Marches In Like a Lion...

The other day I mentioned our unseasonably

warm temperatures....

thinking it would turn cold and we would have 

a big snow storm in March or something.

Well, we had the something...

This photo was taken from the fire station that is

about a 1/2 mile north of my house.

This Tornado hit near my house...

Four streets away...

Waaaaay too close for comfort!

Friday morning the weather men were telling us that  

we were going to have storms later in the afternoon.

Children would be home from school 

and they were keeping an eye on things...

We were going about our day as usual,
Jackson and I were at home, watching his morning cartoons.

  Austin called from school around 8:30

and said he really needed me to bring him something that he

needed for Science class that day.

I told him I would be happy to and asked him what time he needed

it by...he said as long as I got there before 10 he would be OK.

I explained that there was a "little thunderstorm" headed our way

and after that it would be clear and I would bring him the things he 

needed.  I told him I just didn't want to have to drag Jackson out in the poring 

down rain.  As soon as it passed. we would be on our way.

Well....

I jumped in and out of the shower and thought

I would at least try and make myself presentable

since I would have to walk into the office...

So, I took my shower and started to get ready...
put my shoes on and got Jackson dressed.

I told Jackson as soon as the rain stopped,
we were going to school for a minute to take something
to Austin.  Jackson was excited...he loves to go and visit the
ladies in the office.

I was a little on edge because of the Tornado outbreak we had
last April, so I knew to be weather aware...later that afternoon...
but for some reason I decided I would check the radar one more
time before we headed up to school.

Let me stop and tell you that
we have the best weather men around!
When the weather is "unstable" they are constantly popping in
on the TV and giving us updates...
they are awesome about posting updates to Facebook,
and we also keep a NOAA weather radio plugged in at all times.
Our weather men have programs that can stack the storms and can tell us
specific times that the storms will get to our neighborhood and even have
maps of the area and can tell us street by street if necessary where
a storm is going.  When I logged on to check that last time,
the weather man was "watching a spot of possible rotation" on the radar.
As the radar would sweep around, the spot would be there and then it would
be gone...next sweep it would be back...then gone again.

I decided that I would go and look out Jackson's window to see
what the clouds were doing.  Not that I would have any idea
what I was looking at, I thought I would look just the same.

As I sat there and watched I noticed the rain start to curve as it came down to the
ground...and the clouds began to spin...and drop down....
I thought to myself "is that what I think it is"
and before the thought went through my mind, it was gone...

And then it came back....
I didn't wait around to see if that was
what I thought it was.

I ran back to my room where Jackson was,
scooped him under one arm and yanked the computer out
of the wall and started to run.

About the time I hit the top of the stairs,
the power went out.

I have never run down those stairs faster
in my life!

We jumped into the storm shelter and waited for a few minutes
to let the storm pass by.

While sitting there trying not to completely FREAK OUT
holding Jackson I realized I had no flashlight,
no phone and a computer that no longer worked because
as soon as the power goes off...so does my router!

I peeked out of the door and saw that it was not raining
and the sun had started to come out, so I ran upstairs
to grab my cell phone and a flashlight,

About the time that I got back downstairs,
Leisa called me...
I think our conversation went a little like this...

Leisa:  "Um, What was THAT?"

Me:  "THAT was a TORNADO!!!!!!"

Leisa:  "But we are not under a Warning, not even a Watch...
I thought it was the garbage truck...and then the house started to whistle"
(looks out front window)
"Oh no, my neighbors have no roof....there are no roofs"

TOTAL FREAK OUT BEGINS!!!!

As I sat there in the dark, with no way of knowing what was next,
I have never been more scared or felt more helpless in my life.

All I wanted was to go and get Austin from school.
I had no idea if more was coming or if were were in the clear...
what to do, what to do...

About this time in my thought process, Scott called...
He was beginning to hear reports at work and called to check on us.
He was able to look up the radar and said there was another
storm coming, after that, go get Austin...

Meanwhile, Leisa is trying to get out of her garage to come to my house
to hang out underground, but can not get the garage door open.
With no power, the garage door openers had to be disengaged and lift the
door up on your own.  She could not get the door open by herself so off
to the closet she went to ride out the next storm.

When it was clear, I loaded up Jackson and headed to her house to pick her up,
and then on to school to pick up Austin.

I was able to get my garage door open,
but tore it up in the process,
not to mention that I almost took off the lower section,
because I didn't get it raised up completely and the luggage rack on
top stared to take it with us...
luckily I stopped in time to NOT take the door with me.

The photo below is of a house in the Canebreak Subdivision.
The house you see that back of, that is still standing...
that is Leisa's neighbor...
it was that close to her house and she had no idea
what was going on...
We were under a Sever Thunderstorm Warning...
but this Tornado came without warning...




There were about 15-20 homes in this subdivision that were damaged
and this storm went on to travel across Limestone County
and into Madison County and then out of the state.

We were under Tornado Watches and Warnings until
around 10 o'clock last night...

Luckily, no more storms came this close to our house.
We are very thankful that the only loss was material.
No one lost their life in our area on Friday.

There were so many horrific storms this last week
that have destroyed so much property
and have taken so many lives...

So many are hurting,
so many full of sorrow...

Praying this month Marches out like a Lamb....