Heavy Heart

As I'm sure all of you know, our state was hit by a violent wave of tornadoes last Wednesday.  Bryant woke me up that morning at 6:30 {I know, don't judge} and told me to get Miller and go downstairs.  You have to understand a little background about my husband to fully grasp my alarm.  He must have been a weatherman in a previous life and he NEVER wants to go downstairs during storms or tornado warnings.  Granted, many times when our sirens go off there is not a storm or tornado anywhere near us since our county is so large and he is always attentively watching the radar.  However, I'm usually downstairs insisting that he come just in case.  So you can imagine my surprise and fear when he woke me up and told me to get down there.  It was a first.  Thankfully we have an entire floor underground so we went to a room that basically has dirt on three sides and the other side has about three walls {including the exterior/garage doors}.  I include all of these details to emphasize the fact that we were basically buried underground.  I couldn't believe how loud it was though.  Normally you can't hear anything down there, but on this fateful morning the wind was horrendous and I could hear what I later discovered were trees snapping, I guess.  Let me also emphasize that we were not actually hit by the tornado.  It was a few miles north of us, so I can only imagine how loud and terrifying it must have been there.  Here are a few pics of the comparatively small damage we found on our street.

Our neighbors across the street:

This is a horrible picture but it is of a huge oak tree that lined our driveway.  It fell on our neighbor's house.  You can't even see her house under it.

Why we were without power for a week:

I snapped this picture on my way out of town, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that almost every power pole I passed in Guntersville looked like this or worse.  After seeing the destruction, we decided that it would be a few days before we'd have power.  I was planning to go to my mom's house the next day anyway, so we decided it would be best for Miller and I to pack quickly and leave before the next storm hit.  We ended up staying until the following Wednesday when we got power back on.

My mom lives on Lake Martin and that night another tornado touched down not too far from their house.  Here are a few pictures of that devastation:

Now, I can't continue without re-emphasizing how very fortunate our family was.  While we had many trees fall none of them hit our house.  Even if one had though we'd still be in the lucky group.   There are so many places across our state that are just rubble.  And so many lives were lost.

My heart is breaking for these families.

I can only tell you of my small encounter with this devastation in hopes of inspiring you to help.   Darby has a list going on her blog of ways that you can help.  If you haven't already done something, please do.  I will also add that if you are local canned food is needed for emergency workers in Guntersville.  Two meals a day are being served to two hundred people.  Large quantities of sides are needed.  You can drop off your donation at Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce or Marshall County EMA.

And above all else, pray.