My husband had agreed to keep our two boys and baby sit his sister's two kids so we could all go out with taking the 4 kids with us.  And, in my rush to get ready to leave, I postponed washing the dinner dishes.  When my husband asked me about them, I nonchalantly remarked "I'll wash them tonight while I'm dying 3 dozen eggs".  I didn't think that a spaghetti pot, a pan that garlic bread had been baked on, and 4 plates and forks really made my kitchen look messy.  But, it did cause my husband to decide to babysit over at his parents house.

 

Since us girls were late leaving, my husband walked our boys over to their grandparents house in their pajamas and no shoes.  Neither he nor myself thought much about this, I should be home within 2 or 3 hours, the boys would be sleeping, and we could just tuck them into bed.

 

 

 

Both my sister-in-law and myself had been dealing with a very anxious and uneasy feeling all day.  And, oddly enough, both of us thought it was just our nerves.  That we just needed a break from the day to day pressures of housekeeping and parenting.  And, both of us blew off this feeling.

 

We hadn't been at Wal-Mart very long when a call came across the intercom "phone call for Mrs. GL at the service desk".  My mother-in-law went racing for the customer service desk to take the call.  My sister-in-law and myself following her.  I took my buggy with me, and left it near a check out as I waited for word about what the phone call was about.  The next words I heard would tear me to pieces. 

 

My mother-in-law turned and said, "Girls, we gotta go now!  That was T on the phone, they've just been hit by a tornado and they are all trapped inside the house.  He said everyone is ok, they just can't get out".  My husband and both of my kids were now trapped inside my inlaws house!  I ran off leaving my buggy behind.  The clerk telling me that if I wasn't going to purchase the items, then I needed to put them back.  I looked at that clerk and said, "the stuff in that buggy is for my two boys, who have just been hit by a tornado and are trapped inside a house.  Do you think I give a hoot about putting the stuff back?  It can sit there or you can find someone else to put it back, my boys need their mommy!"

 

My mother-in-law raced towards her house, greatly exceeding the speed limit in weather that was very much less than ideal.  As we hit water pockets on the road, my sister-in-law braced ourselves and prayed that we'd make it there in one piece, praying that when we got there, our family would still be ok.

 

As we turned onto the road that led to my home, my heart leaped into my throat.  I saw pieces of my mother-in-laws house as we made that turn, the house was about 2 blocks away.  Next we encounterd a downed tree (which we almost hit) and then a power pole with live wires running over the road (which we also almost hit).  The neighborhood was pitch black and debris was everywhere.  Most of it from my inlaws home.  As we pulled into the drive, we could see the roof was gone, the carport collapsed, the trampoline was in a tree across the road, and a pair of my mother-in-laws "drawers" hung from a tree! 

 

A neighbor had come by to see that everyone inside was ok, and they had found a way out of the house.  Inside, we found everyone safe and sound, but a little shaken.  The kids all huddled in the living room in a bit of a daze.  My niece was screaming "I want my mommy", my nephew just had a blank stare on his face.  My oldest son sat bouncing up and down on the floor monotonously humming, and my younger son sat crying.  But they were all OK! 

 

After hugging my kids, I asked my husband, "what about our house?  Is it still standing?"  He told me that he wasn't sure, but with live wires down across the yard, we couldn't go over there.  The ceiling was leaking water, so our first goal was to evacuate all these kids to safety.  We weren't really sure where we were going, but I loaded kids into my mother-in-laws van.  Of all the times for me to have taken out their carseats!!  One carseat sat in my living room having just been put together that day.  The two carseats that we had been using, sat on my inlaws carport.  Well, that's where they were when we left to go to Wal-Mart anyways.  We weren't really sure where they were at now.  They could be in the debris under the carport, or in a tree somewhere, or in the field behind my house, or even at a neighbors house for all we knew.  I buckled my boys into seatbelts and we went to my husband's grandma's house to await my sister-in-laws husband.

 

While waiting, my husband returned to our property and looked at our house.  He called me with words that I did not want to hear.  He said, "Honey, the house fell".

 

It wasn't until the next day that we were really able to assess the damages.  Our home wasn't actually a "loss", but we couldn't live in it either.  The tornado had picked up my home, moved it backwards about 3 or 4 feet and sat it back down.  It had crushed some of the blocks, and caught a part of the house on the back steps.  But there was no damage to walls, windows, roof, or floors.

 

The tornado did the unimaginable...it sank my battleship!  Literally, it took it from sitting several feet above the ground on blocks to sitting ON the ground, it sank it!