Devastation....and Thanksgiving.

If you have a roof over your head, are breathing, able to read these words, if you are alive today.....Thank God for it. We Alabamians have seen things in these past 8 days that has forever changed our perspective, our priorities, and caused us to really count our blessings in a whole new way. So many people all over our state lost everything in the tornadoes last Wednesday. Whole houses - just gone, leaving behind a pile of useless rubble. I can't even begin to describe the devastation. 

(I borrowed this pic from the internet, because I wasn't about to go out there for a photo.) 

So where do I start...

Wednesday morning I was awakened at 5 am by the sounds of strong winds, like I'd never heard before. I could hear things falling over, and I could hear the tornado sirens going off in the distance. I was completely taken by surprise - we thought the bad weather was supposed to hit much later in the day. So I jump out of bed, grabbed my cell phone and sat in the bathroom trying to find the weather radar or weather live video reports to see if the tornado was in my area. Then the power went out. And it stayed out for 5 days. I finally figured out that there was no tornado heading my way, just strong winds, so I came out of the bathroom, and made sure everything was ok - no trees on my house, the kids still sleeping soundly. (How do they do that anyway?!?!) Then it got calm, and we ventured out around 10am - streets were closed everywhere. I had to drive under a power pole snapped in half and hanging out over the road just to get to my Mom's place. Everywhere we looked trees were down, on houses, blocking roads, everywhere. 

I took this photo in our own neighborhood. The phone lines weren't working properly, and the cell phone service was very sketchy - sometimes you could connect, sometimes not. David was 100 miles away working, and we weren't able to communicate with each other till about 10 am - he was worried silly about us. We were finally able to get a few texts through on our phones, and we could email from our phones as well. I was so glad he decided to come on home early - before the next round of storms hit. We all gathered at my Mom's house because she still had power at that point, but it didn't last long. The second wave came through around 5 in the evening. We watched the live weather videos on u-stream from our phones, and just watching that huge tornado (it was 3/4 mile wide) head right into the city of Tuscaloosa was the most helpless feeling. We knew as we were watching it, that at that very moment lives were being lost. So very sobering. The tornadoes hit all around us, but none of them came through our town and I am so thankful to God for His protection. 

The town I grew up in, Cordova, was demolished. All those memories. My Grandfather owned an Auto Parts Store there for years. I loved going to help them out with the store. Every month I'd help my Grandmother with the books - getting the statements ready to be mailed. It was all done by hand, her system consisted of paper, typewriter, adding machine,and filing cabinet. I loved it. But the store is gone.

This pile of rubble is all that's left. 

Not having power to our house wasn't bad. Not bad at all. I pretty much grill all our food anyway :) BUT, when the whole city, and most of the state is also out of power - now that's a whole different story. Imagine with me - Gas pumps can't pump without power, so you can't buy gas. Banks and atms also run on power, so you can't get any cash. No stores were open, so no ice, extra batteries, or propane. Walmart opened on the third day by using huge generators, and it was a total mad house. All the coolers and freezers were empty - no milk for little ones, no eggs, no meat, they had to throw it all away. But through it all, we didn't hear anybody complaining. Everybody was just so thankful that they'd survived, even if they lost a roof - they were happy to be alive. 

So I decided to focus on the positive. 

I still had all of my family around me.

Our home received zero damage.

My freezer and refrigerator really needed cleaned out anyway. 

I learned to cook some interesting things on the gas grill! 

The boys enjoyed a break from electronics and got reacquainted with the back yard.  

It was nice to have fresh air blowing through the windows instead of using the AC. 

I didn't have to do laundry. 

(No offence to those who went gaga over it, but the royal wedding didn't mean much to us. We did huddle up in the dark and watch videos of it on our phones, but with so many folks left homeless around here, all the extravagance seemed frivolous. And it just doesn't seem like a true fairytale when the couple lived together for years already - that kinda takes the magic, not to mention the sacredness, right out of it. There were things about it that were beautiful, but...... I dare say that I am happier in my own marriage :) When it comes right down to it, in the eyes of God, the royals are no better than anybody else - we're all equals. Around here folks would say, they put their britches on one leg at a time just like anybody else. I am glad that it brought happiness to so many people that enjoyed it. It was history in the making, but then, so were these record breaking tornadoes - and these were much closer to home. So please forgive me for not jumping on the bandwagon. ) Anyway... 

I'm glad I have lots of candles. Lots and Lots of candles.

I had so many candles burning that I'm sure folks driving by thought our power was on.

We had no problems getting the boys to go bed early.

Dinner by candlelight was kinda nice. (even if we were washing it down with warm gatorade...)

I particularly enjoyed not using my alarm clock ;) 

We learned that these solar powered yard lights make great little flashlights for kids.

They can't run down the batteries,  there's no flame involved, and when their hands were each filled with their little "torches" it greatly hindered their ability to drag out hundreds of toys for us to trip over in the darkness. Just a little added bonus ;)

On the 4th day without power, we were able to borrow a generator. So we plugged up the refrigerator. It was soooo nice to have cold drinks and ice! What a luxury! Then on Sunday evening, the 5th day, the power came back on, and things have slowly been getting back to "normal".  

The town is getting cleaned up, trees cleared away, kids are back in school, and most folks are back to work. Life goes on. But we'll not soon forget the devastation, the lives lost, the homes lost, the way neighbors helped neighbors, how the power crews, emergency workers, and volunteers worked round the clock, all the many miracle stories, and just how precious life really is.