April 27th, 2011 "April's Fury"

April 27^th did not start off like any other Wednesday morning. I woke up to a phone call at 5:20 AM from Jared saying there was a bad storm coming and the thunder had woken him up. He suggested I may need to leave earlier than usual for work, so I needed to get up and get ready. As soon as I got out of the shower the power cut off and the storm came. I lay back down with my hair in a towel waiting for power to come back. By 7:00 there was still no power at my house and it was time to leave. I was driving out to Hwy 280 to work in Inverness and little did I or my sleepy town know what would come later. As I got off on 280 the traffic stalled. This was not unusual, but today was heavier than normal. Eventually we weren’t even moving. Assuming there was a wreck, I called my boss to let him know I might be late. Two hours later I had moved less than a mile. There was a tree down across the highway from the morning storm. I turned around and headed home. It was a beautiful sunny morning (always beautiful after a storm) so I thought this would be a great opportunity to be lazy and get some sun, so I headed to Jared’s to go to the pool (his office lost power and he didn’t have to go in to work that day). Ended up not laying out, but took a nap and then went to get some food. We heard that bad weather was on its way, but still did not have power. Around 2 o’clock it popped back on just in time for us to catch the tornado going through Cullman, AL and then to my beloved alma mater, Tuscaloosa. I couldn’t believe my eyes watching the EF-4 tornado (as we would later find out) tear through Cullman, and I wasn’t expecting what was next. Tornado warnings ALWAYS sound off and NOTHING bad ever happens (at least where I have always been). We would get some heavy rain in Tuscaloosa, strong winds, but never an actual tornado (while I was there at least). For four years I called Tuscaloosa home. I grew up there. I found myself and the best friends that I could ever have. As I sat helplessly in Pleasant Grove watching James Spann tell everyone there that the tornado  was on the ground and to get to a safe place immediately all I could do was pray. I prayed a hand and protection over each one of my friends and their homes. I was texting my best friend Rachel and she said they were heading to the bathroom, it was getting bad. My heart just sank. I was watching it on the ground and watching it tear through a place that I loved. As it passed through Tuscaloosa, I got a phone call, “We are okay, it missed us.” And this is where it gets worse. The tornado that went through “T-town” was heading our way, still on the ground. Concord, Alabama was another victim, and most of this small town was destroyed. My friend, one of my brother’s best friends, lost everything. The tornado came and ripped through his home throwing him and his wife away from it in separate directions. They had gotten in the bathtub, he was holding on to her as tight as he could. The next thing he knew, he could not find his wife and was buried with rubble. Garrett was found and rushed to the hospital. It wasn’t until Thursday evening, Friday morning that they knew Jennifer did not make it. After the tornado went through Concord and Hueytown, it went were I never imagined it would go. It tore its way right through my hometown of Pleasant Grove. I wasn’t at home. I was at Jared’s. The power cut off and I was told to get in the basement. The air outside was so still. We could see from the garage window, a piece of debris falling out of the sky. The trees were still, and it was quiet. Then you heard the most eerie sound, a distant train coming closer. The wind picked up, and more debris was coming down. The tornado was in my town. It was moments from destroying what I called home for 23 years. The storm came over us, and within moments it was gone. We walked outside and there was a tree across the driveway. There were broken trees in the backyard. Across the street a tree was on a house. I immediately started calling. My grandmother in Hueytown was fine; she had not even lost power. MY best friend since 6^th grade (who lives across the street) was at home. I had to know they were okay. She said that it was bad. They were fine, but it was bad. “Danielle, your house is still standing, but I think there is some damage.” I hurt. I was scared. I knew talking to Brandi, that she was okay, but I had to see her. And I had to see my home. Andrew came by in his truck on the upper road because we could not get out of the driveway, and we headed into a nightmare. None of us were expecting the damage that we came up on.

I live behind North Side Park, Jared lives near the main Pleasant Grove Park. It should take less than five minutes to get from one house to the other. It took longer. Traffic was crazy. Homes were gone; neighborhoods wiped out, and people everywhere. We had to park and walk. A man was stuck in his home under the rubble; a group of men were trying to get him out. Jared and Andrew went over. They found a two by four to pry the wall up that had the man trapped. When they lifted it, he squeezed through the small opening they made him, shouting, “You are all angels, my guardian angels, oh thank you, bless you. . .” He was thankful to be alive. A woman came up from around a tree, “We need a nurse, we need to get a child to the hospital, and his neck is hurting.” People were everywhere, checking houses, what was left of houses, looking for people, and searching for their belongings. We walked through what was once someone’s backyard. When we made it to the road I looked around and didn’t know where I was. I was on Dogwood Lane. A road I traveled every day. It is the road that takes you to my house, and the houses were destroyed. It took my breath away, I couldn’t have imagined it. Homes I passed everyday for 23 years were flattened or destroyed. A little further down the road homes were still standing, but damage and trees were everywhere. Walking down the hill were several trees blocking the road. Determined to make it home we started climbing through. We made it to 5^th Avenue (the road before mine) and I could see trees, power lines, and poles down all over. Neighbors were walking around in shock. Yet none of us had even seen the worst of it. At the first left, I was finally home. Leigh Ann and Brandi were walking up the street. Immediately I ran to Brandi and just hugged her. Tear filled friends couldn’t do much more than stand for a while embraced thankful for each other being safe and alive. I walked down to my house and my heart started racing. It was standing. It was fine. There was metal in the driveway from a building up the road, there was a broken window, maybe a few roofing shingles missing, and part of a fence was down with the top of our tree on it. Other than that my home sweet home was fine. I packed a few clothes and heading back out. It was too hot and too dark to stay there, and way too scary.

The morning of April 27^th, 2011, something amazing happened. And I truly believe that God answered all of my prayers that day. When I got the 5:20 phone call that morning something inside of me knew something big was coming and something big was going to happen. As soon as I got off the phone with Jared, I started praying, and I was praying for specifics. I asked God to lay His hand on my house, family, my brother's and their families and homes, my grandmother, the Creel’s house and family, Mr. Meredith’s house and him (next door), and Eric and his house (the other next door). I asked a specific prayer and protection over each of them and our homes. The tornado destroyed everything maybe 200 yards away from us, yet we suffered little. I prayed a specific prayer over Jared and each of his family members and their homes. I also prayed for my parents (they were at the lake in Riverside, AL just a short distance from Moody and Pell City) and our house there.

While the tornado was ripping through my beloved town of Tuscaloosa I prayed for my old roommates and the place they were (the tornado went passed them, and destroyed homes and neighborhoods right next to them), my friends Jackie, Andrew, Rachel, Bradley and several others and their apartments. . . They were all okay. God had his hand in that storm. I am not saying that my prayers were answered and no one else’s were, but I know God heard me that morning as I prepared and cried out to him. He protected the ones that I love. I’ll be forever thankful for that moment and early phone call.

The next day the cleaning began. No one that I knew went to work that Thursday. My road was still blocked off by trees, and the town was in shambles. We drove around, where we could, to see the damage and started helping where we could. Most places you had to walk, so we took off on foot. We had several members of our church lose everything in this tornado. But each of their lives was spared. The places they were, that they didn’t usually go to during a storm for some of them, were the only areas of their home left standing. The Ferguson’s were under their porch in their basement (they usually went to a different corner of the basement), the porch is the only part of the house that is where it should be. The Ammon’s left their home. Their initial plan was to be in a closet in the center of the home. The items of that closet were found intertwined within the branches of an uprooted tree that lay across their yard. They made the decision last minute to go to the Creel's house and get in their basement across the street from my house. Several stories we kept hearing from so many people. SO many people have incredible testimonies from this storm, things that they will never forget, stories of how only God could have saved them, how only God could have protected them and surrounded them as their home was torn away by an EF-4 tornado.

Pleasant Grove was flooded with so many volunteers, food, clothing, drinks, waters, and other items that our church looked like a supermarket. It was incredible to me to see the way people came together and took leadership positions organizing, cleaning, separating, and spending their time helping and caring for those who had little to nothing left.  It brought a sense of unity and closeness that I had not seen or felt in a while. Digging through your friend’s rubble, the remains of their homes, looking for anything you can possibly save for them is not an experience that I recommend. However, it is an experience that will change you. It is humbling to go through that, to see the sacrifice of others helping, and to see the look on their faces when you find something precious. It makes you thankful for all of the things you DO have and makes you worry less for those that you do NOT have and THINK you need. Stuff is stuff and is replaceable, people are what really matters, and my friends are irreplaceable.

My daily drive home is through a devastated area. Homes are being bulldozed, people are trying their best to salvage what they can, trees are being cleaned up, roofs getting fixed, windows being replaced, but there is one thing that isn’t changing; God’s presence and his almighty hand that is covering our city. He continually shows me how great and mighty HE is. I look around and my heart aches and tears fall as I drive down Dogwood Lane. To my left where a thick set of woods used to sit on a hill, I can see through to 4^th Street (a road I have never been able to see from there) and the destroyed church building that lay in piles. As I make my turn right home is so much closer. My emotions are almost uncontrollable when I take the final turn and my little cul-de-sac is sitting just fine. God’s presence is there. I often wonder why it happened, and feel guilty that we suffered only power outage and a broken window. I have to stop myself and remember I do not have to know why. God does and that is all that matters. His plan, His glory, His rules. I am His child. As His child I will obey, not question. I will understand more than ever when I hear, “because I said so.” God does not cause devastation and fear. He brings hope and gives life. He did not spare me, my home, my family, and my friends for my benefit, but so that I and each one of us may be a hand for help for someone else and for His glory to be revealed and His love to shine. He calls us to go, and follow Him.

Garrett is still in the ICU at University Hospital in Birmingham. His lungs are weak, his levels are up and down, and his family is there. They are with him, praying for his recovery. Praying for his peace and praying for their son and brother to be healed. They have had many scares over the last four weeks as their son continues to fight for his life. I am asking a special prayer from each of you for Garrett, his family (Parents Frank and Janell, brother Kevin), his doctors and nurses, his wife’s family (The Leonards), and for all of his friends who love him so much. Garrett is an amazing man and a wonderful friend. He has always been there for my brother and supported him in all situations. He may not have always agreed with him, but he was always a friend.

He is fighting through so much pain, physical and emotional right now. He has lost his home and his one true love, Jennifer. They delayed her burial hoping Garrett would be able to attend the service, but he was not. After he gave the okay to go ahead with her arrangements, he had a bad couple of days and nights. Since then I have not been able to see him. When I did get to see him, the week after the tornado, Garrett was responsive. I held his hands and I looked into his heavily medicated eyes when he was able to open them. He waved at me. I was so excited to see him wave. He could motion to answer questions, move his arms, and his nurse said that all he wanted was some Orange Juice. I know that he is in God’s hands. If God wants him, he will take him. If there is still work for Garrett to do on this earth, God will allow him to do so.  Garrett needs us for encouragement to get him through this. He has lost his wife and the home and life they were building together after only eight months of marraige.  I’m so thankful that we serve such a faithful God, Garrett will see her again one day. It is no longer his plan, but God’s. Praise to the King for He is mighty and wonderful. HE is the one in control. May his hand be laid upon Garrett’s lungs and body for the ultimate healing from the ultimate physician. Amen