So Much Going On!

My goodness!! In just a few days time.... SO MUCH has happened!!

Wednesday - 4/27 - was the horrific tornado outbreak! So many lives were literally turned upside down during this awful disaster. I learned yesterday that a friend from church's daughter survived by hiding in the basement of her boyfriend's parents home. This was in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. The tornado narrowly missed the house that they were in. I cried when I heard this. My friend was in Boston at the time, and did not get the text message that her daughter had sent from the basement, just before the tornado struck.... asking for prayers. My friend praises God that she did NOT get this text message until after the tornado blasted through! I understand her feelings. I can't imagine getting a text message like that and knowing that my daughter was hundreds of miles away and there was nothing that I could do to save her except.... to pray.
 

Friday - 4/29 - was the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton! What a glorious wedding it was! My girls were up at 4am to watch it. I decided that I would DVR it and just wake up whenever my body decided to. Well.... I was up by 5am! Ha!! I hadn't really missed anything, so that was good. The wedding was so magical and fairytale-like!! I loved everything about it!! Kate was beautiful, as usual. Of course.... she could wear a paper sack and still be beautiful!! Prince William was very handsome, as always. I love Prince Harry! He makes me laugh! Kate's sister, Pipa, was gorgeous in her dress, as well!! And, how wonderful for them that it didn't rain! I look forward to hearing more about them as they start their married life, together.

Sunday evening - 5/1 - As my girls and I were watching the TV reality show, "The Celebrity Apprentice"... we learned that President Obama was going to be interrupting our show to give an announcement that was of National Security. This peaked our interest and we waited a long hour until he finally spoke. We learned before he spoke that U.S. military troops had shot and killed Osama Bin Laden!! THANK GOD! It took almost 10 years for our troops to find him, but that is ok. He is now gone. My only worry is that his followers will now find a way to retaliate against us. I love seeing how the people of our nation are celebrating! Last night... my Facebook wall was COVERED in excitement with the news of his death!!! People also gathered on the lawn of our Nation's Capital and at Ground Zero in New York. It is wonderful when we can come together, as a country.

Source

Terror, Prayer, & Praise

I am a bit tired today due to being up most of the night, keeping watch for tornadoes! Yes, it was a night of anxiety as my girls and I watched The Weather Channel and the approaching storms that were nothing but TORNADOES!!

My heart is so broken and sad as I see the devastating photos of the areas where these horrific tornadoes tore apart cities that I am familiar with. So many homes & businesses were destroyed, but more sadly... many lives were lost.

Last night, we watched as the meteorologists on The Weather Channel saw the huge tornado form over Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We saw the horror on their faces as they realized how devastating this tornado was going to be. This is when my heart sank. All I could think about were the many students at The University of Alabama that live there. I also thought about my previous boss who is from there and all of the people that he must be worried about. (I may even call him today and let him know that I am thinking and praying for his friends.)

As the tornado moved to the north east, we learned that the University campus was spared. I breathed a sigh of relief.... for a moment.

This huge tornado was now headed for the city of Birmingham, in Alabama. I immediately started praying for the friends and families that I know, personally, that live there.

The Weather Channel was able to show it's viewers the ACTUAL tornado as it passed thru the north suburbs of Birmingham!!! The tornado was HUGE and was moving VERY fast!

Thankfully, we learned that those that we know of that live there, were safe.

From Birmingham, this same tornado continued on a path toward the town of Dadeville, where it continued to do damage there and to other small towns as it approached my state... the USA state of Georiga.

About 11pm, I sent my girls to bed to try and get some sleep and promised them that I would stay awake so that I could keep watch and wake them if needed. David went to bed at his usual time, because he had to get up at his usual 2:00am time.  (Yes! I know it's a crazy time!)

As I continued to watch... this huge tornado crossed over into Georgia and was headed for the town of Rome. I immediately began praying for a family that we know that lives there. We have since learned that they are safe, but the nearby town of Ringgold, Georgia was not so lucky.

Soon, my attention turned closer to home as storms began to approach where we live. I watched as they got closer and closer. As they did... a Tornado Warning was issued for our area. Miranda was awake by then, unable to sleep. I told her to go wake Ashley as I went and woke David. We put our shoes on and gathered pillows and blankets. I even brought in the 3 bike helmets that we have, from the garage and one of David's old motorcycle helmets! We never put them on, but we had them ready to go! I also put the leashes and collars on the dogs.

The weather people always tell you to go to the lowest level of your house and/or into a center room, away from windows, doors and outside walls. Our house has one problem.... we do NOT have a center room!! My kitchen is in the center of my house, but it is exposed to windows and doors. But.... we decided that this would be the best place to be.

Our local news station did and EXCELLENT job of covering this storm! Since we didn't lose power, we continued to watch the TV as our weatherman watched and reported on the possible tornado that was forming near our house.

I stood in the kitchen and kept an eye on the TV and outside. I was watching for the wind to pick up, but it never really did. It looked like from the radar on TV that the storm was going to miss us, thankfully! We never really "hunkered down" in our safe place, but we were close enough to get there if needed.

The storm DID miss us and all we got was a little wind and a little rain. Unfortunately, this storm DID eventually produce a tornado that did damage in the next county over. I talked to a lady that I work with and a friend of hers lost her house to the tornado. Thankfully, her friend is ok.

Ashley and David went back to bed, but Miranda and I continued to watch as another line of storms was following the one that had just missed us. The storm came, but did not produce a tornado. We eventually went to bed, but only got about 4 hours of sleep.

This morning, I believe that I heard that this was the worst outbreak of tornadoes in over 40 years! I also heard that the tornado that hit Tuscaloosa Alabama and continued for so long.... packed winds of over 200 mph and was a mile wide! And.... it traveled for over 200 miles, doing damage as it went! Over 240 lives were lost.

I titled this post - Terror, Prayer, & Praise - because these were & are my feelings. Last night, was a night of "terror". I know that I was afraid and I can't imagine the amount of terror that the people in the path of these tornadoes must have had! I "prayed" for not only the safety of me & my own family, but for all others in the paths. I offered "praise" to God for keeping my family and those friends and family that I know, safe as well.

Today is a beautiful sun-shiny day. I am having trouble enjoying it tho, because I know that others are grieving and picking up the pieces of what was once their homes and their lives.

Here are a few photos that I found on MSN and other news sites. Please take a moment to say a prayer for all who lost loved ones, homes and businesses.

Cullman, Alabama

The tornado that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama

What's left of a McDonald's in Ringgold, Georgia

A family sifts thru what is left of their home in Warm Springs, Georgia

Pratt City - A suburb of Birmingham, Alabama

Pleasant Grove, Alabama

Catching Up

Hello!

Life has been rather busy around here, lately! My blog "postings" and my blog "readings" have been few and far between, it seems! I guess being BUSY is a good thing. It means that I am staying active and there are a lot of things going on in my life. If that weren't the case.... then, I would be sitting around, being bored!

Here's just a bit of what's been going on around here ---

David has been working on rebuilding our "retaining wall" in our back yard. He started the project at the beginning of April and just finished it over this past weekend. It took him a LOT longer than he had expected, but it looks great!! The wall was first built about 10 years ago, when we had our in ground pool put in. David used landscape timbers back then, but knew that they were only going to be "temporary". Ha!! Ten years later....... they are just NOW getting replaced! I should have taken a "before" photo and then a "during" (maybe more than one!) photo before showing you the "after" photos. Oops! You can get the idea from these photos, tho.

The wall looks GREAT and I am happy to now have have my Lantana planted in the flower beds again! (The other ones didn't survive.)

The steps still need to be "tweaked" just a little. We didn't measure quite right!

I am SO HAPPY that my rose bush is doing so well!!

My poor garden needs som work! And our grass..... welll, we are working on that, as well!

The bricks are surrounding a small seedling that I found. I "think" it is from one of my previous plants and is trying to survive! ~ The pool looks inviting, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's still a too chilly to swim, just yet! Maybe by this time next month. -- Maybe!

Here's a look at my garden when I first got everything planted.

This picture is from July 4, 2006. David had almost completed our screened in porch. You can see how the "Great Wall" used to look. (These are friends of ours in the picture. Not us!)

David also built a pen for our dogs. Now, my flowers will should SURVIVE the jaws of Chester! LOL! My "Knock Out" Rose bush is coming back, beautifully!!!! And my Stella de Ora Daylilly is coming back, too! YAY!! My plans are to add more flowers and plants to this garden.

The dogs now have their OWN yard! YAY!

We have had two nights of tornado weather, too!! The first night (two weeks ago), was mostly just high winds and a LOT of rain! But, the second (just this past Friday) was VERY SCARY! We had two tornado WARNINGS!! The first one was about 7:30 in the evening and the second was in the middle of the night, about 3:15am!! Both storms, luckily, passed to the north of us. I didn't get much sleep that night! Tornadoes fascinate and scare me, both at the same time. I would love to see one ---- from a SAFE distance! --- but, I am terrified of them, just the same.

Thursday, I got my hair cut and my highlights redone. My stylist did a GREAT job! I only wish that I could style it the way that she did! LOL! I have had many compliments, which is always nice!

I switched gyms last week, too. I have gone back to Curves for Women. I used to belong to this gym and then I lost my job and quit because of the cost. Then, back around Thanksgiving of last year, I joined Gold's Gym because it was cheaper. But, after several months of "trying" to lose weight by going to Gold's.... I decided that I need to go back to Curves. I was actually able to LOSE weight when I was a member there, so... I think it is where I am supposed to be. I started the Curves Diet today. (Wish me luck on that one!!) I do great at exercise, but "dieting" is NOT my thing! I struggle with it, BIG TIME! Food temptations get the best of me.... always!

I have also been researching my family history again. This time it is my paternal grandmother's lineage that I am tracking. Genealogy is such fun! I had "thought" that my grandmother was from Birmingham, Alabama.... but, discovered that she was actually from the county that I live in RIGHT NOW!! Unbelievable!! I was blown away by this new found fact!! My plans are to go to the county courthouse and do some research there, soon. I want to see if I can find the cemetery where my ancestor's are buried. If I can find that... it will, hopefully, answer a LOT of unanswered questions!!

My girls are winding down their Spring Semester of college and are EXTREMELY stressed at the moment! I barely saw either of them last week. Thankfully, we had a very nice day together yesterday. We laughed and everyone's stress was forgotten for the day! But, today is Monday and they are already running around getting ready to start their week.

My poor Ashley has also had the added stress of having relationship problems with her boyfriend this past week! (NOT good timing!!) I won't go into details, but it looks like they have worked things out... for now. There's almost nothing worse than seeing your child broken-hearted!

I hope that catches you up a little bit on my life, lately!

God Bless!

Bucket List #25-27

I am feeling a little guilty about my Bucket List this morning. There are so many things that I want to do before I "Kick the Bucket", but as you can see.... most of them require the almighty dollar (actually a LOT of them!!!) and we our family doesn't have the kind of money that some of my Bucket List items will need. So, bare with me as I continue sharing my list and know that I DO realize that most of these things WILL require lots of $$, but also know that these things are mostly just things that I dream of doing and I know that most of them will never really happen.

#25 --- See a tornado from a safe distance --- You probably think I'm crazy for wanting to do this!! But... although I am TERRIFIED of them, I also find them fascinating at the same time! I saw on TV just the other night where you can sign up for a vacation to travel with "storm chasers" as they travel around the mid-west chasing tornadoes! It's highly expensive, and you would travel in a van full of strangers for 10 days only stopping when you see a storm. They said that they cover about 600 miles a day!! But.... wouldn't it be neat to get up close and personal with a tornado! WOW! --- As long as I knew that I would be safe, that is!

#26 --- Parasail --- I would love to do this with a friend or family member! My ultimate dream would be to do this somewhere in the caribbean, but hey.... I'll be glad to do it at Panama City Beach, too!

#27 --- Ride in a hot air balloon --- I have wanted to do this for as long as I can remember!! It just looks so peaceful and you would get to see so much from up there! Of course, I would go with an expert! Hot air ballons are so beautiful, too!