Answered Prayers

Saturday:

Remember the prayer with Mrs. Liz? Well, I couldn't wait to get back to see her the next day so we packed our car with clothes, grills, charcoal, toiletry items, etc. that our family in Nashville had gathered up and we headed back. There in the yard stood Mrs. Liz without the walker she had been using the day before. I walked into the yard and she gave me the biggest hug and said "You've come back! Guess what, your prayer worked! Yesterday, my foot hurt so bad I couldn't walk on it and now after your prayer, don't you see I'm walking without even using my walker. It doesn't hurt anymore. Hun...God sure does listen to your prayers!" I couldn't contain my grin and said, "Well, we said God is the healer and he has a plan for you! By the way, I've brought you back a grill." Tears flowed down her cheeks and she said, "Hun....get that grill set up right over there under the tree and I'll start grillin' everybody hot dogs!" She continued to grill all afternoon for those who spent their day cleaning up. I just loved that even though she had a boot on her foot, she found a way to help. Although the hot dogs were a huge success, I think her most important job was passing out hugs to everyone who walked by. She called them off the street just to give them a hug. My girls went with us and sat in the back of the truck as we drove around passing out Gatorade (huge hit!), cold water, chips, and ham sandwiches. They LOVED getting to scream out the menu and running the convenient store out of the back of the truck!!! It was hilarious.

I came across this areal view of the devastation so you can better see the neighborhood... (click on photos to enlarge)

http://www.sellersphoto.com/tornado/

Next we took another grill and charcoal to Lincoln Village. Everyone was out playing in the streets or hanging out on each others porch. It was a wonderful feeling to be there, everyone was happy and enjoying the simplicity of life. People were grilling and sharing food and it really made you appreciate being without electricity since it brought the entire community together. We wanted to hang out there all day but we had one more stop to make before curfew set in.

Our final stop was taking bedding and toiletries to the Athen's Red Cross Shelter. As Owen walked up with bags of supplies, a guy asked him if he was "checkin' in." Owen smiled and said "No, just bringing a few things that the shelter requested." Then the guy said how much he appreciated the donations; his home had been wiped out with the tornado and his family was staying at the shelter. All in all, it was a great day. I felt very blessed with the opportunity to be God's hands and feet and to see Him at work.

Things I learned today...

• Charcoal grills are extremely really handy and need to be in the emergency kit.
• Electricity numbs the mind, our community, and our hearts.
• I LOVE lovin' people. It's so rewarding!
• All churches need to have a disaster team to makes mobilizing help much faster and easier.
• Disasters can shake us up and wake us up to see what is really important in our lives.
• Another mental note to keep cash on-hand at all times. Several people had checks in their pockets but no way to cash them since the banks weren't open. To make it even worse, all the stores that were opened were cash only. If we hadn't been in Nashville, we wouldn't have been able to get money ourselves.
  
• "God is Good!" "All the Time!" "That's Right!"
  

Our Prayer for Healing

Friday:

Well, we couldn't stay in Nashville when there were so many people hurting so we began the day by formulating a plan. Brad, Jill, Owen, and myself had no idea where we were going or what we would do but we packed the car with 20 cases of water and peanut butter crackers and headed out. God lead us to a little town in-between Ardmore, TN and Huntsville, AL called Harvest. As we drove around police blocked off streets of some of the most damaged areas. We stopped and asked him who needed supplies and he gave us a name of a street name that was hit hard.

This is what we saw when we pulled into the neighborhood....

One of the first families I met was Mrs. Liz and her cousin Mrs. Louis. Mrs Liz, her husband Mr. Haymon, and her grandson were in the below house when the tornado hit. Actually three tornados came through the area on Wednesday. She said Jesus touched her back and had her lay flat on the floor and that is the only reason she was not seriously injured when the chimney fell on her. As we sat in the living room of Mrs. Louis, we talked about Jesus and his greater plan for her life and how blessed she was even though everything she owned was gone. Her foot was in a boot because the chimney fell on her. She told me about what happened and how she thought she was going to drown because she was pinned to the floor when the rain and hail was coming in. Her husband was digging through the dark and the rubble to find her. I can hardly write about this because it brings such sweet tears to my eyes. I wish you could have been in the room to hear her talking with such joy in the midst of such sorrow. I asked if we could pray together and we prayed that God who is the ultimate healer would help her body heal. I'll tell you more of this story tomorrow but today I'll leave you with the below pictures so you can see for yourself what happened....

[A picture of the front of Mrs. Liz's house.]

[The back of Mrs. Liz's house.]

[Backyard at Mrs. Liz's house.]

[The house of Mrs. Liz's daughter from the road.]

[The close up photo of her daughter's house.]

Here's the rest of the neighborhood where we handed out water and crackers. While we were here, we heard they just found two more people who had died on the street where we first stopped to talk to the police officer.








Things I learned today...

• Joy can be found in sorrow.
• I can love a stranger like my own family. So much so, I didn't want to leave them. I dreamed about them all night and couldn't wait to get back.
  
• God is at work even when we don't understand the plan.
  
• Our life is just a blip.
• All the stuff we accumulate ends up a heap of useless rubble. Let it go, it's not important.
• Love God. Love Others. It's the only thing that we can take with us in our hearts.
  
• "God is good." "All the time." "That's right."
• I love being called "Hun" by a woman I've just met.
• You can get a whole crew of older men to stop working just by saying "What can I carry?" They all stopped and just stared at me. So I said "Yeah....little girls can work hard and carry things too." Then one of the men replied, "Well, I wasn't goin' to say nothin'." (It still brings a smile to my face!)
• When your passing out bottled water and crackers, you're really passing out love.
  

The Nashville Refugees

Thursday:

Today we woke up at 6:00 am and much to our surprise, the electricity did not come on in the middle of the night. Owen decided to head out to see if Walmart was open to grab some food. As the sun came up, it be came clearer how bad the storm had been the day before. While he was out we found out Tuscaloosa, AL had a F5 Tornado hit and had continued its path throughout the state. Here's the headlines regarding this day in history...

Tornado outbreak that left 342 dead was biggest in history with 226 twisters in just one day

There were more tornadoes in a single day in America last week than any other day in history. The tally in last week's outbreak came to 312 tornadoes, including a record-setting 226 in one day. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the largest previous number on record in a 24-hour period occurred on April 3-4, 1974, with 148 tornadoes.

NOAA says 334 people were killed during the 24-hour-period from 8am Wednesday to Thursday. More people were killed by tornadoes in that period since April 5-6, 1936, when 454 people died, mostly in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Gainesville, Georgia. And it was the deadliest single day for tornadoes since the March 18, 1925, tornado outbreak that had 747 fatalities across seven states.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured hard-hit neighbourhoods of Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday to offer condolences and pledge support. "This is not going to be a quick comeback or an immediate (recovery) but it will be, in my view, a complete one,' she said in shattered Smithville, Mississippi, where little was left standing. Federal officials already have said several areas are eligible for disaster relief, including 28 counties in Alabama and four in Tennessee.

Since power wasn't going to be on for 5-7 days, we decided to hit the road and head to Nashville to regroup since we didn't have food or a generator. Luckily, I had just filled up my car so we had a full tank of gas. That was such a blessing since there was no way to get gas. Brad & Jill Cox headed out of town with us. As soon as we got to Nashville we began a quest to get a emergency kit started. On the list was ammo (yep...ammo), lights, batteries, candles, weather radio, generator, gas tanks, gas, water filtration tablets, cash, and an inverter for the car were the top items on our list.

Things I Learned Today:

• I really love my family and I'm very thankful to have Owen as my best friend; we make a great team.
• I really need to be more prepared, including having groceries in the house.
• Take Jill with you when you need to shop...she's great at making the supply list. She's even better at hunting down a generator!!!
• People are a little nervous when your buying ammo, gas tanks, and batteries all at the same time. Ok, maybe a lot nervous.
  
• Generators sell out in record time, even two hours away from the damage area.
  
• When you've just tracked down one of the few generators in the town, don't park your car where it can be blocked in by desperate people.
• God calls you in times of need so get ready to rock & roll!
  

"I'll Praise You in the Storm"

Wednesday:

Today we've woken up to tornado sirens and the kids going to school two hours late. When we were to leave for school, sirens went off again so we decided to go to school late. During a break in the weather, I decided to get a run in so I headed out. The sky was blue but you could tell a storm was brewing. As I began my run, I turned on my iPod and it was set to shuffle the songs. Song #1 was "I'll praise you in the storm" and I smiled as I began the run thinking "OK God, I'm hearing you." Then song #2 begain to play, and yep...."I'll praise you in the storm" by a totally different artist. So I said "OK, God... I'm listening." Little did I know, this day would be the most unforgettable day for our state. Multiple tornados were tracked throughout the day. Several F5 tornados ripped through the southern states. I had no idea how un-prepared I was for an emergency until I can't find candles, batteries, and the only way we ate dinner is because Jill Cox had already prepared a ham and we finished the biscuits on the grill. Since the power was off and it is now dark when the tornado warning ended, we had no idea what awaited us the next morning....

View these maps and images of tornado reports on April 27, satellite images of the destruction in Tuscaloosa, and the storm rotation tracks from the storms.

This map shows Tornado Reports from April 27 (Source: NOAA NWS)


Things I Learned Today:

• Listen when God talks and pray without ceasing.
  
• Be prepared for an emergency!!!!!!!!
• Have gas and keep cash on hand at all times.