April's Fury

April 27th, 2011 ~ My husband was at work, my children and I were at home. We live in an upstairs apartment, so I had a bag ready for them in case we had to leave. My daughter who was 2 at the time, said she needed her bible & wouldn't let go of it. At one point my husband called me and said that a tornado was on the ground & for us to get downstairs to the laundry room where we would be safe. I went and looked out the kitchen window and watched as the tornado headed northeast. Probably a stupid thing to do,but I didn't feel like we were in danger since it was traveling in the opposite direction. The power went out & my husband was held over after his shift was over. He came home from work almost 7 hours late. The babies went from room to room trying to make the t.v.'s and the lights work. They kept telling me to fix it, not understanding that it was something that was completely out of my control. They also didn't understand the whole candle thing & kept blowing them out. The whole house felt hot and sticky. The next morning I packed a bag to go stay with my brother and his family. There was no way I could stay at home for days with two toddlers, and no power. I ended up staying there for five days before my husband called to tell me that we had power again. During the almost two hour drive to my brothers house all I could see was tornado damage, literally in every town I drove through. I was low on gas, and due to the power being out couldn't find an open gas station. I ended up parked on the side of the road in Snead waiting for my brother to bring gas for me and the babies. During my stay with my brother's family, I went to Shoal Creek to see the damage there. It was like a war zone. My sister-in-law and I bought items to donate to the victims, and went there and passed them out. Sunday I went to church with them, and sat there crying after all I had seen in the pat few days with full gratitude that all of my family was safe. My husband was put on 12 hour shifts, with no regular lunch hour, and off days were taken away. Its the longest time I have ever been away from my husband in the entire time that I have known him. Once I was back home, I realized that the food in the freezer and fridge was spoiled. Rotten meat,eggs,etc. is something I never want to clean up again. The blood from the meat in the freezer, ran all the way down inside the fridge. It smelled dreadful, and took a good month to get rid of the smell! I felt like I needed to do something more. I cleaned out all of our old clothes to donate, and took them to the donation center. I helped volunteer with the fire department, helping to clean up debris. I cried because seeing it in person is nothing like seeing it on the news. So this made me realize something.... why do most of us wait until a tragedy happens to try and do a good deed? Why do we all not volunteer more often? Why don't we donate to the needy more? I have made it a point in my life to be a better person all the time,not just sometimes. Donate blood, donate food to the food bank. Donate old clothes, or anything no longer wanted to a charity. You never know who you are helping, or how much of an impact it makes on their lives.

Arab,AL

                                     the line to get gas was over 2 miles long

                                          Shoal Creek

                                             Shoal Creek

                               items that my sister-in-law & I bought to donate to the storm victims

                                                  God Bless America!!!!

  Harvest,AL I took this photo while helping the fire department during storm clean up.

 This family was definitely grateful to be alive! This sign brought tears to my eyes!{Harvest,AL}