When It Rains....

....it pours.  Thank you all so much for the kind words, prayers, and support for my family last week.  Darrell and I left Thursday morning for WV, arriving early in the evening.  We spent Friday at my mother's house just talking and catching up with relatives.  It's said there is a silver lining to every dark cloud and that's been proven to me over and over.  If anything good came from my daughter Shana's death, it was the mending of my relationship with my mother.  The past 5+ years have been so healing for my heart--and for hers, too, I like to think.  The silver lining last week was getting to know a brother I've never met before.  He went to live with his paternal grandparents before I was born and while we knew of each other, we've never had occasion to meet until now.  It was so wonderful!  I immediately loved him and his wife--not to mention their grandson Jake!  We had so much in common and I look forward to visiting with them again.

I'm sure you've heard of the tornadoes last week.  While we were at my mother's funeral Friday night, a huge storm came up.  We could hear the thunder, pouring rain, and hail outside.  Luckily, we never even lost electricity and the service proceeded as planned.  Darrell and I had planned to leave after the funeral and headed off in one direction while my sisters and their husbands headed in the other.  We didn't find out until Saturday morning what happened to them after we separated.

The closer they got to my mom's house, the more trees were down, until finally they couldn't go any further.  They parked the car and proceeded on foot, climbing over trees while wearing heels and dresses.  When they finally arrived at the house, it had been hit by a tornado and was almost completely gone.  Next door to my mother's is my sister's house--it was hardly damaged.  On the other side of that house is my other sister's--her house is gone, too.  Almost unimaginable.

Here's the news video that aired Saturday night.  This is my sweet sister Sharon.  Other family members can be seen in the background.  It's hard for me to believe that just a few hours before, I was sitting on that front porch.  Fortunately, their electricity was restored Sunday evening, as it snowed about 3 inches that night.  Please keep these people in your prayers, as well as so many others who have lost homes or family members recently.

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/TORNADO_DAMAGE_141329303.html#.T1ONrkKyjCg.facebook

(click on "Woman Says Mother's Funeral Saved Her Life)