After the terrible tornados came through Huntsville on Wednesday, the power in the entire city was off. Ours came back on today around 11:00 AM! It was really interesting learning to live without power for 5 days!!! We made do though--grilled out and used lots of candles!! And most everyone else around us was doing the same things! I've never seen so many of our neighbors outside before! It was very very dark at night and very quiet. The city has been on a strictly enforced curfew of 8:00. Because of having no power, many people struggled to find food. Also, people struggled to find gas- if their car wasn't full before the tornados, they were looking at having to drive at least an hour to find any gas. Our church has a gas stove, so we served the community by handing out hot meals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday- it was such a blessing to be a part of that!!
Here is a picture of some trees down outside our neighbrohood.
Here are a few other pictures I got of us grilling out and me washing dishes with a flashlight on my head :).
While we tried to make the best out of our situation, I can not shake the images we saw yesterday of the devastation 10 minutes away from our house in an area called Harvest. John, Seth, Emily and I went up there to help a family who has lost everything. The father was killed during the storm. Here is a picture of their home. What you see still standing is the 2nd story of the home that was carried several feet from the foundation. The bottom floor of the home was completely destroyed.
Please please pray for this family. I can not imagine going through any thing like this. I have never seen devastation like that. We were helping the daughter look through all of the debris for anything she could salvage. From where we were standing at their house, as far as the eye could see, all of the houses were demolished. Cars were crushed. Debris was everywhere. All of these people's possessions were destroyed. It was an unbelievable sight. Please keep all of the families in your prayers that have lost everything. The work that needs to be done will take months. So many people have to start their lives over again. I am praying that our family is used to do whatever God would have us do in these situations to further the Gospel and to minister to those in need.
