As you know the storm has left lots of cleanup for us all to do. It's amazing how it caused so much damage within a matter of seconds and now it will take months to get it all cleaned up.
When I asked my Father why we weren't going to church today he said "Our ox is in the ditch." Let me explain what he meant by that. Since Dad and now Jesse both have jobs five days a week, sometimes more, we have to use the "man power" when we can. And today we were able to borrow a machine from a friend that we will only have for two days. So it was mandatory that we get a lot of work done over the holiday weekend. But around here, work usually isn't a dull thing. Here are some of the things we got done today........
The first thing Gina and I had to do was strip all of the siding off the house and put it in stacks.
This piece was torn in half... :\
Charlene was in the pool while we were doing this, so she called me and said "...are you hot?" After I wiped my brow for about the hundredth time I said I was, so she told me to come to her "Cool off Station."
First she took a water balloon....
....got it wet....
.....and then rubbed it on our foreheads. How thoughtful of her. c ;
The finished product.
While we were doing this, the boys were in the woods sawing away and moving trees with the machine.
The chickens like them.......a lot.
Jesse, showing Dad how to work the machine.
Dad, working the machine.
This is the area they've cleared so far. Quite a lot I'd say, for a days work.
We found this siding in the woods....
....and this one, that's at least thirty feet up in the tree. I don't guess those are going on the pile. :\
Meanwhile, Mom and Steven were working on stacking wood and getting it ready to make a cord wood fence.
He's a hard worker. c ;
This was the "Deathly Poisonous Salamander" that Steven found sitting on one of his logs. He was sure it would bite him and he would die......
Charlie mostly watched.......
Later, mom surprised us with a treat.
Step one : Slice giant marshmallows in half and place on cracker.
Step Two: Add chocolate.
Step Three: Enjoy. c ;
Gina's hair was very pretty today because she left it braided all night long.
Jesse's braided grass bracelet.
When he brought it in and handed it to me, Gina said "Oh so that's what you've been doing out there. I thought you were supposed to be working?"
Dinner was graciously provided by K.F.C. and my Aunt Lily Mae.
Some of the trees we found were at least a hundred years old. One was 125, proving that this kind of storm only happens once in a hundred years, at least.
This is just one stack...I don't think we'll ever run out of firewood.
Later Jesse and I went to check on his bees.
They look good to me......but then, I don't know much about bees. But Jesse said they were good.
All in all I'd say it was a good day. I'm glad God has given us the gift of fellowship as well as the privilege of hard work.
As I was listening to the radio today, I heard the number one song on one of the country stations countdowns. It was I won't let go by Rascal Flatts. It seems relevant enough considering the first few lines of the song.
It's like a storm
That cuts a path
It breaks your will
It feels like that
You think you're lost
But you're not lost on your own,
You're not alone
I will stand by you,
I will help you through
When you've done all you can do
and you can't cope
I will dry your eyes,
I will fight your fight
I will hold you tight
and I won't let go.
Thank you Lord for knowing that You couldn't always be here with us in the flesh, giving us others for times when we feel were at our weakest, and giving us to others in times when we feel our strongest.
As I was reading over the last few notes I noticed a few more things that I should probably mention.
First of all when I said that Arron went back to help after he came and told us that Mr. Boyd was going to come for us. That was wrong, he stayed with us. My mother reminded me of that when she read over it. Second of all I think it's important to note that Mr.King had also gone to help the Lees right after the storm, and had come back with my dad ( or shortly after ) to help us all get to the Boyd's safely.
I've talked to some of the Lee's for many long hours about the night the storm hit. And although they were in a separate house, their story is very similar to ours, only probably a lot scarier. Abby Lee ( who is one of my best friends and I love her dearly, as I do all of the Lees ), told me about her point of view. So that's how I'll start off.
Mr. Lee had gotten off of work early that day and was able to spend a little extra time with his family. ( By the Way I noticed that on Mrs. Sherry Lees blog she talked about how Mr. Lee got to spend a lot of time with his family Easter weekend, the weekend before the storm. They were able to celebrate together the most wonderful occasion any christian family can share, the resurrection of our Jesus. And this was posted before the storm. Isn't it nice how the Lord provides those little things for us to enjoy, little moments for us to remember each other by. )
Abby also told me that Tiffany, the oldest girl, had been going to take a run just about ten minutes before the storm hit. But Mr. Lee stopped her because he knew the storm was coming, probably saving her life.
Abby said she had seen the storm from the kitchen window. And since their house was somewhat on the bottom of a hill, when she saw it, it must have either been on top of us or had just passed us. She described it as a big gray cloud stretching from the sky to the ground, and said she couldn't see passed it on either side. But you could see a cloud of debris at the bottom. I think at this point it was too close to them for any of them to see an actual spin. At that point she announced that it was coming and ran into the den with her family.
Some of the boys ran upstairs to get blankets to lay over everyone. On their way back down however the storm was already upon them. If I understood correctly, most of them made it back into the room but the last one ( they've told me who it was but I can't remember ) was sucked out slightly along with the door and then thrown back in. I'm guessing that this is around the time the house began to collapse. I was told that Mr. Lee threw himself over Jordan, his oldest son and I believe one of his sisters was under Jordan as well. I'm sure Mr. Lee was attempting to protect as many of them as possible. Tiffany had a few of the little ones underneath her. I'm not sure where all the little ones were but when it was all over, they were unharmed and were able to climb out safely.
I heard Jesse say just last night that when he was talking to some of the Lees about the storm, Josh had said that when the windows got sucked out it sounded like a plunger sucking them out in one piece, frame and all. Some of the girls told me that when the house fell on top of them it felt like a lot of pressure pushing down on them.
I don't have many details other than that because I wasn't actually in this house when it hit. But I do know that two of the older girls were able to climb out, one of them was Abby who said that she was able to push things off of her and climb out. The little ones were safe as well and were able to climb out along with the girls and a few of the older boys. The ones who were trapped were Jordan, Tiffany, Emily, Jacob and Mr. and Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Lee was in a pocket and unharmed, she just couldn't climb out from where she was. And I don't know how but she ended up with Mr. Lee's bible on her chest.
I'm not sure exactly what order things happened in next but I know that Johnny and Josh went for help and Abby and her sister Beth were taking care of the little ones.
Jesse told me that he had gone to see if anyone needed help before he ever met Josh or Johnny on the road. But somewhere along the way he saw Josh and Josh told him who was trapped and who was safe. So then Jesse headed to the Lees and Josh ran on to find more help.
This is what Jesse told me happened from his point of view:
When he got to the Lees, Beth and Abby were out along with all the little ones. I'm not sure if he talked to the girls but he did say that he shouted to Jordan and could barely hear him. He was able to tell Jesse who was safe and who needed help immediately.
At this point there were many people there helping and all of them were willing to do whatever it took to get the Lees out. I only know a few names however and only a few points of view, so I'm going to stick mostly with Jesse's. Hes one of the only ones who has told me in detail what he went through that night.
Oh and before I go on, I was told by many people who were there that, before Mr. Lee passed, when everyone was still trapped and waiting for help. He had said a quiet prayer for God to keep his family safe. I only wish I could have seen his face when he met Jesus. And when Jesus told him "Look. I am already bringing help to your family. I am keeping them safe."
As far as I know Jesse along with Stephen and his younger brother Michael Boyd, Arron, Mr. King, my dad and some other neighbors who had come to help were there at first.( Abby said that when she saw those men come over the hill, it was the best sight shes ever seen ) And according to most everyone I've talked to about it, Jesse was able to take the lead. God had been preparing him for this ( he along with my dad have been volunteer firefighters for a while now and he has taken some very useful medical classes and became a first responder), because He knew that Jesse would need to be able to be there in order to help save lives. And that is why all of those men were there that night, because God lead them there to do His will.
From what Jesse said, he had to dig a hole to get them out, ( I think it was probably more like a tunnel ) which took a long time in and of itself, although the tunnel into the rubble was not very long at all. My father said that as he stood and watched from outside the rubble he thought that if it collapsed it could kill everyone trying to get the Lees out. And it very well could have collapsed. But it didn't.
Jesse said that at first Stephen Boyd and my father were right behind him, helping dig the hole and pull things out of the way. When they got far enough in ( they were on their hands and knees and sometimes stomachs crawling ) they reached Jordan Lee and his father. Mr. Lee was pulled out first and then Jordan was helped out. Jordan couldn't walk at first from what I understand but as soon as he could he began to help dig the others out. Jesse was at the head of the hole the whole time, and all the others I have mentioned were behind him dragging or throwing things out and doing whatever they could to help.
After much more digging they made it to Tiffany and Emily where they were trapped under their piano. Jesse said that he went to get Jacob out first who was trapped and sort of laying on the back of the piano. The whole time, Jacob was helping him move stuff out of the way, even though he was still trapped. From what Jesse said there was a floor ( the top floor ) and then a wall that Jacobs head was trapped under. His head was stuck between the wall and the piano. So Jesse had to try and prop it up. I believe this is probably the part where he started asking for jacks and those behind him went and found some and passed them back. He said it was very difficult to jack it up at all because there was a lot of weight on Jacobs head. He said he used a bucket for cribbing and eventually was able to left it all up just enough where Jacob could get his head out. And as soon as he did, the bucket was crushed by the weight of the wall.
So Jacob was helped out and went to a little building called the retreat center, which was the only building left standing on the Lees property. This is also where they had sent the rest of the family.
Next Jesse started working on Tiffany who was the closest to him, she was pinned under the piano. ( I was also told that at some point Emily began to sing Amazing Grace and trying to get the others to join in. This is also what the other girls had been doing with the children outside. ) And after much jacking and digging and moving things he was able to wiggle her out as well. And she was carried to the retreat center. After that was Emily, who's legs were up under the piano and after some more long minutes of trying to jack it up and prop it up and jack it up some more and prop it up some more, he was finally able to get Emily out as well. And she too was carried to the retreat center. Now the only person left was Mrs. Lee.
Although she was not that far away it still took some time to get to her but once they did they helped her out as well. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the men at this point but Jesse said he went to the retreat center to check on everyone. There were a lot of thank you's and I love you's going around. And Jesse made sure that everyone was okay medically. He said that they thought at some point that Jacob wasn't going to make it and at another point that Tiffany wouldn't. Tiffany told me later that she could feel her heartbeat slowing. I think her and Jacob both felt like they might not make it at some point. But they did. Abby told me that at this point she was helping Tiffany and trying to keep her breathing, she said that her breaths were long and slow and there were pauses in between them that were much too long.
After this is when Dad, Arron and Mr. King came back to us. I believe that everyone else went on to other places to see who they could help.
All of the men accept Jordan I think went on to help others, and spent mostly all the rest of the night doing this. Some came to the Boyd's and some stayed out all night. I think they were all mostly going in and out all night long.
Around two in the morning ambulances made it to the Lees and took them all to the hospital.
Today marks the one month anniversary of the day storms swept through the south, destroying homes and tearing lives apart. On that day we had no idea just how much we would go through in the following weeks. Sorrow and heartache have been plentiful. But we were not left hopeless. In fact it's times like these when we realize just how much hope we have.
It's easy to focus on the negative or bad in situations like these. But even in the midst of pain and devastation, we have joy.
We have joy in knowing that there is a God who loves us and is with us always. We have joy in knowing that we will not be abandoned. We have joy in knowing that all of this is only temporary.
When I look around at the family and friends who are going through the same things I am. It gives me joy to know that I am not alone. And that, no matter what, I will always have their love and support.
We also have the joy of little things. Like a sweet smile, a hug from a friend, an encouraging word or just knowing that we have people who are always there for us. But most importantly, we have joy in knowing how God is working.
Throughout the past few weeks, things have unfolded before our eyes that we simply did not see before. Situations where God has used heartache and devastation to bring glory to Him. Just look at the example you've seen in His people all over the state. Trials and difficulties have not brought them down. But made them stronger.
What would life be like without trials and difficulties? Would everyone be in sheer bliss all the time? Probably not. We would be an unlearned people who are unconcerned with anyone other than ourselves. That's just human nature. But God knows that, and so He uses trials and difficulties to build our character and make us stronger. So that we may live up to the calling He has for us.
So, as we draw closer and closer to the end of all this madness, I rejoice in knowing that God loves us enough to put us through this. He is not willing that we should go through life without learning the valuable lessons He has to teach. And I pray that my heart and mind will stay open to His teaching.
I’ve found his grace is all complete,
He supplies my every need,
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free indeed.
What kind of joy is this?
It’s joy unspeakable: all you’ve done for me,
It’s indescribable, just a taste of your glory,
And it’s unnatural not to tell the story of all you’ve given me,
My words are incomplete,
It’s joy unspeakable.
"The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all."
The reason we stayed in that closet for so long was because first of all, we thought there would be another storm. After all that's what James Spann had been saying just moments before. And all of the mothers in there were not about to bring their babies outside when all the madness may not be over. Secondly was because we knew that there were downed power lines, rubble and broken things everywhere, and as far as we knew we had know where else safe to go. So we waited for the men to come back.
Let me stop here and tell you the story from the other side of the stair case. I talked to some of the Boyd girls about what was going on in the laundry room. And they had much the same story. They all huddled up in corners, most of the Boyd's are older, I think only two of them are still under the age of ten. My mother told me that she had been in there to start of with and I think my little brother Steven had too. But she left because she felt she was needed more in the other room, and Steven followed her. They had left the door open in their room for a few seconds. And then Mr. Boyd decided that it needed to be closed, so he closed it. After a few more seconds of nothing happening, he opened the door to look out. What he saw was the french doors directly opposite to them shaking back and forth under the pressure, and about to break. So he closed the door and at that point he had to push against it to keep the wind from coming in. Just as Jesse was doing in our room. Only they were, like I said before, directly opposite to the french doors. We were down in the hallway a little bit. I don't have many details about what went on in that room, mainly because I've had very little time to talk to the Boyds about it. But I know that they were afraid just like us. Steven Boyd was protecting his mother and another one of the Boyd boys was in a corner with his hands over his head. This is what the girls told me. When it was over, they came out and so did we. Like I said before, the two older boys went to help the Lee's, Kevin and Ashton eventually came into our room, and the rest of the Boyds went to see if their house was okay.
While we were waiting we went out to see what things looked like. I do remember that just before the Boyds left, Mrs. Boyd and a few of her older girls and I stopped just under the now broken french doors to pray for the Lee's.
Gina, Bria, Kevin, Wesley, Steven ( my little brother), Ashton and I all went out at some point to look around. We never left the house but we did walk around in the room with the TV. If you go watch the interviews I posted with Arron and Mr. Boyd you'll see this room. It wasn't completely destroyed but it wasn't whole either. The roof was still standing but that's because the roof of the basement was a concrete slab on the ground. However when we looked up the stairs all we saw was daylight. ( It wasn't dark accept for while the storm was passing.) I wanted to go up and find my backpack which I had left up there along with a bag of food, but I decided not too right then. Bria found our weather radio, sitting in the same spot we left it and we took it back to the room so our moms could listen to it. I dug behind the couch and found my flip flops which I had taken of and left there. They were under a pile of insulation and boards but still in one piece. There was insulation everywhere. The stairway was full of it especially, full of it and plenty of other stuff making it difficult to climb the stairs. After the moms listened to the weather radio for a while they learned that there would not be another storm coming our way. And so they relaxed a little. I remember Mrs. Crawford saying she wished it was all just a bad dream, and she could wake up and it would be over.
We got blankets and pillows for the kids and scooted back the shoe shelf to make room for pallets. They were all very tired and worried, back when they were all still in the closet we had sung then songs and read them stories but it only helped a little I think. So we let them lay down and rest a while, it was dark now and close to midnight I think.
Bria had earlier decided to go upstairs and salvage what she could, Gina had gone with her that's where I found them. It was dark at that point and we couldn't see much of the destruction accept for what was left of upstairs, which wasn't much. There was one wall left standing in the center of the house, and there was debri everywhere. The living room where we had been talking not too long ago was covered in insulation like everything else and broken boards. But the couches were still there, buried but still there. And so was the wood burning stove that had been in their living room. However behind it was nothing, where a wall used to be. Bria found the flash to her camera and saved it for a light. I told her where my backpack was along with the bag of food that we had brought and she found them both. She found a few other things as well but I don't remember what they were. Then Kevin or Wes started saying that Mrs. Crawford wanted us to come back down. So we did. We took all these things back downstairs and into the closet. So we now had a weather radio to warn us if another storm was coming, a tripod flashlight that had been in Jesse's or Steven's backpack and was now lighting up the whole room, pallets and seats for everyone in the room, some food and I had brought a water bottle full of some kind of juice or lemonade which I shared with Avi later. Steven had also had a few water bottles in his backpack and we passed those around. After I went and got Mallie a pillow, I sat down next to Gina and Kevin. I guess this was around 12:30 or so. We sat and pondered, and thanked God we were all okay, and prayed for our men and for the Lee's. And talked amongst ourselves.
Shortly after this, when some of the little ones had gone to sleep Arron came back. He came in and told us a few things, one was an update on the Lee's. I believe he said that Tiffany, Emily, Jacob, and Mrs. Lee were all still trapped and that Mr. Lee had already passed away. This was not the first time I'd heard this news, just a little while before this Gina, Bria, Ashton and I had been standing next the the french doors getting some fresh air ( it was very hot in the closet) when someone came and said that Mr. Lee had died. I wasn't there when they told Gina and Bria and Ashton, I was on my way back to the room when Ashton came and told me. It didn't register at first I had to ask him more than a couple of times to repeat himself. And it still didn't sink in until later.
Now however I think Arron needed to stop for a moment, so he laid down on the floor with his face to the ground, just in front of his wife. They talked for a moment and I think prayed as well.
He told us after that, that Mr. Boyd was on his way over to us, that the Boyd's house was still standing and Mr. Boyd was going to bring everyone over to it. Then he left to continue helping. We waited about an hour after that before Mr. Boyd got there.
When he did, all the adults made sure that each child was with an adult or young adult. Mr. Boyd had said that there were power lines down and trees and fence lines that we would have to go over and under to get there. So we needed to keep the little one we had and make sure not to touch any power lines. Most everyone had someone, I had Kyla at first but Bria ended up with her and then Mr. Boyd. I ended up with Mallie, And I can't remember but I think Mrs. Boyd was there too. Anyway we gathered up all our things, the tripod flashlight, the weather radio, my backpack, the food, and my extra shoes. It was very cold and windy that night. So, since we were in the clothes and shoe closet, they had everyone put on some kind of close toed shoe and a jacket. I didn't put on a jacket, I was hot enough already. It was raining when Mr. Boyd first arrived but by the time we got out there it had mostly stopped. We left the pillows and blankets and chairs and everything that wasn't essential. Took the hands of the children and went out.
I thought we were going to go the way the Boyds did, out the french doors, but instead we went up the stairs. We climbed through all the rubble and ducked under power lines before we even got out of the house. I remember trying to take Mallie behind me, but it didn't work so well, because she was trying to pull me along. When we got up into the open air, the wind hit us and I shivered. But Mallie shivered more, the zipper on her jacket was broken so she couldn't zip it up. But I don't think she was that worried about it. She just wanted to get where we were going.
I am so thankful for Mr. Boyd, he lead us calmly and easily over and under every obstacle which eased the minds of all the mothers who had little ones. We passed the banquet hall, which Kevin had earlier told me was gone too, and I saw the brick chimney had fallen straight forward right in the middle of the hardwood floor where we used to have bible study every Sunday night. When we got out to the driveway we all stopped to make sure everyone was accounted for. Once we knew this for sure we continued, down the driveway and out to the road. I asked Mallie if she was okay and if she wanted me to carry her, she was still shivering. She said she was fine and no. And kept pulling me along. When we got to the road we stopped again, that was the first power line. It was slightly below head level, we passed it easily and waited on the other side. As I looked around I could see nothing because it was dark, and no moon or stars either. You could only see where the flashlights were shining. But I did manage to see that there was some kind of vehicle in the ditch next to the driveway and a fallen tree next to it. Still I had no idea hoe bad it all was. We went on through a swampy field, I remember scraping my ankles on briers on the way there and ignoring the pain because I didn't want to stop. "Hurry up." Mallie kept telling me.We went on through trees and under and over power lines and through a field. The weather radio which Kevin had put in my backpack was going off about storms in Georgia, I wanted to stop it because everyone didn't need to hear that at the time, but I couldn't so we just let it go until it was done. Finally, we made it to the Boyd's, I asked if we should take off our shoes and Hannah Boyd said we should so everyone did. Mallie let go of my hand and ran inside and so did everyone else. They, of course didn't have power, so the girls had lit candles everywhere and they had everyone come to the living room.
For a long time none of us could even think about sleeping. So we sat and talked, and thanked the Boyd's, and waited to here from the ones who were still out helping. Before long Mr. Smith, a friend who used to come to the Cedar House, made it through the rubble and debri and brought us blankets and food which we were lacking, and it was a cold night. On top of that the Boyd's had left the windows open so that it didn't get stuffy. Arron came in at one point to check up on everything ( oh and by the way, my dad had come back long ago to help with everyone, he had come back when Arron cam back the first time, and so had Mr. King so they were with us the whole time.) and told us that the Lee's were out, and the boys were still helping where they could. He also told us that there were six bodies lying on the road that they had pulled out of the rubble. I think that was the first time it really began to sink in. I think he left again, but I'm not sure. Mr and Mrs. Boyd and the older girls stayed awake for a while, it was close to two in the morning now. Jesse came in around this time, but didn't stay for long. He had to go continue helping as well. I asked if he was okay and he said he was ( I'll tell you his story in the next note) I remember laying next to Bria trying to go to sleep. We ended up talking about the night for a while. She said how she wished the Lee's would have come over, and how thankful she was that we were all safe. She went to sleep after a while and I think I did for about 30 minutes to an hour. But I got back up and went to the porch, we could see the lights on the road from emergency vehicles. I went back in and I think at this point everyone was mostly asleep, I remember seeing Gina with Mallie, talking to her as she fell asleep. I went and sat in an empty chair trying to fall asleep. At this point everyone was asleep, everyone accept little Kyla. She was sitting just behind her mother on the couch asking me questions in her high pitched questioning voice. I told her to whisper, but then I couldn't here her. So I motioned for her to come sit with me and she did. She asked about the lights on the road, and I told her those are the people who are helping us and others. She asked other questions as well but i can't remember them. I kept having to remind her to whisper. Soon though she nodded off. Mrs. King saw that I was still awake and said that I could put her on the floor and go to sleep, but I told her I was fine. She offered me a blanked but I said I was fine. Than she told me that if I needed anything to let her know. She herself was 3 or 4 months pregnant and had a little one sleeping next to her. She was very strong throughout the whole thing. After a few more minutes the floor started to look really comfortable. So I got on the floor, took the pillow off the chair I had been sitting on and laid down with Kyla next to me and finally got a little sleep.
As the days continue to pass and more times grows between now and the night the storm hit, I find myself pondering lessons I thought I had already learned, which now have a new and deeper meaning.
There is a plaque in my sisters room that I got her for her birthday one year. On it is one definition of faith that I have grown to love.
Faith is seeing light with your heart when your eyes see only darkness.
This has been a comfort to me in the past month of my life. With so much uncertainty looming around us. It's difficult sometimes to think this way. Instead we think How will this ever get done? or We will never have the money for that or What will we do now?
I know that this has happened to my family many times before the storm and much more afterwards. We worry about paying some bill or having enough gas money to go where we need to go. And then, seemingly out of no where, someone comes and hands us just the amount of money we need or offers a bag of free clothes or a meal that was much needed. And then we say, "God provides."
My prayer is that we will learn our lesson from these circumstances. And instead of saying, "What will we do now?" we say, "God will provide." With all the confidence as if He has already done it.
Is this an easy thing to do? Not always. But when we learn to put our trust in God for our every need and understand that He really does control every little thing. Than we can rest easily and trust in the fact that we are well taken care of.
But trusting God to provide our needs is one thing. What about trusting Him in every other area of our lives....
The hardest part for me is when another storm decides to blow in. Like today. Watching the news and seeing the devastation just like what we went through, only now in so many more places. It makes me want to ask " God, just what are You doing here?"
And when were sitting in the living room watching the weather channel or listening to the weather radio waiting to hear what will happen next, it'ssometimes hard to trust God.
Because what if it is His will for some of us to be taken home soon. We don't know.
So when we say, God I trust You. What we should mean is, God I trust You to do whats best for me. Knowing that it doesn't mean bi-passing the heartache and suffering. But knowing that God will be with us through it all and still has our best interests at heart.
This, I believe, is the ultimate form of faith. It's not easy. We want to believe that the things we have and the people we love belong to us. But the truth is that they are only loaned to us for a time, as companions or sole mates or children or parents. Many of us found that out when we lost our dear friend, Mr. Tom Lee.
We have to trust that the God who has cared for us all our lives will take care of His children while their here on earth and after they have left us here.
So that we may boldly say........
There are a few things that I left out before that I''d like to mention. First of all when I said Mrs. Liveret I meant Mr.
c ;
Secondly there were a few things Arron told us when we were all upstairs talking, one was that at some point they were saying to put helmets on the children. The other thing was that he had heard a story of a woman somewhere near the Mississippi\Alabama state line who had laid herself over her two children ( a 4 year old and a 6year old if I remember correctly) just before a tornado hit there house and saved their lives while the house collapsed on top of them, she however lost her life.
I also thought that it was important to note that, a few of the Lee girls ( that's the family with thirteen children) had been to the Crawford's that morning. They had brought Mrs. Crawford and her family a meal, the reason being Mrs. Crawford has a newborn who was just three weeks old at the time. Bria, who has been good friends with the Lee girls for a long time I believe told them that if their family would like to stay at their house during the storm they were perfectly welcome. ( By the way, these were the girls who would later be trapped under a piano in their collapsed house.) They politely declined for whatever reason, they probably didn't think it would be that bad and didn't want to bring 15 more people over for the Crawford's to have to entertain. ( Even though I'm sure the Crawford's wouldn't have minded at all.)
Oh and in case you don't already know, Jesse is my older brother.
Now back to the story....
When I went downstairs the kids were watching the movie Tangled, which happens to be one of my favorites. And so I sat down next to the couch to enjoy it with them. Bria and my sister Gina ended up down there eventually as well. And for a while it was just us and the Crawford kids down in the basement. Steven ( my little brother ) was with Ashton in his room which was just behind the wall that the TV was up against. And ever so often they would come out of the rooms to quote the funny parts of the movie. And the little Crawford girls are so sweet, they would come and sit in our laps and watch the movie from there. ( I think they like company, just like my little sister c ; ) Eventually dinner was ready upstairs and we were supposed to all come up and get our food. So we did ( I only got a few slices of pizza) and then came back down, at this point I believe everyone was gathering in the basement because the storm was drawing closer. Momma and Mrs. Crawford sat at a little table where they set up the laptop to watch James Spann. Ashton suggested putting on another movie after Tangled was over, but Mrs. Crawford said not to. (Thank Goodness, I don't know if we all still would have left that room if we had been busy watching a movie.)
After a few minutes of eating, another family showed up ( who are also good friends of ours and the Crawford's and had been invited to ride out the storm there as well) the Boyd's. I remember that they stood just at the bottom of the stairway since the room was now very full of people. (There are eleven Boyd's, eleven Crawford's, and seven of us.) Now that I think about it, I should have gotten up and let one of them sit down, but for some reason I wasn't thinking about that at the time.
Mrs. Crawford moved to the stairs with her plate and sat down their to chat with the Boyd's. The men ( Arron, Jesse and my dad) were all out on the porch watching the progress of the storm. Kevin ( one of the boys who lived with Mr. Liveret ) was also out there, he had a professional camera I think and was taking pictures. ( I haven't seen those pictures yet but I would like to.)
Shortly after the Boyd's arrived another family ( who had also been invited to ride out the storm) the Kings arrived. Now we had 37 people in this one house.
Th next few things happened simultaneously. My mom who was still at the computer and said she heard that the storm's path had gone through Birmingham, Trussville, Argo and Springville. The next stop, she said, was Ashville.
At the same time Mrs. Crawford started saying that we might need to take this more seriously. The men also started coming downstairs, ( I think my dad was the first one ). He said that it was looking really bad. When I asked him about it later he said that they saw, from the porch, a big, dark rotating cloud. Next came Arron, Jesse and Kevin. ( I forgot to mention that before the men had gone out to the porch, Arron had told us which rooms were the safest, just in case we wanted to go in there.) Now they were all saying, it's time to go into the rooms.
Just before this I remember sitting on the couch and watching one of the Crawford girls (Alexa) call Ashton and Steven in from outside.They came and just after that it started hailing and the wind picked up. Alexa had opened one of the french doors that was just beside the couch when she called the boys in, when one of the other Crawford girls Avilee, who was sitting next to me saw their dog Maya and asked if they should bring her in. She had been limping and Avi didn't think she would be able to get away from the storm. Some one told her that Maya would be fine, and then they proceeded to rush us all into the rooms.
I stood back for a moment letting the little ones go first. When I did start to go into one of the rooms I remember Mr. Boyd ( who, with his family was gathering in the laundry room ) saying "Come on in here, there's plenty of room." I didn't know if he was talking to me, but a decided that I should probably go into the other room because there were so many little ones in there that they may need help with.
So we separated into two groups, the Boyd's along with Ashton and Kevin ended up in the laundry room just below the stairs. My family along with the Kings ( who have four or five little ones.), the Crawford's, minus Ashton and Wesley ( another one of the boys who was living with Mr. Liveret) were all in a room just behind the staircase. It was a clothes closet and very large, inside the clothes closet there was another closet that was underneath the stair case. This is where Mrs. King and Mrs. Crawford put all the little ones. Between the Crawford children, the King children and my little sister Charlene there were at least fifteen kids in there. At first there was no one in there with them, so I went in and sat down. At that point no strong winds could be heard, we didn't realize how bad it was getting. At that point we were all thinking worst case scenario was a few trees would fall, possibly on the house, and maybe some damaging hail and straight line winds. Now I don't remember thinking these words in my mind and actually saying to myself "This won't be that bad." It was more like a feeling. But soon that feeling went from "This won't be that bad." to "Will we live through this?" And it didn't take long at all.
I remember all of the children laughing and playing as they were put into the little closet with blankets on the floor. But very quickly the laughter turned into screaming and crying. Mrs. King was at the doorway of the little closet holding one of her little ones and I was sitting right next to her on the right. As soon as it started we all knew it. At first it was just a few thuds we heard upstairs. I don't remember hearing a sound like a freight train like people always say, but the air around us changed. The pressure was heavier, people started saying that their ears were popping. Everything around us started getting violent. We heard bangs and crashes just above our heads on the stairway. I think we heard the wind but it's hard to say, I just remember there being an overall feeling of fear and alarm. When things started falling on the stairs above our heads, I looked over at the little ones next to me. Most of them had stood up and were trying to get out of the closet, but Mrs. King and I stopped them. Mally and Kyla Crawford were the ones closest to me. Mally is five and I believe Kyla is two or three. When I looked over I saw Kyla's little face filled with fear and needing comfort. So I motioned for her to come over to me, and she jumped in my lap. I held her tight, hoping the house wouldn't fall on our heads. Just after this is when it really got bad. I looked over and saw the door that lead out to the hallway, with Jesse pushing up against it as hard as he could, and slipping at that. And then it registered that the wind was trying to blow open the door and Jesse was the only thing keeping it from sucking us all out of that room.
I heard Mrs. King all the while telling the children that it was all going to be okay, that we would be fine, and that they needed to just sit back down. I tried to do the same thing, but I think she was doing a much better job than me. I think I was more afraid than the children. I heard Kyla crying in my lap, and saw the others worried faces. I thought about the story of the mother who had laid herself over her children, and tried to think what I would do if this did cave in on our heads. There were simply too many of them in there, I couldn't protect them all. Thank God that He was there with us, He protected everyone. And even though we all tried, we couldn't keep it from collapsing. But He did.
Someone told me that while all that was happening, the roof started shaking up and down like it was going to collapse. And Arron who along with his wife was huddled over Bria who was holding Jax in a corner of the bigger closet, said later that at one point he thought the roof was going to come down on us. I remember seeing leaves blow in under the door, and vaguely wondering how they got into the house.
All of this happened within just thirty seconds maybe. And we hadn't been in those closets that long before it all started.
When everything had settled down, some of the men went outside to see just how bad it was. Jesse, Arron and dad I think were the ones who went out. I don't remember how long I stayed in the closet, with the children. But I certainly wasn't going to leave them yet. While we were waiting for the men to come back in we just sat there, shocked and afraid. Avilee was very worried ( shes seven I think) she started saying that Maya was probably dead, the house was probably gone, where would they live, what would they eat. I tried to help reassure her that everything would be alright. I still had Kyla in my arms she hadn't moved much.
I heard Arron come back in the closet, and say "The house is gone." His voice was trembling and full of unbelief. I couldn't understand, it all happened so fast, to hear that the house was gone just didn't register. It wasn't until I actually saw it that it began to slowly sink in.
Mrs. Crawford came into the closet and sat down amidst the children. She took Kyla who was now wanting her mother. And sat down with as many as close to her as she could. Avy asked if the house was gone. And Brooks asked if there was going to be another storm. Mrs. Crawford looked like she was on the verge of breaking down, but at that point we all were. But she was strong, I remember admiring that about both her and Bria. She calmly said to the children " Yes the house is gone. But, it doesn't matter because all of our family is safe. "The children of course didn't see how it couldn't matter, and this made them all the more upset. Mrs. Crawford must have counted heads a hundred times, which I don't blame her one bit for. When she realized that Ashton wasn't in there, she began asking where he was. Someone went and got him from the other room and he came to stand at the door to the little closet. "Just be with me." She said to him. And so he stayed for a while.
I don't remember at what point I got up to go out into the bigger closet, but I did. I wanted to see what was going on. I don't really remember what order things happened in either. But I do remember that I found out where everyone was and at some point saw Johnny Lee come to the door of the closet. Someone said when he got to the Crawford's he called out to see if we were still in there. He was afraid that no one at the Crawford's had made it. But when he did come to the door, he told us that the little ones were okay, but some of the Lees were trapped and they needed help. He had run at least half a mile, maybe more. It wasn't dark at that time, but I believe he was barefooted and it wasn't just a straight line through the field that separated the Crawford's and the Lee's. I don't know what all he had to do but I know he had to climb over debri and trees and who knows what else. I've not heard all the individual stories but I know that at this point Jesse had already left to go help somewhere. I think everyone else followed Johnny back over to his house or were already headed there. All the men anyway. I remember Bria wanting to go help because she heard the Lee's were trapped, but Mrs.Crawford wouldn't let her. So all the men went to help the Lee's, and the Boyd's, all accept the two oldest boys who had gone to help the Lee's as well, began to walk back to their house to see if it was still there. So now it was all the women and children of the Kings, Crawford's, us,along with Kevin and Wesley who would end up staying in that room for the next four hours.
In this video there is plenty of footage of the basement we stayed in. None of the actual room we stayed in, but the big room with the T.V. is where we were just before we went into separate rooms. The room at the bottom of the staircase is where the Boyd's and a few others went during the storm.
From the beginning of time, when God created the first two human beings, there has been one thing at the core of our beings. One thing that we need to receive and give in order to live happy, healthy lives. That one thing, is love. Love drives everything we do.
And we were created in the image of Christ. So you can bet that the essence of Christ Himself is love and compassion. But why do we follow Him?
1 John 4:19 says " We love Him because He first loved us."
We love Him because we know that He looked upon us when we were still covered and tarnished with the sin that we chose, holding in our hands the nails and hammer that would crucify Him. Yet He saw not the sin. Instead He saw His children who needed His help to be whole again. He saw a precious gem that He created, eternally separated from Him. And so, because love and mercy are the essence of His being, He came down and saved our soles from their fate. As well as making it possible for us to have a relationship with Him while still on earth. When we, as His creation, realize this, we see that we have nothing sufficient enough to give Him in return. And so, we give Him our hearts, devotion and all the love we can.
Now lets look into the essence of love itself. Many people think that it is a nice warm feeling you get when you meet someone you like, or someone who changes your life. But the bible has a very different definition of love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
So we clearly see that love is an action as well as a command.
Mark 12:31-32 " And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is, like, namely this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
The bible also says:
John 14:15 " If you love me keep my commandments."
So now we see the connection.We love God because He first loved us. And we follow In His Footsteps, learning how to grow in Christ and striving to keep His commandments, because we love Him.
His faithfulness, grace, kindness, and continuing love is what keeps us at His side.
Now, for the sake of those of you who were not able to read the notes I've posted on FaceBook, I've decided to follow my mothers suggestion and re post them here. Once a day, for one week. And for those of you who have already read them, there will be pictures and videos added in here and there. Here is the first......
This past week and a half has been one of the most challenging, and exhausting times I think I've ever been through. But God has taught me and everyone else around me so much through it all. I know all of you have probably been hearing a lot of tidbits of information about the whole story, so I thought I would share my side of the story. Maybe it will help clear some things up.
I don't remember being afraid when I woke up the morning of April 27th. It was 6:30 and the wind and rain was so heavy that I was startled awake. The first thing I thought was I needed to bring the dogs inside, since they are all small and four of them are puppies. (This is usually my first thought when a bad storm comes.) So when I got to the kitchen mom was there watching the storm from the sliding glass door in the kitchen. The wind was blowing so hard that the rain was literally almost sideways and coming in sheets as well. I brought in the dogs, and noticed that even from the middle of our covered porch the rain was still slapping me in the face so hard I couldn't see what I was doing. After the dogs were all safely in the laundry room I stood in the kitchen with mom, just watching. It was bad yes, but it wasn't like it was something we'd never seen before. So I went back to bed (It was too early for me) and so did mom.
When I woke up again later on that morning, the sky was clear and the sun was out. I don't think it was windy (usually I notice), just calm and sunny. Mom looked worried, so I asked her what was going on. She told me that there was a bad storm coming and that we had already lost power that morning, and that she wasn't sure what we should do. Jesse wasn't there, he had gone to run some errands that morning I think, and dad was at work. A little later on mom told me that Jesse had called and told her that he had talked to Arron Crawford, Jesse's close friend and work partner. We knew the family as well, Kelley is the mother and together they have nine children. Bria is the oldest and she had become a friend of mine and my sisters. We had gotten to know them all mostly through attending a weekly bible study that they held at the banquet hall connected to their house, called The Cedar House. Arron had told Jesse that we were welcome to come and stay in his basement to ride out the storm (as he had done many times before). We had never accepted before because we never thought it would get that bad. But this time mom was considering it.
She told me at around 12:30 that the storm would cross the Mississippi\Alabama state line at around 2:00 and that we would head to the Crawford's shorltey there after, giving us plenty of time to get there safely and it would give us a chance to call dad before he got off of work at three and tell him not to go home but to come to the Crawford's. We couldn't call from the house because we had terrible coverage there. As we were pulling out of the driveway however, Jesse was pulling in. He told us that it didn't look like it was going to be that bad and that we should probably wait. So we went back inside, Jesse plugged up the generator and we watched James Spann for a while.
I remember telling mom that if we didn't go to the Crawford's, we might regret it. I had no idea at the time just how right I was. Once Jesse got a satellite reading on his phone of just where the storm was he said that we definitely needed to go and go now. So we did. When we got to the Crawford's I felt somewhat silly, I had a backpack full of mostly books and a few other things and was carrying it into the Crawford's along with a bag of food my mom had brought. Their going to think were overreacting and nothing is probably going to happen anyway, is what I thought. When we got to the door I saw a few of the kids playing in a pool in the yard. Bria met us at the door and welcomed us in with a smile. Mrs. Crawford was sitting on a couch in the living room. They told us that they had just gotten back from the hospital because that morning, Mrs. Liveret (Kelley's dad) had a massive heart attack, they had put three stints in his heart and he was fine then. But he had been saying his goodbyes earlier that morning and didn't think he was going to make it. So for the Crawford's it had been a long and exhausting day. We all talked for a while (by the way the Liveret's lived on the same driveway as the Crawford's, just further up it.) mostly about the weather, we watched James Spann some more and after a while. When the conversation had gotten a little slow, I decided to go downstairs to the basement and watch Tangled with my younger siblings and the Crawford kids.
Her are a few pics of our house before the storm
Coming in from feeding Shadow c ;
Jesse's Shop ( Built by Jesse, Dad and others )
The Chicken Coop ( Also built by Jesse and Dad )
The car and suburban in this picture were damaged in the storm.
I tried to find some pictures of the Crawford's before the storm but I can't as of yet, so I'll post those later. As for now, these are the before pictures of ours and the afters will come later.
