Easter Eggs and Tornadoes!

Well This has been a very eventful weekend! It started with Good Friday tornadoes here in Murfreesboro. I am used to hearing tornado sirens go off because of growing up in Nebraska so severe weather really does not scare me, it more like excites me. I love storms. But this storm hit way too close to home. The tornado lasted 26 minutes and traveled 15 miles destroying about 100 of homes and damaging hundreds more. It claimed the life of a mother and her 9 week old baby and severely injured at least 30 people. The damage is just devastating. I have to admit. I get excited I the thought of tornadoes, I love to see them and they just amaze me. But when they get this close to home it just makes me sick. The devastation is right in the path to Ethan's preschool and I catch myself tearing up the entire ride there just thinking of what our city is going through right now and what those who were affected have to go through.

I heard the most AMAZING survival story though today when I dropped Ethan off a preschool. One of the little girls in his class was with her mother driving through the neighborhood where the tornado formed. The tornado formed almost right over their van. She told of how she drove and drove trying to get away until the wind was just too much and she decided it would be better just to stop the van and take cover. She unbuckled her little girl from her car seat, threw her over her lap and ducked on top of her to keep any flying projectile from crashing through the car window and killing her daughter. As she looked out her window she could see the tornado directly above her, debris flying EVERYWHERE. She saw an AC unit literally 25 feet from her car sucked up and thrown and a truck was overturned in the lawn to her right. Her car rocked so violently that she prepared to roll at any moment. Then it was all over! They were ok. Amazingly that tornado ripped up AC units, flipped over cars just FEET away from her yet she and her daughter were spared with only a bumpy ride. A tree had also fallen just feet behind their car just missing them. I thank God that their lives were spared and they walked away without a scratch. What a horrific experience to have to go through.

Here are some photos of just a TINY bit of the devastation that took place here in Murfreesboro on the afternoon of April 10, 2009. These are just the photos that I took while driving. I am also attaching a YouTube photo montage of the devastation and photos of the actual tornado. It is just heart wrenching to watch this and know what hundreds of people are having to overcome at this time. See the YouTube video HERE.






WELL On a happier note. The day after that We decorated eggs and tried to get back to a normal life. We know that other families were not as fortunate as us to be able to have a normal Easter though. We did show the kids the damage and remind them of those who need our support right now but tried to keep our life as normal s possible. We also invited one of Kylie's friends over who has never decorated eggs before because her Mother is from Mexico and has never celebrated an "American" Easter. It was a great/fun experience for the kids.