I'm going to take a small break from the Chronological part of this blog and just start working on gathering a list of the many many ways that we have seen God walking in this storm with us.

I'm not sure where to start, and I pray that God will help bring things to mind, so that I can share them, but my deepest prayer is that you, also, will feel God to be alive and at work in your life in the way that we have felt it over the last two weeks.

I guess the first one I can think of right off was part of the rescue. When Lon, Phil and Bill got to the point where they could not drive any closer to the house, due to the flood waters over the road. They spoke with the officer that was there, and were told they could not go in past that point. They said they were on a mission to rescue a family that was still in there. The officer directed them toward a rescue vehicle and suggested they talk to them, but didn't seem to hold out hope as the efforts of most of the rescuers was being focused on people who were injured. They walked over to the vehicle that was there, and Bill tapped on the window, and who should turn to face them but Chris Canatella, from church!! He and his team helped Lon get in to us.

Also the miracle, mentioned in the first blog, of Phil, and his truck being broken down - and him having his mother's mini van. What a relief, not to have to ride in the back of a pick-up-truck. Most of us were drenched to the bone, and that would have been COLD. (though Tommy might have thought it nothing but a great adventure!) But it was very nice to be able to be inside a warm car!

Even the fact that Bill had picked Lon up from work, to go do the tree work at the church. If he had not done that Lon would have been three times further away and without any transportation.

As we were driving out, Lon radioed to me, and asked whether we would be better going to the shelter that had been set up, or going to the Showalter's place. We debated - it seeming like an aweful lot for all EIGHT of us to descend on them. But we prayed about it and felt God impressing us to go ahead and go to Mike and Darlene's. It was clearly the right decision for the kids. We have been in the habit of going to Mike and Darlene's place every Tuesday evening for bible study, and being at their house helped the kids get to a better place emotionally MUCH more quickly than I think could have happened had we been in a shelter. What a blessing to have people in your life who will take in your large family like that and just take it in stride and make it work.

Next day, gas was a bit of an issue. Not supply, so much as the pumps didn't have power, so it was difficult to find a station with a generator, so they could pump. One of the men from church called and wanted to know if there was something he could do - his back was not good, so he couldn't help with lifting, etc. But he as going after gas, would he like us to fill gas cans and bring us some gas? He went to a station out of town, and filled tanks and brought 12 gallons of gas to us! Thank you Larry!! Just the TIME savings alone was HUGE. The lines at the stations that did have gas were 3-4 hours long!

The Walmart story - that I was the ONLY one that was let in and helped there that morning. I was able to get toothbrushes and socks and underwear. I even got one pair of tennis shoes, for Tommy. He had gone into the shelter barefooted and we couldn't find his shoes in the rubble, while we were waiting for Lon to get there, so he wore church shoes, with no socks when we walked out. Other's were turned away, God knew I needed that need met, and saw to it that it was met.

Finding of stuff. When we returned to the house the first time - several of us, myself included had spent some time thinking, on Wed. night, about stuff we had left behind. What items in particular did we hope could be saved? For me it was photo albums (which were secured before we left the house, and tarped) and a recipe box which had belonged to my mother who died when I was young. It was one of the first items I saw when we arrived at the house on Thursday. It felt to me as if God was saying "I'm seeing to the details here..." Of the four of us that went that first morning, each of us found several items on our 'I hope we find...' list.

The one corner of the basement where our Christmas stuff was stored was the last corner to get wet - giving me time, during the sixth storm, when we had several young men from the neighborhood down there with us, to work on getting it all up off the floor and onto a pallet that was in the basement.

One of the biggest, I guess, is that as we have gotten more details about the particular tornado that went through our specific neighborhood, we are finding that it is being called 'one of the biggest baddest twisters in the history of record keeping' - the fact that our house stood is a miracle in and of it's self. This twister was an EF5 for most of it's record-breaking 132 mile-long path, it was as wide as a mile and a quarter in places. When it went though our neighborhood it must have lifted just slightly - it is rated at EF3 at that point and it was only about 80 feet wide. It took out the houses just south of us, and took out a barn just north of us, but left our house standing. The basement that we were in was NOT a storm shelter - had it roared through there at EF5, we likely would have been sucked right out of there, along with the house. We believe that God had His hand over us.

The neighbor who joined us in the shelter had her mother living in the next house to the south of her. Dixie was supposed to have gone to another shelter, somewhere else in the neighborhood, but got there and found the door locked - she went back home and whethered things in her own home, just next to Nan's LEVELED house. Her house also stood. I told Nan, that was WHY it had stood, because her mom was in it, God put his hand over it. So, North to south, we had a leveled barn, a standing house, a leveled house, a standing house, and south of Dixie, several more badly damaged houses. The standing houses were the ones where people were.

When we were in the midst of the 'walking out' we had to cross 150-200 feet of flowing water, about 1-2 feet deep. It was very disorienting, as it also flowed over an intersection. I nearly stepped off the road and headed up what I thought was the other road, and I believe an angel, directed me to look to the right, and SEE that where I was headed was NOT a road. Three more steps and I would have been washed away with the rushing flood waters.

Thursday morning, when we went back to the house to start recovery, one of the first things we checked was the chickens. They had been cloistered in a basement closet the night before, by Emma, as we waited for Lon to get in to us. I had warned Emma that they might not survive the night. They were pretty wet, bedraggled, and traumatized. They had been in the yard when the storm hit. I'm not sure HOW they survived. They must have run under the back deck. The one we found dead was just at the edge of the deck, so that is what makes me think that they weathered things there. Anyway, when we went back, Thursday morning to check on them, they had laid three eggs!! Chickens to not usually lay when they are stressed! It was like a little gift of normalcy. Darlene made us some KILLER omlets with the eggs we gathered over the next few days.

The pathfinder van is usually a somewhat temperamental vehicle and when Michael went to get it for us, he was not entirely sure he would be able to start it. It started right up! Not even a hesitation.

Neighbors at Showalter's had a gas hot water heater and were willing to share warm showers with everyone in the neighborhood.

The first few days after the storm were warm and nice weather, so we could lay out all our wet stuff and let it dry in the sun. And the second day did not even have a dew fall!! There was a light breeze too, that helped things dry out faster.

Friday morning, as I was leaving the Showalter house, Michael was listening to the radio, trying to find where we could get ice. He said he would be along to help as soon as he figured that out, for Darlene. My first stop was at a grocery store to see if I could get boxes. They were using all their old boxes to box up all their lost produce, and had none to share. BUT - they DID have ice. So I bought 3 bags - well, I tried to buy three bags, the checker wouldn't let me pay - and drove them back to Darlene.

People kept bringing us food! Alot of people at church have extended family in Nashville, or Chattanooga, etc. And when the power stayed out for thee days and they were saying it could be as long as two weeks, people started heading out of town. Often they would drop food by at Showalter's place on their way out of town. We ended up with SO much food, we were NEVER hungry!

We had Maggie with us at Showalter's place. But their daughter has pretty serious asthma and so Maggie could not be in the house. She hung out in the yard with us during the day, and slept in the garage. But she would bark and bark and bark. So we ended up having someone sleep out in the garage with her, so that she would be quiet. When I fell, and broke my leg, I landed on the mattress that we had out there, for someone to sleep on when they slept out with Maggie - otherwise I might have hurt more than just my leg!

I needed a tetanus shot. I had cut my foot on something, who KNOWS what, on Wednesday night, and I was being stubborn. I didn't want to bother them in the ER, for a little cut, and I didn't want to take time from the recovery to go down there. Sarah rode down with us, to the ER Saturday evening, and pointed out on the way down, that perhaps this was God's way of making sure I got my tetanus shot - that in one of the books she is reading right now, it says that sometimes if we don't listen when God whispers (Darlene telling me to get a tetanus shot!) He raises His voice a bit! In reality - my break is as little impact as possible. It's a clean break that is well lined up for healing so far, and doesn't need a pin. It is my left foot, so I can still drive. I've needed very little pain medication, and even that, it has been mostly Advil. No tendons appeared to be involved, so healing should be relatively quick. Personally, I'll take a broken leg over Tetanus any day - tetanus is fatal.

Well, I must take a break for now. This is only the beginning. The tornado-shelter salesman is due at the door any minute. May you take time, today, to see God's hand in your life, and feel the love and blessings He has for you today!!