Thankful

Wednesday was a day I'll never forget as long as I live. We're great here - we were only without power for a couple of days. It's times like these that really remind me that most things I consider necessities are actually luxuries. As I took a (very quick) hot shower Wednesday night by candle light using the last of what our hot water heater held, I couldn't help but think of the people who don't even have a shower anymore. If power was the worst thing we lost, I'll chalk that up to a minor inconvenience. We drove an hour west to Florence in search of gas and a hot meal on Thursday, and I was painstakingly reminded of how fortunate were are. Just five minutes down the road people were looking for missing children, had foundations with no house left standing, and everything in between. As we passed by with blank stares on our faces, J and I agreed that we'd never seen anything like it. It's mass destruction and catastrophic disaster. My heart breaks for those affected by the tornadoes. In a way we were all affected. It's hard not to be affected when you see sights like you see around north Alabama. Thursday morning J went to work and the girls and I thought we were going to drive to Athens for food and gas. By the time we made it there, J called to tell us to turn around because we'd have better luck going to Florence. Traffic was backed up because everyone had the same idea - head to the closest place with power. Driving so slowly gave us the opportunity to really take in the sights. Mobile homes turned over, a roof picked up off of a house and put down in a different location, and household items such as clothes and furniture scattered as far as you could see. Devastating. You'd see a mattress in a tree or a car turned upside down floating in a pond. What did me in was seeing 'ok' with a check mark in fluorescent orange spray paint on the front of houses signifying that it had been searched already. My friendly postal worker told me today that he went to help rescue animals Friday in the same area when he saw about sixty people with their arms linked walking across a field in search of two missing children. If I allow myself to think about it for very long, I become a puddle. Thursday afternoon after our trip to Florence, we came to the conclusion that it could be days before we were back up and running. We needed a plan, and fast. I left late that afternoon with the girls and fled to my precious in-laws' house where they put us up for several days. I had enough gas in my car to get to Birmingham, but no further. Thankfully, B and I found a gas station when we got there with minimal wait (30 minutes was considered a quick wait). Grandmommy and Pop had our favorite meal waiting on us when we finally made it to their house...and once again all I could think about were the people who didn't know where their next meal was coming from. That night, I couldn't help but take this picture to remind me just how thankful I am that my loved ones were safe and sound...

Friday was a gorgeous day that was spent mostly outside...
It's easy to forget about the disastrous losses around our community when you're that far away. But we were quickly reminded on our way home...
I can't tell you how many of these we saw on the interstate coming to the rescue...
I wouldn't wish any of this on my worst enemy, but it did my heart good to see people coming together to help. We saw utility crews from as far north as Michigan. We might not have a utility truck in our driveway, but there are definitely ways to help. We've gathered clothes and shoes to take to the Salvation Army. And the Alabama Baptist Children's Home here is taking donations for baby items - diapers, wipes, bottles, etc. for the children in need. If you live around here and have anything to donate for babies, I'll be more than happy to pick them up and take them to the drop off location!
The worst thing we faced is this...
And in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing.

Schools opened today (only until 11:30) for the first time since Wednesday. It was raining this morning on our way to drop Towns off at school, and it seemed like the movie Groundhog Day. It felt like Wednesday all over again. Except today I wasn't about to have it out with Decatur High to let me bring Bethany home during tornado warnings to save her from panic attacks. Today I wasn't flying to the church to get my babies, taking corners on two wheels, trying to get there before it all hit. Today I wasn't opening and shutting classroom doors (some of them are safe rooms during storms) like a mad woman trying to find my girls, because that's a feeling I never want to have again. Today we're safe. Thank the good Lord above. And I pray that no one ever has to see such devastation again.

On a lighter note, we definitely had those blond moments as we realized things we couldn't use due to the power outage. Wednesday night the five of us just knew we could use Towns' portable DVD player to entertain ourselves before bed. Everyone wanted to watch the new Sharpay movie, J especially. I wasn't sure where we'd watched it last and remembered it was in the DVD player in our bedroom. B said, "just get it out and we can watch it" which was exactly what I was thinking, too. Simple, right? Until you realize you have to have power to get the DVD out, and if we had power we could have watched it on the TV. Hello! Thursday morning Cate was the first to wake up. Her morning ritual consists of milk and Disney Junior, both of which weren't an option. She took it rather well. Her next thought? "Look Mommy, the power must be coming back on because the sun is working!" God love her!

Psalm 46:1 lingers in my mind...
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

I'm feeling very thankful today. I have my family and my home, and when you look at the big picture the rest doesn't really matter. Praying for those who have lost so much...