As everyone knows, the tornadoes that tore through our sweet home of Alabama and many of our other neighboring states left behind massive devastation. They didn't just touch one town, one city, or one county in our state. This destruction is state wide.
I actually lost a dear friend from these storms.
Jennifer was with me when I experienced my first wreck after sliding my mom's 1994 Ford Explorer into a guard rail on New Years Day 2001. We had snow and ice move in on New Year's Eve and although I wasn't suppose to go anywhere but home, I attempted to take her home after our spend the night party at Jami's. Needless to say we didn't make it. I remember begging her to get out of the car to inspect because I was too scared to look. I will never forget the look on her face when she told me there was no way we were hiding the damage from my parents.
I will also never forget the time she came to school and told me that she met this really cute 17 year old country boy who drove a huge green pick up truck. His name was Heath Waldrop. She was going to try to get Lauren to hook them up ;) I'm almost positive she forgave me!
She was hilarious! We shared a love for Dumb and Dumber, had very similar backgrounds, cheered together, and shared a best friend who we occasionally fought over. She was a Christian and loved the Lord. She isn't just 1 out of the over 250 confirmed deaths in the State of Alabama. She was my friend and she will definitely be missed.
Shelby County was in the line of fire twice on Wednesday night. As Heath and I took cover in my parents basement we paced back and forth as the Chief Meteorologist called out our county. That is when I began praying hard. To be honest, I wasn't just praying, I was begging the Lord to protect my loved ones. At this point, it was apparent that these tornadoes were relentless. It didn't matter if you were in a basement, interior room, or safe place. They were leveling homes and demolishing the foundations. We listened as they approached Pelham, Alabaster, Montevallo, Wilsonville, Chelsea, and then our town, and even the street we live on. It then went on into Pell City and beyond. We love someone DEARLY in all of those cities and so many other places that were nearly hit. We knew the tornadoes were massive, however, we didn't know if they were actually touching the ground. We imagined the worse and prayed for the best.
I've seen this picture floating around Facebook. This is Chelsea, AL which is maybe 15 miles from our driveway. At this point the tornado is not touching the ground. It was a wall cloud almost the whole way through Shelby County. It didn't touch back down until it reached St. Claire County.
Massive doesn't describe this. We could have easily experienced the destruction, the loss, and the heartbreak that many other of our fellow Alabamians feel. God had His hand over us and answered our prayers.
I have had a really hard time dealing with this. I'm having a really hard time talking about it and listening to it. I feel so blessed yet so undeserving.
