What I wish our county wasn't known for

Last night our county was part of the deadliest tornado of the year.
This picture is of a church that was destroyed after standing for over 100 years. God spared my family and our home is totally damage free, but there are 23 confirmed deaths at this point and I think that number is sure to rise as the rescue workers search through a mobile home park where over 140 mobile homes were destroyed.

I am praising God to today for His hand of protection over my family. I woke up last night at about 2 am to go to the bathroom. I opened the bathroom window because I was hot and as I was getting back into bed the storm sirens went off. I went to the TV and as soon as I turned it on, I heard the "go to your basement" warnings. I picked up the phone to call Andi, but as soon as I dialed her number the power went off. As I am running down the hall to wake the kids, it flickered back on for about 10 seconds - long enough for me to wake her up and warn her.

The kids and I huddled in the bathroom and I prayed with them and we sang. Wesley was shaking so bad, it was literally hurting my arms to hold onto him. After the danger had passed, they all piled into my bed and it after checking with Andi, I went to bed. Not to sleep, but to bed.

It wasn't until Andi walked into the house sobbing this morning that I truly realized how blessed we were. The tornado started 5 houses south of us and took everything about a mile wide from there in its' path. The devastation is appropriately named. Devastating. Please pray for our town.

And if anyone ever wonders if internet friends are your "real friends", I had friends I met over the internet call me from Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania and California today to check on us. I think that pretty well covers the country and answers the question.