Wednesday, May 25, 2011

tornado damages

After my last post about the path to happiness, it has been hard to find the happiness in our area.  We were hit with an E F-5 tornado in our town. 

We are fine, our house is fine.

So many people have been lost, so many properties have been destroyed (about 1/3 of our town is gone). 



We own rental property in the disaster area, 3 houses are completely gone, 2 more have damage.  The happiness in this instance is that all the tenants are ok.  When you see what is left of some of these houses, you know that it was a miracle.

I took these first 2 photos of our rental properties the day after the tornado, it was storming yet again, so I apologize for the quality of them.  I am hoping to get by these properties today and get more photos and see what can be done there.






Jake's girlfriend, Morgan lost her aparment and most of her belongings.  We were able to recover some of her clothes, her hope chest and some memorablia. 


My niece, Stephanie lost her house as well.



It is sad, there are not a lot of smiles, but we are coping and trying to deal with it all.


We have been cleaning and searching for beloved items and have found many of them!  Our friend Judy's grandmother's ring, our friend Don's dad's ashes, things that are so special and basically can't be replaced.

That is what I am choosing to focus on - the good things that are happening - a baby found alive yesterday in a car on Main St.  Finding my friend that was missing.  Houses and things can be replaced, but people can't.

I'm sure you've seen the coverage on TV, so I won't go into all the details, but it is just so hard to describe, when we are driving around, it's hard to figure out where you are. The landmarks are gone, there are no street signs.  People are wandering around and it is absolutely crazy.  The photos just do not do it justice.

We are still missing some friends, so please keep our area in your prayers.