So, last weekend Matt and I went to Hendersonville to help people whose houses were damaged by the tornados that came through recently.  It was craziness.  Friday we woke his brother Andrew up on his day out of school and convinced him to come help us.  We went to a house and helped a family try to find things inside that were salvageable.  Matt found several old photo albums and some old newspapers with the daughter in them from being on her high school basketball team.  It was obvious that the house we were at was a really nice house.  Amazingly, it looked like someone had just decided to take the brink all around the house off, as well as the roof.  So all that was left was the inside, kinds like a doll house.  Unfortunately, I do not have pictures to show you.  We went back on Saturday and took the J-Mo with us.  I was able to get some pictures that day.  I will share some with you....








That house had 10 people in it that decided to go to the other side of the house and get in a closet before the storm hit.







And this house...


was across the street from this house...


Pretty crazy, huh?

These were all in one neighborhood.  There are more in my photo box.  Amazingly, no one was killed, as was written in the poster on the right which says, "God is good, nobody died here."



We ended up in the yard of Matt's 6th grade teacher.  Her husband had planted trees back in the 70s that were uprooted and desroyed.  We spent several hours moving all the branches/trunks, etc. out to the street so they could be picked up.  They had been at home when the storm hit, but they survived.  We ate lunch with some fire fighters and they told us that the tornado had struck an electric company nearby.  The employees did not really have any where to go, so they held on to each other around a steel pole.  Unfortunately, the son of the owner, who was in his 30s got sucked into the storm right out of his fathers arms and did not survive.  That breaks my heart.  I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that family is going through, along with the other families who lost loved ones in the storm.  It would be devestating to lose your house and everything you own as well.  And it hits so close to home...only 45 minutes away.  Anyways, sorry if this is a downer, but I wanted to share what we experienced.  If anyone wants to go up there and help, there is still lots more to do.  And for all you boys out there, let this be a lesson to you that when your mother tells you to get in the closet, you should go instead of starring out the window watching the storm...