Tornado Relief

We down in South Alabama were not affected by the terrible tornados that hit our state last Wednesday.  I haven't blogged in awhile because I didn't really know what to write and didn't really feel right blogging while there were so many bigger things going on.

Brad and I really struggled with all that happened. 

1) Being from Huntsville and having so many family and friends there made us very concerned about what happened up there.  There were a couple of tornados that swept through doing damage mainly in the Harvest area.  Thankfully, that is not where we have any family or friends.  But, with all of the storms the entire county was without power.  From what we hear, they are slowly getting their power back today (you know, the official reports from facebook - ha!). 

2)  I don't know if it is because Brad works for a university or that we are big football fans or what, but we were both really affected by the tornados that terrorized Tuscaloosa.  I think back to our college days and how clueless we were and how that could have easily been us.  You never think it is going to happen to you.  Then I think about Paige, and I think about what those parents were going through.  That may have been what broke my heart the most.  The parents unable to reach their children, rushing to Tuscaloosa only to find that the tornado took their child's life or they were lucky enough to find the child's life spared.  Finally, there is the prespective of the professor.  Brad said he couldn't imagine losing one of his students.  It is just unimaginable.

As I said, we struggled with what we could do to help.  Did we need to go up and volunteer?  Could we donate supplies?  What exactly could we do?  We decided what would be best was to donate supplies through our church and we offered our house to our friends in Huntsville without power.  No one took us up on the offer, but a few friends came down to the beach.  We decided our way to "help" would be to have dinner with them (this is not helping at all, but we enjoyed the company!!!)

Friday night we had dinner with Dustin, Heather, Skyler and Heather's family at the Hangout in Gulf Shores.  If you haven't been there I think you should try it out.  It is a lively restaurant with something always going on - like waiters dancing on the table to "Cotton Eyed Joe" or triva games.  There is also a huge sand pit out back and other things for kids to do.  Just to warn you, and I may sound old for saying this, it is kind of loud there, but the entertainment was great.

**Sorry for the bad pictures - I left my camera at home and used the blackberry.

Enjoying all everything about the Hangout

Heather and P posing in the big Hangout chair

Skyler enjoying the sand

Saturday night we met up with Matt, Emily, Ben, Kate, and Matt's parents at Cosmo's.  Matt and Em had told us the liked this place and everyone in our small group loved it, but we had never been.  Brad and I thought this would be a fun opportunity and it did not disappoint.

The girls were so cute sitting next to each other at the head of the table!

As we enter into this week, we continue to pray for all of those affected by the tornados!