Just Roll With It!: April 2011

This is how I've been feeling since Wednesday afternoon. As all of you know a tornado came through and destroyed (there is no other word for it) Tuscaloosa. Wednesday morning the day started as any other Wednesday except the rumor of bad weather coming. City and County schools went ahead and cancelled, but because I teach at a private school we didn't cancel school as quickly. All morning whispers of the weather floated around, "It's supposed to get really bad, worse than anything we've seen." OK Josh and I have a name for the weather scene up here in t-town, it's called "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." I say this because at least twice a month we hear about how bad the weather is going to be, or there's a tornado warning get in you safe place, but nothing ever happens. So that was the attitude I had Wednesday. By 1:00 that afternoon I was getting a little scared, thankfully Josh was able to come home and be with me and the boys (Bounce & Shadow). On a side note, Bouncer is going insane! You know how they say animals have a sense when bad weather is coming, I totally believe this because he was pacing, shaking, always close by. Josh and I were glued to the TV all afternoon waiting for this "bad weather," and about 3:00 is when it all began. Josh and I were still skeptical but we got into our bedroom closet with the dogs and turned the TV up so we could hear what was going on. We sat inside there for at least 20 minutes when we heard James Spann say, "Oh my gosh this thing is huge!" I was too scared to get out because I was afraid what I might see and we also didn't know if we were still in the path. 30 seconds later he says that Northport was safe, so I sat on the bed and watched this massive tornado just swirl across the screen. I had so many feelings during that time, one you're in awe because I have never seen a tornado live and at the same time my heart is breaking because you know there are people in the path of this thing. In what seemed like hours (and it was only minutes) the tornado was gone. That is when the real heartache began. Josh and I along with everyone in the Tuscaloosa area wanted to see what the damage was. The roads were so tied up that you couldn't get anywhere near the path of the storm. Everyone had the same look on their faces: shock, worried, sadness. There was nothing we could really do because it was starting to get dark, so we went back home. Needless to say I didn't sleep to well that night. All I could think was that it could have been our home turned into rubble, were the people missing ok, were the people who lost their lives Christains...so many thoughts ran through my mind.
Thursday morning school was cancelled for me and Josh's work didn't have power so we decided to see if we could get close to where the tornado hit. We decided to ride through a neighborhood called Rosedale not even thinking that the tornado came right through there. We were in total shock! Houses were destroyed, cars thrown around, homes with no walls, but books still sitting in the bookshelves or TVs still in the their stands but everything else gone. There were tons of people walking around with chainsaws helping strangers cut trees down so they could get to their homes. We got behind a man riding around handing bottled water to police officers and people going through the rubble. It touched my heart so much to see the way people were working together. We finally made our way to Midtown Village to the corner of 15th Street and McFarland. It was so quiet and so eerie... there were tons of people walking around and looking, but no one was making a sound. To know that places like Full Moon Bar- B-Que was diminished to nothing but shards of glass and pieces of concrete and wood broke my heart.
Because of this my faith has been tested. I don't know when my last breath will be, no one does. I do know that I want my walk with Christ to be stronger than ever. Life is something that can be over in the blink of an eye, and if you aren't right with the Lord... well you need to be. I encourage everyone to look at themselves and ask, "Am I walking the path that I should be?" I know that at times I start to veer off that path, but then the Lord does something to grab my attention like "Hello! Over here!!" It gets so easy to take the "easy way out" but I am reminded that Jesus didn't get the "easy way out." My prayer is that as each day goes by my faith and walk with Christ gets stronger. I ask that you keep my accountable for my actions and if you would like I will do the same for you. I could always use a Christain hand to help me through my days. I also ask that you help the victims of this horrible storm. Either by a donation, volunteering, or even prayer. I leave you now with some pictures I took the other day. They do not do justice to what it really looks like around here.

This is the tornado siren leaning over the street.

It's crazy to know a tornado can bend steel polls like this.

This used to be Big Lots, now it's just a pile of rubble.

This is a Full Moon Bar-B-Que van. The other van was across the street inside a gas station.

And that he did! I told you last week that Josh and I were headed to Dallas, TX to see Zac Brown and Kenny Chesney. Our flight was supposed to leave late Thursday afternoon however our flight was delayed and we didn't get to Dallas until around 10:00. The flight was quiet bumpy because of all the bad weather around. We stayed here:

It was super nice and we had a great view of the "Grassy Knoll" where JFK was shot.

Josh and I standing on the "X" where JFK was shot. Also in the background is the building where the shooter stood.
Did you notice the huge ball beside our hotel?

This is the Reunion Tower & see up there at the top? That's Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Wolf wasn't there but we did see some very interesting people.

Enjoying a $15 drink at Wolfgang Puck's place
While in Texas we made the hour long train ride (which is my new favorite way to travel) to Ft. Worth to The Stockyards. My parents had been there before and told me all the places we needed to see and of course the "Cattle Run."

The wind was crazy! I felt like a "showdown" was going to occur!

These Longhorns were so awesome to see up close and I even got to pet one :)
I also got to have a margaria on a saddle! Yes you heard me, drinking a delicious margarita while sitting on a saddle! Here's proof: