On Wednesday, April 27, 2011 a series of tornado's ripped through Alabama destroying homes, business and taking many lives. We were faced with one of these tornado's up close and personal and we are so blessed that we only received minor damage. I truly believe God's hand and guardian angels were surrounding us and our home that dreadful day.
It began at 5:55 am that morning. I had debated the day before on sending Drew to school or not Wednesday because I knew we were in for some severe weather...I just didn't know how severe until the next morning. Dave woke me up to tell me it was already thundering, lightning and raining really hard so he said he was going to head to work and leave Drew here with me. I don't know why, but I sat straight up and said, "have you checked the weather?" Of course he had not so I flipped on the TV while Dave went to make Alex a bottle. James Spann pops up and I knew it was serious, I am looking at all the red tornado warnings across the state when all of a sudden he says, "If you are in the Leeds, Moody or Trussville area be in a safe place now. A tornado is on the ground." WHAT?!? I jump up and Dave is on the couch feeding Alex I yell at him to get in the bathroom, about that time the power goes out. I grab Drew out of his bed and we all pile up in the front bathroom. Drew is still asleep at this point. While Dave is feeding Alex, I am on the phone with my friend Meagan to warn her. All of a sudden the sound of glass shattering and a loud whistling sound (like a freight train...ha) is all we hear. Dave yells, shut the bathroom door now. I shut the door, grab Drew and lean against the wall. The walls were shaking and we hear a loud BOOM! It seemed to last forever, but it was maybe 20 - 30 seconds and it was all over. After a few minutes we decided to go check out the house to see if we still had one. Praise the Lord, we suffered a few minor damages. Our storm door blew out, Drew's brand new wooden play set that he got for his birthday 2 weeks before had fallen over and broken, our tree was laying in the front yard and there were shingles from the roof everywhere.
I thank God everyday for keeping us safe that day. There were many that were not so lucky. We were without power until that Sunday May 1st. We were fortunate enough to have power and a "safe room" to go into that evening at Dave's parents house when another round of F4 and F5 tornados destroyed Tuscaloosa, Cullman, Fultondale, Pleasant Grove, Shoal Creek, Pratt City and many other areas I know I am forgetting about. We stayed there with them along with our nieces Mary Kate and Caroline. Dave's sister and her husband were safe in Orlando. Here are a few pictures from our house after the tornado.
God bless all those who are still missing, picking up the rubble that was once their home and for those who lost their lives.
