Sunday morning after the tornado was a whirlwind of activity. Some dear friends came and tackled the the trees with chainsaws and another was scavenging for loose tin to patch our roof. Jimmy was only a week out from knee surgery, so he and I stood or sat there in a stupor and watched as these folks cut the trees from our vehicles and cut the five downed trees into small pieces.


It's all blurring together for me, but I remember Monday more friends and relatives showed up with machinery and pulled pushed and drug all the trees, downed fence and other trash to the edges of the yard. They also did this for our neighbor and I was amazed at how cheerfully they worked to help us, not expecting one thing in return.


I've never been on the receiving end of any kind of charity before. If you haven't been, you cannot begin to know how much every act of kindness means to a victim. Policemen guarded our neighborhood 24 hours a day, people drove by when the roads were cleared and brought hot meals, water, boxes of food and were always asking, "Do you need anything?" I was in a stupor. I kept my phone charged with a car charger and I got lots of messages from friends with encouraging words. I appreciated every one of them, but I did not have the energy to reply. If you sent one or left a message on voicemail, I got it and it meant so much.


One day some people from Domino's pizza came by and gave us pizzas. A television station was filming and I saw myself on tv a couple of weeks later and I looked shell-shocked. I guess I was. The only time I lost it the entire time was on Monday morning. I received a voicemail from my personnel manager telling me to get the library staff and report to the fire station to work. There is no way I could help anyone in the shape I was in. I left an incoherent message on the mayor's cell phone and Jimmy drove me to the fire station in the truck (our only working vehicle) and I just told them there's no way I could work.

I stayed home all that week and reported back the following Monday. We worked at the recreation center, the operations center for disaster relief. Then we came over to the library and worked both outside and inside the building.

My Bo friends were terribly kind to me during this time. Their generosity still amazes me.

The Albertville Tornado~ Saturday Night

A couple of weeks ago I lived through an EF3 tornado which tore through my city, Albertville, Alabama. To say I've been in shock is an understatement and I'm having a difficult time with the entire experience. Bear with me as a recount the night it happened. Then I'll try to summarize what all has transpired since that night in a blog later on.

Saturday night, April 24th, started out being just like any other Saturday night. We had supper with my mother and daughter and all sat around the living room cutting up and having a good time. Except there were tornado sirens blaring. The front moving through wasn't in our part of the county, so we sat there and watched the television as it passed on by.

A little later, we headed home. The boys, Jimmy, and I were in the den and I had received a message from a friend in Birmingham that said for us to watch out, there was another cell headed up our way. The tornado siren blasted a couple of times, but then quit. We had the television on to Channel 19 in Huntsville, where they were tracking the storm. I looked at their timetable and it said that the tornado would be in White Oak at 10:21. Glancing at our DVR's clock, it read 10:21. Since White Oak is literally right down the road, I told them that we should take cover in the hallway, and Seth and I did immediately. Jimmy and Layke went and looked out the front door, of course.

Suddenly the lights flickered and then went out. Jimmy slammed the door, Layke rushed past Seth and me in the hall, grabbed a blanket and threw it over us as Jimmy came and made a dive for the hallway floor. About that time our front window exploded in and the house began to shake. I have never heard a sound like that before. The tornado roared like a freight train and debris was pelting the house. I sat on the floor, head bowed, holding my little dog and praying fervently for protection.

Suddenly it went quiet. Totally quiet. I kept asking, "Is it gone? Is it gone?" and Jimmy made his way to the front door. He said, "Oh my God, Lisa, come here, our cars are crushed." I rushed in there, looked out, saw the trees down, power lines broken and all the destruction and I said, "I don't care. We are alive." And I've never been so thankful to Jesus in my entire life. I frantically called my daughter and mother to see if they were all right and to tell them that although we had been hit, we were all unharmed. They had no damage at their house, but the power was out.

We made our way outside, me cautioning the boys to beware of the downed power lines. Neighbors were coming into the street and everyone seemed to be physically all right. It was pitch dark and all we could see and hear were the sirens heading over to the trailer park. Trees and powerlines completely obstructed the roads and if someone had been injured, there is no way an ambulance could have made it onto our street.

We came inside, lit some candles, and just sat there. We were worried about the dogs and Jimmy opened the back door and called for them. Ernie and Austin came running in, went to the den, and laid down. They did not move all night long. Pugsley, sweet little half deaf, half blind dog, had slept through the tornado and was still in his doghouse. Seth went and got him and brought him inside, but he wasn't aware of what had gone on even though his doghouse was wedged in between a tree and our patio privacy fence.

The night was long, and we tried to go to sleep, but it was fitful. Around 3 we were wakened by flashing lights and chainsaws. Firemen and policemen had arrived in an ambulance and were sawing their way through the trees and utility poles in the road. Layke and Jimmy took them some bottled water and we watched as they somehow cut a path through the debris.

As strange as it sounds, I thought to myself that there was probably still some hot water in the water heater so I took a shower and washed my hair. I knew that Sunday was going to be a long day, but reality had not yet set in.