Tornado

So, I'm sure most of you have heard about the tornados that ravaged the south this past weekend.. Unfortunately, I got a first hand look at the devastation they caused. We had been hearing all day Saturday that it was supposed to rain hard and hail, but the skies were mostly blue and their was no rain in sight. Late Saturday afternoon the winds had started picking up quite a bit around town. I got online to see what was being forecasted for us and saw that we were under a tornado warning. Evan and I didn't really think much of it because hurricane warnings are so frequent around here and then nothing ever happens. So around 8:30 Saturday night Logan was asleep and we were just watching a movie. The wind and lightning  started to get really bad and we were peeking out the window taking a look at things. My friend was texting me telling me that they were thinking about going to get their son from Saturday Night Daycare on base, and then she said they had lost power at their house. We lost power for just a few seconds. I then text our best friends who were supposed to be coming over and asked if they had lost power as well. About 5 minutes later I received a frantic call from Evan's best friend saying that a tornado had just touched down on base housing right at their house and that homes were flattened, they had lost windows in their home, and he had just helped a neighbor rescue her baby from the rubble! I was frantic and got off the phone with him immediately so I could call our friend and tell her to go get their son. The daycare is on the same road that Megan and Greg live on and I had no clue if it had been damaged. My friend then told me that they couldn't get their garage door open because they had no power. Without even thinking, Evan jumped in his truck and said he was going to get little Evan! He flew over there just as the parents were about to take off walking. Thankfully, the daycare was not harmed and neither were any of the kids, but the elementary school directly across the street was basically destroyed.

All of my friends are healthy and okay, and their home was even spared and they are allowed to go back and live in it as of today. The toddler that our friend helped to save was a 2 year old who has a broken leg, arm and ribs, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding. The toddler was on life support, but I was told today that his doctor is amazed at his progress and he is expected to make it through! God is so good! I have been a mess thinking of this child and his parents!

The mom, whom I do not know but have seen a few times, was laying the toddler down in his crib in the upstairs of their home when the tornado hit and ripped the top floor off of the home. The mom and child were thrown from the house into the back yard. When Greg and a couple of his neighbors got outside she was standing on top of the pile of rubble screaming for them to find her baby. This is an image that will haunt me, an I am certain will haunt these Marines forever. They started searching through the rubble and Greg lifted up a wall that was being held up by the child's crib. They baby was inside. A man had come from the houses behind them and grabbed the baby and took it to Megan and Greg's living room where he began CPR. The mother's jaw is broken and all of her teeth had been knocked out.

The amount of destruction and devastation was unbelievable to me...You just don't imagine ever seeing vehicles through living rooms and piled up on top of each other. That seems to be only a scene from a movie. When I saw my best friend's home and the homes around her's all I could do was cry when I thought of how close they had come to being so seriously injured or killed. God was watching out for them and so many other families. I still just cannot believe all of this happened so close to us. The tornado touched down about a mile from our house. I have been thanking God and counting my blessings constantly since Saturday. Things could have been so much worse. Please pray for those families that lost everything and other families around the country who lost loved ones as well as their homes.

Behind their neighbor's house, where the toddler was found.

Houses right next to them with no top floor.

Bowman Ct.

Love conquers all.