Wednesday April 23, 2011- The day the tornados hit. I was getting off of work that morning, so I slept though the whole day. I knew there was suppose to be a pretty big weather system moving through as I slept. We actually watched the weather most of the night at work because some of it was suppose to come our way, and we were all worried about getting home. It was just a light drizzle here as I drove home, and I thought to myself, everyone is just probably over reacting again. You see, growing up in the South we have tornados every Spring and Fall, and I think over the years I've gotten desensitized to them.
Before I went to bed that day, I saw on facebook that one of my mom's cousins had some pretty serious damage to her roof. I thought well maybe it's going to be a little worse than I though, but I'm sure it will all be ok.
When I woke up about 8 hours later, I got a call from my mom telling me she was fine, but that her power was out and probably would be for a while. I told her she could come stay with us, and she said she might. My mother-in-law was also without power, but fine even though she had a pretty impressive picture of a storm that passed over her house as she slept that morning (a neighbor took the picture).
we found out later this storm was the edge
of an F5 tornado that just missed
Jonathan's mom's house
Then after hearing all was well with the immediate fam, I started perusing facebook. That is when I realized how big and how bad all the storms had been. A picture is certainly worth a thousand words and there we so many already posted to facebook of the terrible devastation. That's when I called my mom back. I told her I had not realized how bad it really had been, and I was so glad she was ok. I started texting all my friends in Birmingham to make sure they we ok. Happily everyone was fine; although, I do know a few people with a bit of storm damage. Things can be replaced and building rebuilt. We count ourselves so thankful everyone was alive and well!
I looked at the pictures and the videos as they rolled in for the next few days. I was amazed at the devastation and the damage, especially in areas I knew like Tuscaloosa. My heart hurt and still hurts for these people who have lost EVERYTHING. I cannot imagine. I sat wanting to help so badly, but not knowing how to.
Thankfully, Sunday our church announced they would be taking a team down to help out, and they would be collecting supplies to take with them. They handed out a list of stuff that they needed, and we were quick to grab a list. We filled up our cart at the grocery store with water and lots of toiletry items to send back home to Bama. I know it was just a drop in the bucket of all the things they need, but I was so glad to finally be able to do something! I know our church members will be able to do lots of good work while they are there too. I'm sure they took some experienced veterans from the clean up after the flood here in Nashville! Ironically the anniversary of the flood was exactly one year ago this past weekend. Crazy, I know!
the donations piled up
in the church
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