Friday, April 27, 2012

one year.

April 27, 2011.

Started out as a completely normal day. Minus the threat of severe weather. 

As the day progressed, so did the weather. The kids & I spent the majority of the day bunkered down in the kitchen in our "safe spot".

I was okay until I got a phone call from my mom letting me know she made it home from work. I was glad she made it home......however she was locked out of her house. No power meant no garage door opener. And no house key. I had her spare. I was fine until I realized I had her key. My dad was in South Carolina. Colin was at boot camp so he had NO clue what was going on. I called the hubby at work and had him look at the weather to see if there was any kind of break in the storms. He said it looked somewhat clear, but didn't want me to leave the house. Instead, he wanted my mom to come to our house. I told him I was going to her since her house was a LOT safer than ours. So, I loaded up the kids and flew out to my moms. Seriously, I have never driven so fast in my life. 

Once we got to my moms, we brought candles & blankets downstairs into her basement for just in case. We decided to make some dinner......and then the hail started. I knew that was a bad thing. They always say that it hails before a tornado. We quickly finished what we were doing and went down into the basement. We could see the wind picking up out the back door. The hubs called to let me know that he made it home from work and that I needed to stay where I was. It wasn't long after that, that my cell phone died. And so did my moms. We had NO communication what so ever with anyone. Little did we know, less than three miles from my mom's house, a tornado touched down and completely took out a neighborhood. We didn't find that out until the next day.

I don't think anyone slept that night.

The next day we were able to really look at the damage. My mom & dad's pool was FULL of leaves, branches, chairs, and their American flag. Their USMC flag was still on the porch. The kids & I made our way home. Thank GOD everything at our house was still in tact. Minus the power. Nobody in northern Alabama had power. They were already saying on the radio that it would be at LEAST 5-7 days before power would be restored. 

The hubs told me to pack up clothes.....and pretty much everything was dirty!! We decided to leave. We didn't know where we were going......just that we weren't staying home with 2 kids (a 4yr old & a 3mo old) for a week with no power. As we were packing up, our neighbors were doing the same. We asked where they were planning on going & they had the same answer as us....."I don't know". So......we decided to make it a beach trip and head to Florida.

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So many people lost EVERYTHING in these storms. I am SO beyond thankful that my family & friends were all safe & spared from any devastation. My heart & prayers go out to all of those families who were affected by this storm (and the tornado outbreak earlier this year!). 

mom & dad's pool when i got to their house

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again.....

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their yard.

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again! can you spot the dogs!?

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the next day. this branch was impaled in the yard. apparently my dad had quite a time getting it out. he left it in there until colin got home from boot camp!

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furniture.

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what a mess.




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