I seem to have not posted since the tornado hit our little town of Ringgold. There's a lot that has happened with the town and of course our family. For over a month the church in our area was in full force in trying to help as many families as possible to try and bring some sort of normal icy back into their lives. Even after two and a half months have gone by it still looks like a war zone. Every now and then you can catch a small glimpse of becoming a town again. The businesses that lost everything are starting to rebuild. Even though Ringgold lost a lot it is awesome to see the way that people can come together after a disaster. The schools were closed for a week after the storm to get the roads cleared but to also find a place to house the middle and high school students for the rest of the school year. Madison was one of the students that had to finish her school year in a school that was not hers. A school that was hard to call home. The neighboring school Heritage Middle and High school were gracious enough to open their doors. (by the way Heritage is a big rival against Ringgold.) This group of students were not cheerful in spending the last month in a school that they disliked but were overwhelmed with the kindness of the students from both schools. These two schools came together as one. There was no way that two schools would be able to have full days of classes so with special permission from the state of Georgia the students would be able to have half days of the remainder of the school year. (Madison liked this idea) Heritage meet in the morning and Ringgold in the afternoon. Even though these students suffered a great disaster they made the rest of the school as fun and unstressfull as they possible could. So what could they do that would help with that.... they canceled finals!!!!!
The school year is over and to get the school running as best they can they have decided to start the new year on Sept 6. One extra month of summer vacation!!!! There will still be a lot of work to do at the school. The eighth grade wing will still be under construction. Sending the eighth graders to tag along with the high school students. The band, art and chorus rooms will still be needing work (Madison is very upset about this but I keep telling her that it will be better when it is all done.) The football field will not be able to house our Tigers this season. The middle school will have to play away games for this season. I am not looking forward to that just because I will be traveling a lot with Madison since she is now in pep band.
They are hoping to at least be done by the beginning of the new year. I am still unsure if that will happen since there is so much to accomplish. We will just have to wait and see.
