sunshine & hot air balloons

This weekend I decided to enjoy the perfect weather and lay out. Toby enjoyed it too!

And today on my way home from work, I saw this hot air balloon at a State Farm office on Taylor Road. Desperate for customers??

winter wonderland!

This is what we woke up to this morning!

{please excuse my sleepy eyes & absence of makeup...I just woke up}

{Toby enjoyed the snow!}

anniversary

As I sit here in my warm, cozy, comfortable home, it's hard for me to believe that one year ago this house was unliveable. After a year, you tend to forget emotions that come about because of a traumatic event, but today I've tried to think back to the events that unfolded the day the tornado ripped through Prattville and damaged our home. {Click here to read my post about it.} Being here in the house when it hit was literally the scariest moment of my life. The thoughts that ran through my mind during the 30-45 seconds that it took for the storm to blow through ranged from "what is happening?" to "I'm going to die." I know that sounds dramatic, but the fear of death literally went through my mind. It's so hard to believe that at this time last year, my house looked like this {minus the light, since the power was still out at this time}:

{so much glass...EVERYWHERE...}

{these pictures don't do the mess justice. it was just such a MESS.}

Growing up in the south, we have always had thunderstorms & severe weather & tornado warnings. I never really got scared before. After all, what were the odds that a tornado would actually hit my house? Well, after it happened, I now have a healthy fear of severe weather. {Ok, so maybe in the few weeks right after the tornado hit, it was more of a paranoia, but now I think it's a healthy fear.} And I am just so thankful that God protected the people in this city the day that storm hit. Baron & I were VERY blessed to only have "minor" damage to our house. {"Minor" is a relative term...it seemed major to us until we saw other people's houses.}

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to check the batteries in my weather radio, as Rich Thomas has just informed me of some severe weather in the area later tonight. ;-)

tornado videos

Here are a couple of videos of the tornado that hit Prattville. It's pretty crazy to watch it. And speaking of crazy...what's up with the guy standing OUTSIDE to video the tornado??? Idiot. But I am intrigued to watch his video. :-)

Ryan's Steakhouse and Bass Pro Shop video surveillance

typical lazy sunday afternoon...or not...

What did you do Sunday afternoon?

Ours started out pretty typical. After church we went to lunch with friends. I had a bridal shower at the church at 2:00, but I didn't stay long & we headed home pretty soon after that. We were pulling into our neighborhood at about 2:30, and the sirens started going off. Now, if you live in the south, you know that tornado sirens are not an uncommon occurrence, so we are usually not alarmed by the sirens. But for some reason, I found myself starting to get a little scared. We got to the house & turned the TV to WSFA as we usually do. Rich Thomas was giving his typical "severe weather" spill about getting to your safe place, etc., but we ignored him as usual. After watching the weather for a couple of minutes, I started to become frightened. I turned to Baron & said "Would you make fun of me if I went to the closet?" He just laughed & said no.

So I got the radio & made my way to the closet. When I got there, I realized the radio was missing 2 batteries, so I went to get more, only to discover we had no more. "Forget it," I thought, and I started back to my safe place. When I got to our bedroom, Baron was walking in behind me & we heard stuff hitting the house. The next minute is kind of a blur to me, but I remember my ears popping, scrambling to get Toby, running to the closet in our bathroom, and stuffing ourselves into the closet. I kept saying "my ears are popping...I'm scared..." and then, after about 45 seconds of very loud noises & nothing that sounded like a freight train, it was over.

Baron opened the closet door. We heard a rattling noise, and I realized it was the bedroom door, which we had closed. I thought perhaps the wind had blown one of the doors open. Baron walked out into the house, and I heard him gasp & I'm pretty sure say "holy crap." At that point I was wondering if we even had a house. I walked out & saw what I definitely did not expect. In hindsight, it was not that bad. But at the time, when you think you will just walk back into your house & it will be the same, it was devastating for me. I just couldn't believe it happened. After surveying the damage, I just didn't know what we were supposed to do. So I did like I always do in a crisis & I called my dad. Only my mom answered the phone. I told her what just happened & she said she would wake up my dad. (What? He was sleeping??? How could he sleep when a tornado just hit my house?? Apparently Montgomery wasn't having the bad weather.) So my parents got to my house as soon as they could, followed by Helen & Anthony and Jim Clarke shortly thereafter. They helped us clean up, which was a tremendous blessing at the time. (Thank y'all so much!!!!!)

Anyway, this story is way too long so I'll stop rambling. The moral of this story is that God was truly watching over us & over our house. We are unharmed, our house only has minor damage, and in the entire community of Prattville, there were no fatalities. Thank you, God, for sparing so many lives!

So...here are some pics from the damage. You can see lots more on the Montgomery Advertiser's website.

{our chimney on the ground}

{mailbox turned around}

{broken window on Baron's car}

{what shingles + 140 mph wind will do to your car}

{the trashed living room...including broken glass everywhere}


{breakfast room w/ broken windows}


{more of the breakfast room}

{window screen, shingles, glass, dirt, etc...}

{apparently the plastic cup, bills, & checkbook could withstand the winds :-)}

{dining room}

{two houses around the corner from us. we were very blessed!}