Last Wednesday I went to work, it was just another day. My parents randomly had to have some work done at the dental office, so they were both at the office that morning. I got done with one of my patients and Sarah, one of my co workers, came around the corner and said 'There was a shooting at Freeman School!'. I think things went black. Freeman is a small community. The High School, Middle School and Elementary are all right next to each other. Sometimes the middle or elementary kids will go to the high school for band or library, so they are all 'connected' in a way. I ran to my phone to see if there was an alert, but there was nothing. Apparently when tthe police department takes over, the school district cannot do anything. My dad ran over and told me to call Carli. Carli now works at the school so I called her. She thankfully answered and quietly said that the elementary kids were all accounted for as far as she knew and she was sitting in class with Mrs. Jensen's 3rd grade class. My mom drove me home and we headed to the school with Luke and Rudy. There was a life light helicopter landing, the police, EMS, news media and I'm pretty sure every parent at the school. It took a while, but every kid was released, 5 at a time to their parents. The little one's didn't know what was going on. They thought it was just a really long drill.
We learned that Mrs. Jensen, Who was Josie's Kindergarten teacher, 3rd grade teacher, and current volleyball coach had to leave to go help her daughter who had been shot in the back at the high school. Our other friends daughter had been shot as well and they too had to go to the hospital. there was another girl who was shot, one boy died and all the poor kids and staff who had to witness it all, I can't even imagine.
The school held a meeting at the high school thursday night and I brought Josie. It was very emotional. They took the elementary kids into a room and played games and tried to see how they were feeling. Josie got home that night and cried. She said she was scared to go back to school and didn't want to go to sleep because she didn't want to dream about it. Friday I took the kids Hiking to get our minds off of things, we talked and I think they are feeling ok about going back to school. This morning I put the kids on the bus and knew they were going to be safe. I still burst into tears randomly when someone hugs me or when Landon's teacher sent an email this morning letting us know that she would be looking after our kids today and every day....that was a tear jerker. Freeman schools are known for being among the best, A lot of people move out here just so their kids can go to freeman. So, it just goes to show that it can happen anywhere. It's sad we have to talk to our kids about this kind of stuff and to be aware of other kids and their behaviors. You know it's a big deal when your school is the top story on MSN.
There has been a lot of signs made and support from the rest of the community. I liked this one:)
Thursday evening Josie had her first Tap/Jazz lesson. She does it with her friend Isabel. there is one other girl in the class. It is really low key. A lady teaches out of her basement, but the kids get a lot of one on one and Josie really liked it. It was a nice little break from all that had been going on.
Carli had to go to the school on friday to meet and talk about how the first day of school was going to go, so we took Lila with us to hike Liberty Lake.
Friday night Freeman had a football game. It originally was cancelled, but all the football players decided to play. So we went to the game. They had a community BBQ prior to the game. the news media was there, which it seems like they are always there now. It was another emotional evening. They had a moment of silence and a lot of tributes to freeman.
Tom Sherry, the weather man for channel 2 was there.
Landon and Jaxs, waiting for the game to start.
The football players joined in a circle, holding hands with the other team.
Turns out we were on the news for a quick second..Josie and I are on the Left side of the screen, and landon, lila, carli and jaxs are sitting on the bench.
This weekend Landon had another motocross race in the tri cities so Luke took him. I stayed originally because Josie would have had volleyball, but it was obviously cancelled due to her coach being in the hospital with her daughter. So I headed up to the lake to do some fishing with my parents and friends Tom and Jill. It was a lot colder this weekend than the last time we were on the boat.
Josie catching a trout.
Sunday night Josie and I made blue ribbons so her and landon could pass them out to her friends and the staff.
Landon did awesome this weekend in his race. He took home 2nd place again and was real close to taking 1st. Luke was busy helping Landon so he didn't take many pics, but he got this one of him with his plaque;)
This morning I got an email from Landon's teacher, which made me cry, but I know she is right and my kids are in great hands. It was hard to put them on the bus today and say goodbye, but I have to trust they will be ok.
The volleyball teams we were supposed to be playing with on Saturday sent this picture in support of freeman.
someone posted this, It rained today for the first time in 80 days...apparently a new record, but I liked it:) I went to my barre class this morning after I put the kids on the bus. There are several freeman mom's who go there. we all hugged and cried together, and then worked out. This afternoon I have Zumba at freeman. Every Monday a fellow mom teaches it for free so I'm sure there will be tears tonight too.
#FreemanStrong
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