June 12, 2012 started like any normal day. Lucy and I woke up, got daddy off to work and started our day. We were starting to get ready to leave in a couple days to drive out to my parents house. Some friends from back home were having a "Sip and See" for Lucy and then I was going to stay at my parents while Jared was gone for youth camp.
About 4:00 that afternoon I was folding laundry on our love seat and Lucy was napping in her pack and play in our bedroom. I noticed that the sky was beginning to get very dark. I turned the TV to the news and saw that a storm was coming. I don't consider myself a "scaredy-cat" but for whatever reason, this fear just overcame me. I saw the wind starting to whip the trees and the sky was now black. The rain began to come and the wind became even stronger. I grabbed Lucy from our room and walked to the other side of our living room where my phone was. I called Jared and was asking him about the weather at the church and told him I was scared. About that time, I heard a loud clap of thunder, a huge gust of wind, and BAM!! I look up and was staring at a very large tree. It made a very loud noise when it hit the house and it also fell right on a window and shattered it. I was in total shock and just kept telling Jared, who I was on the phone with, that a tree was in our house. He told me to call our neighbor and he was on his way.
I called next door and for whatever reason, her husband was home from work that day. He ran over and began to do things I would never have thought to do. He moved our dumpster inside to catch the water, because it was POURING down rain in our house. He also helped me turn off the lights. I kept waiting for Jared and it was taking a long time so he convinced me to walk next door to his house and wait with his family. This whole time, Lucy was just looking up at me - calm as can be.
I text my mom at some point and told her that a tree had fallen on our house, that me and Lucy were ok and I would call her later. That was probably not the easiest message for a mom to see, so she was very worried. By the time I got to my neighbors and sat down, I just lost it. I think my adrenaline was pumping so hard and when I came down from that, my emotions were all over the place.
My neighbors also went back over to our house and turned the power off so a fire wouldn't start and grabbed a few important things we would need. I told them I would never be able to repay them for the care they gave me that day.
Thinking back, I KNOW it was the Holy Spirit putting that fear inside me so I would move away from the window. Where the tree landed was right above where I was folding laundry. And He also orchestrated so many things that day - my neighbor's husband being home, Jared making it home safely in that horrible storm with trees falling down all over the roads, and a lady in our insurance office who was off the clock but just happened to answer the phone when Jared called that evening and got our claim started right away.
Lucy and I went to a friends house where we were staying but we had insurance people come to our house that night and many friends come help Jared moved some things out that we would need.
We didn't get very good pictures. I took these on our camera the next day for insurance purposes, but you can't even really see the tree, but you get the picture. It also did alot of damage in our bedroom.
We moved out of our house and into an apartment for 9 weeks. It was a very hard and frustrating time for all of us, but we survived and the Lord took care of us. The scenario could have been very different, but we were all safe. I tweeted a few days after it happened that when things like this happen, you realize that stuff really is just stuff. As long as your family is safe, that is all that matters. (I have had to remind myself of this MANY times since then!)
Since this storm, I have let fear control my mind, especially when a storm comes. My told me to do what she had us do when we were little girls - quote scripture over and over. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." "Do not fear, for I am with you." I have done that - and still do. What a constant reminder of how BIG God is and how he is ABLE to handle anything that comes our way.
