve and His mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.

Joplin, Missouri

As I was coming home yesterday from visiting my family in Branson, MO, I was trying to decide if I should take a drive through Joplin to see the tornado damage from exactly two weeks ago.  I was by myself and very curious to see if my favorite antique shop survived but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle what I was about to see.

I have no family and no close friends that live in Joplin, just acquaintances.  Since living in Oklahoma the past 15 years, I have made many, many stops in Joplin on the way to Ozark, MO to visit my family.  Joplin is the half-way mark between my parents home and my home; where I sometimes meet my parents to drop my kids off in their care or pick up my kids, or we will stop there to stretch our legs and get a snack.  I meet family and friends from my old home town to shop and eat.  

For the past two weeks I have seen numerous photos and news accounts from this devastation and heard numerous stories from family and friends that have been to Joplin the past two weeks to help out.  Everyone that has been says you can't prepare yourself enough for what you are about to see.  You can't even get a picture that shows what this devastation is all about.  You can't grasp it until you experience it.  Truth!

I'm at mile marker 15, the main Joplin exit is mile marker 8.  I start crying... wanting desperately to see the damage but wanting not to see it because I am and always have been an emotional girl.  On the outskirts of Joplin, you see a touch of where the tornado came across the interstate.  Although it destroyed a home & many trees and damaged a few around it... it still doesn't even prepare you for what you are about to see.

I drive up that exit ramp praying, crying, breathing deeply.  I look around and I'm relieved to see so many recognizable places.  I make the right turn off of Range Line Road and travel down to my antique shop "Antique Gallery".  I breath a sigh of relief as I see the little white building peeking out of the hill only to pull in and see a closing down sign.  I wonder why?  Did he lose his home?  His family?  Was he one of the 141 confirmed dead so far?

I get back on Range Line Road and travel further down the road.  I can't stop the tears from flowing.  I don't even know which fast food restaurant this is from... there is nothing left to identify it.

These pictures look small.  Please take the time to click on them, pull them up to get a better look at the destruction and pray for these people and the workers that are trying to restore this town.  

The Hobby Lobby store that I helped get ready to open many years ago was still standing.  Then I drove down a side street and another and came across this picture that was so eerie to me.  The playground was still standing but the subdivision it belonged to was completely destroyed with not a thing left standing.

This is the subdivision that the playground belonged to

Two weeks after the tornado struck, you can see where much work has been done already.  The streets are cleared and the piles are being made.  I just stood in awe in the middle of the street.  Every direction you look, there is piles of rubble that used to be a home.

Major clean-up started immediately after the shock of the tornado wore off and people realized there was much work to be done.

I can't even emphasize enough the feeling of eeriness this was for me.  I traveled through at 8:00 pm on Sunday evening after all the workers were gone for the day.  No one was out sifting through the remains of their home, it had already been done.  There were a few drifters like me out assessing and taking pictures.  The loneliness just consumed me and I couldn't quit sobbing.  I imagine this is what a ghost town must be like.  Or maybe even the rapture when Christ returns?

Amazing how the stop signs are still standing in all of the pictures that I took.  What normally seems so nondescript, now stands tall amongst the piles of wreckage all around it.

Yes, Thank You America!

Although I could not stop crying throughout this journey, it was somewhat comforting to see signs like this and the ones that said "God Bless You", "God Bless Joplin". The American flags amongst the ruins were a welcoming sight as well.

How can there not be more than 141 deaths in this catastrophe?

After driving down street after street you realize they are all the same.

Eeriness... you can see the dishtowel still hanging on the rod under the sink.

Eeriness... you can see a box fan dangling by its cord hanging off the side from what was at one time the second floor.  Also hanging off the side is bedsheets and clothes.

I stuck my camera out the window and took this picture as I was driving down the road.  It was the weirdest feeling to be surrounded by so much devastation for miles.  Oddly enough, the water tower still stands although their water was not safe to use for the first week.

Ironic... Yes, Alabama knows, don't they Cora?

I saw this as I was slowly driving down the street.  I had to turn around and go back by it again for it immediately caught my eye.  It was on the main street so I couldn't stop and take a picture.  Although it is blurry, it was a drive by shooting and I didn't think it would turn out but I'm glad it did.  In the pink and purple bedroom of a little girl, there is a little pink dress and a little purple dress still hanging in the closet.  So very eerie to me...

There is hope.  They will survive.  They will rebuild.

Please pray for them.

I had sensory overload in this short hour which seemed like it lasted for weeks.

• the smell... rot, decay, death
• the sound... deathly quiet
• the touch... of my broken heart for these poor people
• the sight... of nothing like I've ever seen in my entire life

The only word I can describe this experience with is Eerie.  To see so many things that I use every day in my home that I don't think a second thought to and seeing these same things laying around in the rubble of what used to be another's home... really brought this tornado destruction to light for me.  Now it's not just pictures I see or  stories I hear... it is another person, like me that is now without a home, their belongings, their family heirlooms, their memories in pictures or photo albums, or worst yet possibly without their loved ones.

I cried the rest of the hour and half drive I had left.  I prayed for these people.  I prayed for the workers as the past week and week ahead have been 90+ temps that they have been and will be working in.  I thanked God for my family and my friends.  I praised Him for all that He is and He has blessed me with.

My family will be heading that way sometime to help.  I'm not sure how soon I can go back but I know that I must.  As heart wrenching as this situation was for me, I am so very grateful that God allowed me to experience it.  I was fully reminded that God's grace is receiving what we do not deserve and His mercy is not receiving what we do deserve.