Tornado Update

I don't know how many of you heard about the tornadoes we had through Jackson last Friday. We just wanted to let y'all know that we made it through just fine and with no damage to our property (thank you, God!!!) It was a very serious situation though. Josh was at work in the stairwell. I happened to be out shopping with Benjamin and drove directly towards the storm. I had heard thunderstorms predicted for Friday, but not tornadoes. I saw the sky turn green and the clouds start circling. We pulled over into a department store parking lot and ran into the store. There were other people there gathered in the center of the building. It blew right over us and touched down across the street from the shopping center where I had just been. Benjamin was scared at first, but then thought it was a very fun adventure to be in a store with lots of kids and people and animals that took shelter too. The bigger adventure was trying to drive home afterwards: downed trees and powerlines every where. I ended up at the Lamars for the afternoon because I couldn't get to our house.

We don't know anyone who was injured, but the Bomgaars, among many others, sustained major damage to their home. A tree fell on their garage, crushing it and totaling at least one vehicle. (Both cars are still inside and the structure isn't stable enough to try to pull the other one out.) The roof of their guest room is also collapsing. Their backyard was hit the worst--they had a large lot with at least 20 trees. About 5 of them are still standing. You can't even see grass, it's that covered with trees.

We are without power right now, but we have running water. It's going to be about a week we think. We do have power at work, so we're able to charge our cell phones and check email that way. Many of the roads are clear now, so we're able to get out to work and the grocery, etc. fairly easily. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can. Thank God that we are safe and well! Please pray for Joel and Rachel and the other families who sustained such big losses.