2011 Recap

December 31, 1989 was a bittersweet day for me. I recall asking my mom if 1989 would ever come back because it was my favorite year. I was so sad to learn that 1989 was in the books and would become my past. I feel the same way about 2011. It's been an amazing year, full of growth and changes in me and my life.

First and foremost, I married the love of my life on June 4. When I met Clay, I knew I'd marry him. Of course, my faith waned on occasion because of some issues (post 1, post 2, post 3) but in the end, God rewarded our obedience to Him and we FINALLY got hitched! Waiting on our time was hard, especially since my family always hinted that they thought I'd never get married. In the end, I'm so glad I waited on the man God had for me. I couldn't ask for anyone better!

I've spent the majority of my life with the typical girl mentality- girls are drama and guys are much easier to get along with. Until 2008, I had 2 girl friends who I knew would be there no matter what. Because I wanted to honor my relationship with Clay, I needed to rethink my friendships and began praying that God would bring me more girl friends. I now have a handful of quality girl friends- girls that pray with and for me, that I can spend countless hours with and conversation and laughter never stop. This year, I learned who my real friends are and I'm seriously blessed by them!

Through the tornadoes of April 27, I learned that a state divided by a heated football rivalry can come together in awesome ways when neighbors are in need. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my hometown, Cullman, and my college town, Tuscaloosa, were hit by catastrophic tornadoes on that day. I watched hundreds of people from all over the country pour into cities all over the state, removing debris, wiping tears, feeding babies and building houses. I saw the Auburn and Kent State football teams pitch in to help their on-the-field foes in rebuilding the lives and hope of the city. Most of all, I saw God's love poured out from stranger to stranger and people literally becoming the hands and feet of Jesus.

As I mentioned on my last post, my cousin Drew was in a horrific accident. Through what could have been a terrible tragedy, I saw my family draw closer together and Drew gain a new attitude. He knows God's hand was on Him and the plan for His life must be awesome! I love hearing his new positive outlook on life and every situation.

I thought I knew love before this year. After all, I have a relationship with God, am head over heels in love with my husband, and love my friends and family with every fiber of my being. Until I saw our sweet baby and heard his/her little heartbeat on November 28, I had never know a love so deep. I haven't met this child yet, but already love him/her so much it's unreal.

Alabama is back in the national championship game after a tough year. Sure, we won't know the outcome until 2012, but it's the 2011 season and the season is definitely worth mentioning, win or lose. Roll Tide!

Blessing Others

Somehow ESPN has the uncanny ability to make me cry, whether it's the story of a football player who fought cancer to get back to his team or the story of a father who wrote letters to his son before his football game every week. Yeah, I'm a sap. Don't even get me started on the annual Christmas Folgers commercials. Oh. My. Gosh.



I digress…

Last night, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team received the Disney Spirit award because of its efforts in rebuilding Tuscaloosa after the EF-4 tornado ripped through the town on April 27. Obviously, seeing images of the destruction in a town I love brings tears to my eyes; however, there is so much more to this story.

Alabama is a team full of tradition; its fans are known to be some of the most passionate in the country. The real fans support the team through losses, awful coaching decisions and even the Shula years. *shudder*



When the winds were gone and the devastation was visible, the football team put the suffering town and its people and their backs. In order to give back to the fans that had supported them for so long, they spent days upon days sorting through the rubble, recovering bodies and clearing debris. They spent countless hours rebuilding local businesses and the homes of families who were forced to begin again. They sponsored kids who had no hope and gave them something to smile about again.

As football season approached, Tuscaloosa's residents desperately needed normalcy, something to cling to when so many things were bleak. With images of the destruction and the faces of their despondent neighbors, the team set out to win. This time, they didn't work for a championship ring, but they worked for their town.

Last night, Carson Tinker, our long snapper, accepted the award on behalf of the Crimson Tide. His acceptance of the award was bittersweet. He, like so many others, lost someone he loved that day. As his house was ripped off its foundation, his girlfriend was ripped from his arms. He was thrown 100 yards, where he suffered a few injuries, including having a ligament tear from the bone in his wrist. The greatest injury of all was to his heart, when he discovered his girlfriend a few yards away, lifeless.



The point of this post isn't to highlight what my team did. I'm sure most teams around the country would do something similar in the light of tragedy. Instead, I'd like to highlight something Carson said. When asked, "What did giving back mean to you," he replied, "You know, some people asked for blessings, but we asked that we could be a blessing to the state of Alabama and the people that were affected."

There's absolutely nothing wrong with talking to God about blessing your life or the lives of those you love. For that reason, Jesus said, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9 NIV) I, for one, have no problem telling God what I desire for myself, my family or my friends. What I occasionally forget is to ask God to use me, to let me be a beacon to Him.

Asking God to use me used to be a necessary in my prayer life. With the busyness of life, that tends to slip to the optional list. Carson’s message really spoke to me. Each day, I am given the opportunity to be light to someone else. I come in contact with hundreds of people a week, many of which probably need a blessing. How different would my life be if I began incorporating the invitation for God to use me in my daily prayers? How different would the world be if we all sought out people to bless instead of blessings for ourselves?

Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

The Deadliest Day

On the morning of Wednesday, April 27, I awoke with a start. There was a loud BANG outside my window that startled me from sleep and suddenly I was aware of the incessant clinking of the wind chime on the patio. I jerked the cord on the blinds, expecting to see someone in our back yard. Instead, I was unable to see anything. The wind and rain outside my window are so intense that not even the big weeping willow tree 20 feet from the house is visible. When it finally comes in sight, the top branches are bent at such a sharp angle that they're almost parallel to the ground.

A mere 10 minutes later, the wind died down and the rain calmed. Clay and I rushed outside to see if there's any damage from the winds. What we see is astounding. The heavy patio furniture was tossed like rag dolls all over the yard and the entire neighborhood is littered with wood from broken fences, shingles, and even stray garbage cans. We discovered the loud bang in our back yard was our 5' long, super heavy grill being tossed across the yard.

After securing our belongings and inspecting our house, we drove around the neighborhood. Just thinking about the things we saw brings tears to my eyes. There were gaping holes in roofs, windows blown out, fences completely missing, doors blown off their hinges, and houses missing siding and brick. We were very fortunate because our only loss was a grill. None of the shingles littering our subdivision belonged to us.

Within the hour, we learned that a EF-1 tornado had torn through our tiny little town. The path was evident- it had gone down our side of the neighborhood, missing only our house. One man in Moody had been killed.

At the time, I didn't really blog. I want to take the time now, on the six-month anniversary of the tornadoes, to recount that day.

Thinking it was safe, Clay and I went to work. He got to work pretty easily, but the Cahaba Heights area had been hit by a tornado at the same time as the Moody tornado, so they had no power or phones (and to top it off, his iPhone was broken, so communication was impossible). As I neared downtown, my boss called me and told me to go home. She was unable to get out of her house in Cahaba Heights and didn't want to risk me being out with the threat of worse weather.

James Spann, a very popular meteorologist in our area, warned that this was just the tip of the iceberg and to expect "a very bad day." Still now, 6 months later, I can hear those words ringing in my ears and the thought sends chills down my spine.

I went home and began working on wedding favors. Shortly thereafter, Clay arrived, safe and sound. He immediately turned on the news and there is no talk of local news or sports. Where anchormen typically sit, meteorologists are everywhere, warning people to seek shelter and secure their belongings. Being that we live in tornado alley, we're used to these warnings and usually brush them off. The urgency in their voices and actions caught my attention. I tried to occupy my time keeping busy, but then I heard the name of my hometown on the news.

I sat in front of the TV watching a camera that was posted on the water tower in Cullman. I am very familiar with the area, as my uncle has worked in the water tower for more than a decade. I watched the horizon turn from a calm, ugly, gray to a disastrous, gray funnel. As the tornado formed, James Spann commented on where the tornado was going. As he spoke, I was able to determine what it was hitting... and destroying. The first picture of the destruction was my home church, First United Methodist Church of Cullman. The church was built in 1923 and was constructed of stone. Beautiful stained glass windows encompassed the church.
BEFORE

AFTER



Cullman had a ton of damage from sustaining the winds of 6+ tornadoes, including one EF-5. Many decades old business were destroyed and hundreds of people were forced to rebuild their homes and piece together their lives. Fortunately, God's hand was over the county because no one lost their life. Buildings can be rebuilt and vehicles replaced.

This is the back of the house I grew up in. It stood in the historic district as it was built in the early 1900's. The building to the right is the garage and garage apartment, which was my playroom. The house was torn down after slipping from its foundation.

Roughly three hours later, they cut to a shot of Tuscaloosa, where I went to college. The town is another one that is dear to my heart. Clay and I hear Spann say there's a tornado on the horizon and think it must be a small one because we can't see it. That's when they zoom the camera out and it's obvious the entire horizon is a tornado. They estimated this tornado was a mile and a half wide when it came into Tuscaloosa.



This video will show a little of what we saw.


The tornado ripped through heavy commercial and residential areas. Thousands of people lost everything they had. Forty-one people were killed, including 6 students at the University of Alabama. While the damage is terrible, it would have been much greater had the EF-4 tornado hit the University of Alabama, where many students live or had sought shelter from the storm.

Driving through Tuscaloosa is almost unbearable. Where buildings once housed businesses I frequented in college, there is now piles of wood and brick. It's hard to even remember what stood where. Clay's best friends from high school lost their house, but were protected by a parking deck at the hospital. A member of our football team huddled in a closet with his girlfriend, his arms wrapped tightly around her. The house was picked up and rolled over half a mile, throwing everyone out. He suffered broken bones and his girlfriend was killed. Clay's college roommate's best friend lost her life.

This site has satellite images of before and after pictures. You can drag the blue bar between the two sides to see the full picture before and after.


Krispy Kreme was destroyed.


15th Street, before and after


A better view of 15th Street, which used to be a thriving area, full of buildings. These buildings blocked the view from McFarland Blvd to DCH Hospital. Now you can see the hospital as soon as you get on McFarland.


A small shopping center at the corner of McFarland and 15th. Everything was destroyed (including the tux shop that we ordered the tuxes for part of wedding party at. Eep!)

The tornado moved out of Tuscaloosa after what seemed like an eternity and headed toward Birmingham. Meteorologists warned that it would hit downtown, which would have been a major hit to our city. At the last minute, it turned and hit Pleasant Grove and surrounding areas. These areas were completely destroyed. The path continued East, where Clay and I were. James Spann warned it was either going to hit Trussville or Moody.

With no underground shelter to go to, we reverted to the lesson that you get in a closet in the innermost part of your house. We began stacking pillows in our guest bathroom. We practiced getting ourselves and the girls in the linen closet so if we had to do it, we'd know how to position ourselves and wouldn't freak Jenna out too bad. We put our shoes on and put all important papers in my purse, which stayed on my shoulder. We put harnesses on the girls and leashes were in the closet so they could be attached quickly. Fortunately, the tornado headed toward Trussville, where it lifted off the ground. After moving past Trussville, it hit the ground again and stayed there as it passed through northern Georgia.

The 2011 Super Outbreak, which spanned from April 25 to April 28, affected the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern parts of the country. Over 336 tornadoes touched down in 21 states. An estimated 346 people were killed nationwide. April 27 was the deadliest tornado day since 1925 with 292 tornadoes on the ground in 16 states.

Like I said, we live in tornado alley in north/west Alabama. We hear a lot of tornado warnings but are very accustomed to thinking meteorologists are crying wolf. Now, many Alabamians shudder at the sound of thunder and get nervous when wind swirls leaves in the street. The thought of a thunderstorm sending blood pressure through the roof.

I had always had empathy for those affected by nature's devastation, but you don't understand the real impact until it happens to you. Fortunately, my family and friends were not included in the loss of life statistic.

April 27, 2011 is a day that will live with me forever. I saw mass destruction and felt so many emotions. I cried... a lot. I still cry when I see pictures or discuss the events of the day. My tears come for many reasons: the destruction is heartbreaking and I feel for those who lost so much.

Most of all, I cry because of the blessings that came in disguise. God spared my family and friends and for that, I am eternally grateful. Our communities have banded together in such a way that many towns have been completely cleared of debris and rebuilding efforts have begun. FEMA came into Tuscaloosa two weeks after the disaster and were blown away by the progress. They stated that in two weeks, more had been done in Alabama than was done in 6 months after Katrina. Good ol' boys got to work and got things going!

My emotions go into overload when fences come down. Auburn and Kent State football players have come down to help with cleanup and rebuilding. Auburn fans actually built a website, Toomer's for Tuscaloosa, that connected thousands of volunteers from all over the country to our cities in need. They have been responsible for organizing one of the largest efforts and been so much help.

Six months have passed since that terrible day and so much progress has been made, but there is still so much to be done. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

One lesson so many of us have learned- don't ever take anything for granted. Enjoy your possessions, but don't forget they're just things and are fleeting. Instead of holding material possessions dear, make those things that matter, like friends and family, a priority. You could wake up on any given day without them.

Thank you, Lord, for your protection, for keeping my friends and family safe. Thank you for the lessons learned and for the people who have unselfishly given their time and resources to help complete strangers in need. You're in control of rebuilding- of lives and buildings- and I can't wait to see what you have in store!