A day I will never forget

I don't have an amazing story to share about what happened on 4-27-11 because neither my house nor my place of employment was directly affected by a tornado.  But what I do have is my story.  For a year now, I have thought about blogging what it was like, but my story is nowhere near as important or news worthy as those who lived through a tornado that day.  My story is about cows.  Yes, cows.  Don't laugh....you will see why later. 
Four to five days out from 4/27, the local and national weathermen had warned us that we were in for a massive outbreak.  But I, like many others from this area, kinda brushed it off and thought "This won't be anything".  And then the day before, I can remember a local weatherman just hounding us over and over that we should be prepared.....it could be "catastrophic".  I started to take the warning more seriously, especially when I awoke to the weather alarm going off at 5:20 that next morning.  Kevin and I gathered the kids up, loaded up in the truck and drove next door to the storm hole.  I remember thinking to myself "this is going to be a long day".  And boy was I right.  Once that storm passed over, we headed back home to get ready for the work and school day.  Yep, still mad that our school system allowed our children to go to school that day with sirens going off all morning.  I guess I could have made a call as a parent to keep them home, but I didn't.  So anyway....the TV weatherman, Brad, said a tornado had just hit Guntersville.  I panic.  My dad lives in Guntersville.  So I call him....no answer.  I call 2 or 3 more times before leaving for work and still no answer.  I finally reached him when I got to work, and he was fine.  The houses on both sides of him had been hit and all their trees and debris were in his yard.  But he was safe.  And a little shook up....apparently he had been on the back porch overlooking the lake and drinking a cup of coffee when the tornado hit, and he took cover at the last minute.  He had not been watching the news, so he had no idea of what was bearing down on his area.  If any of you know my dad, you know that's pretty normal for him....not having a clue.  :)
Back at work, everyone is having a hard time getting any work done for all the warnings we're having to take cover for, and for the sheer fact of being human and wanting to listen to what is going on everywhere.  People are gathered around radios, internet feeds, TV's....just listening to the devastation taking place all around us.  Then the warning of a tornado in Lauderdale county headed to Limestone county.  I call my mom to go get the kids from school.  She gets them back home safely.  They are all upset about what's going on.  The first Limestone county tornado hits around 11:30am....my parents and babies are in the storm hole.  I'm at work.  What a helpless feeling.  I get the call soon after the storm passed that they are all ok.  This same process goes on all day.  Over and over.  I keep thinking I should go home.  But when?  How do I know I can make that 35-40 minute drive and not run into a tornado?  There is a small window that I do finally realize I can make it home, but I had a 4:00 conf call at work that I felt like I didn't need to miss.  So I decide to stay.  To this day, I am still haunted by the decision that I chose work over my kids and husband that day.  This isn't just a normal day.....this is a day in hell.  A day like no other in my life, and one that I hope to never experience again.  Any other day, it would not have been a big deal to stay at work for a call.  But this day was different.  This day changed my life....for the better.
But back to the story....we have our conf call.  After it's over, I go back to my office and pull up the news feed.  And I see it....the monster that devastated by beloved second home, Tuscaloosa.  It is huge.  I cannot believe what I'm looking at as the tower camera catches it ripping up the city I love like an old newspaper.  I see it barrelling toward the stadium and the university....and it misses.  But when it missed those areas, it completely tore up the other areas....15th Street, McFarland, Alberta City.  I was sitting there in tears.  What a tragedy, and just knowing the number of young lives in that city.  Each one of them running, ducking, hiding, holding on, screaming, crying, praying.....what devastation.  Oh how the parents must have felt not knowing if their child was safe.  Little did any of us know at that time what kind of stories would unfold in the following days....the pain and emotion Carson Tinker must have felt as his girlfriend was ripped out of his arms and they were thrown hundreds of yards.  The pain the student felt as he was hovering just above ground level and then thrown into a fence row.  Story after story, it was all so haunting.  And then there's my story.....
I finally left work at 6:00pm.  It was still daylight, and there was a small window of opportunity for me to get home.  Little did I know that it would be 3 hours and 36 minutes later before I pulled into my driveway.  The roads were packed....people scurrying to get home, to check on loved ones, to sight see.  I am feeling ok and not very nervous as I drive down Research Park Blvd.  But then I get to Hwy 53, and the road is blocked. No one is allowed through because of the tornado that ripped through Anderson Hills...for the 3rd time in 17 years.  Debris is all over the road, so there is not thru traffic.  We are being diverted to Blake Bottom Road.  I start to get a little antsy trying to plan out my route to get home.  Do I go Blake Bottom to Jeff?  Or do I turn on Indian Springs and go that way?  Should I get to Nick Davis and try to go East Limestone?  Or should I turn around and go back out research to Pulaski Pike and go home that way.  But wait, wouldn't the tornado that hit Anderson Hills have gone through that area as well?  I am screwed.  I am in pre-panic mode at this time because the weather is picking up a little bit at this point.  There are blown limbs and debris all over Blake Bottom and the trees left standing are now bending over almost touching the ground because of the wind that has just picked up.  I don't hear anything on the radio at that time of a tornado headed toward me, so I calm down for a few minutes.  I finally get to Jeff Road and try to go home that way.  Traffic is NOT moving!  I turn around and head down Nick Davis.  I'm determined to get to East Limestone....little do I know of the amount of damage that has been done to that community.  I slowly make my way over tree limbs and flooded roads to get to Nick Davis.  I can see there are very few cars trying to get through the area.  I come up on my first problem....how do I get through this pile of tree limbs laying on the road.  I decide to drive over them....and I do.  And then I come up on the prison and that's where I see them.....the cows.  There are so many dead cows in the road and in the ditches.  I freeze and stop the truck.  What in the world?  I start having a small panic attack by the sights of the cows....and then I see the one cow that has haunted me for 365 days.  He is standing on the side of the ditch, next to the prison drive.  He is standing there, completely still.  I can tell he is shocked.  This cow has just been thrown no telling how far, and he survived.  All he can do is just stand there and look down at the ground.  He is frozen in his tracks.  There are two cars pulled up behind me waiting on me to go on.  But I can't.  I cannot take my eyes off this cow.  I just start crying.  The cars go around me.  And I'm still staring at this cow.  Did the cow panic like we would have done?  Did the cow lose a calf in the tornado?  Was he sucked up in the tornado and tossed around like a rag doll?  How is this cow feeling?  A thousand thoughts, feelings and questions went through my head while sitting in the middle of the road looking at this cow.  And then....a warning comes on the radio.  Another possible tornado headed that way.  I finally gather myself and start driving toward East Limestone Road, but all the cars in front of me are turning around and coming back.  When I see this, I do the same.  No need in me trying either.  So I go back by that poor cow, drive around all those dead ones and drive over those limbs again.  I head through the flooded roads again and find Old Railroad Bed Road.  I can't go towards 53 because I can see the roads are blocked off, so I head towards Hwy 72.  I am beginng to get hysterical realizing that any option I take is going to be blocked because of the number of tornardoes that have hit every possible route home.  I can't get into my sister in law's subdivision because it's flooded, so I keep driving.  Kevin and the kids are callling me....mad because I didn't leave work.  I'm crying, not knowing where I'm going, how I'm going to get home.  And then I hear a tornado was spotted heading toward the Old Railroad Bed Road area.  Great, just great.  I pull into a subdivision and pull into someone's driveway.  I just sit there crying, ready to be blown away.  My mom calls....we get disconnected.  Kevin calls yelling and telling me to head to 72.  We get disconnected.  And I thought "oh hell no, I'm not getting blown away just sitting here.  it's gonna have to take me down while I'm trying to save myself."  And just like that, I pull back out and drive down the road a little further and come up Good Shephard Methodist Church.,...one that I hear as always being a storm shelter.  God truly lead me that way.  I was actually smiling through the sobs.  I pull in and run inside the church.  There are hundreds of us in there, but I'm all alone.  What a feeling.  A wall cloud was spotted moving over the church, and when it passes, one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.....a bright orange sky.  We all rushed to the doors and walked outside to see.  At that moment, I had such a calm come over me.  I knew God was with me and would get me home.  At this point, I'm starting to lose daylight, so I decide I need to leave.  I make it to Hwy 72, and I start trucking along.  I call Kevin again and he tells me to take 72 all the way to 65, and I should get there safely.  Thank goodness!  But no, it wouldn't be that easy.  It's now dark, and as I top the hill at East Limestone, I see traffic at a stand still just ahead of me.  So I take a chance and turn down East Limestone because a lady on the radio had said just 10 minutes beforehand that it was clear.  Really?  What was she smoking?  I get up to the fire station and can barely see the beginnings of the destruction of what the tornado left behind.  We are at a stand still.  I start crying again because now what am I truly going to do?  I call Kevin....and he tells me to calm down and just wait it out cause there's no other option at this point and the bad weather is over.  About 30 minutes later, traffic is moving toward me.  That's a good sign.  It's not until I can get down the road a little to realize that what we were waiting for was someone to make a path on the road so we could get through.  And when I say path, I mean the bare minimum.  I have a huge scratch the entire length of my Suburban from where a broken tree limb engraved it's existence.  I drove over a tree large enough to take out my undercarriage, but I didn't care.  I was getting home.  But as I was driving through all of this, I could see destroyed house after house.  I couldn't make out a whole lot, but I knew enough.  This place was gone.  This was the same tornado that killed those cows.  As I made it through the trees, I could see nothing but clear roads ahead of me.  I pulled into my driveway at 9:36pm and could do nothing but walk inside my mom's house and sit down.  I couldn't really talk about things I had seen.  But the one thing I did tell them about was the cow.  Oh how he must have felt.
And so today as I type this, I am thankful I don't have an exciting story.  But I do have my story.  And the cow's story.

Every once in a while

I've blogged about this kind of thing before, but every once in a while someone comes along that profoundly has an effect on you. Unfortunately in this case, it was a young man's death that has really touched me. I didn't personally know him, but I knew who he was. I know his mother. I grew up around his mother for many years. See, she played softball with my mother for years, and we were all together many a weekend. She was my first boss at my first job after college graduation. Being around her at that time, I got to hear about her children. I heard about their early accomplishments, their misbehavings, and the many ways they made her proud. And because of that, I feel like I did personally know this young man. Even if I didn't, all I would have to do is look at Facebook and see just how many lives he has touched....young and old.
I look through pictures and can see how competitive he was. There are pictures of him and his siblings and cousin racing around looking for Easter eggs (still cracks me up to think about it). Pictures of him and his mom competing on the same mud volleyball team. Pictures of him hunting with a flock of geese or duck laid out in front of him.
I can see he was a very loving guy. There are many pics of him holding his little cousins or of his arms wrapped around his sister or mom or cousin. Comments he made about his grandma's good cooking.
And what a friend he must have been. I see so many comments on his page, his brother's page, his mom's page and just on others that I am friends with about how special he was. "Always had a smile on his face." "I could lean on you no matter what." "You were one in a million." "such a genuine person" "I never heard you say one negative word."
Wow! How lucky these people were to know you Chad.
And how lucky your mom, Charlsa, is to call you hers. I know she is/was so proud of you. As a mother, I cover her in prayer because I know she is in so much pain. But I take faith in knowing she will see you again one day.
Until then.....rest in peace Chad and enjoy the streets of gold. We all long to be there one day.

Dunn's from the pew

I've logged on to my blog many times since the last post thinking I had a bright idea of what I wanted to write about. But then I would change my mind. Or just all the sudden decide I didn't want to say anything. Shocking, I know. But anyway, I wanted to tell you about our church experience yesterday during worship service. You know it's always a treat when the Dunn's are involved.
I sit down between the two boys. No way they are sitting beside each other.
Kid's bulletins are in each kids' hands, so I pass out the crayons.
A fight breaks out because Avery got the red one.
She decides to share without being asked to. (I pick my mouth up off the floor at this time)
Music starts.
Walker has to potty. Then of course that means Brody has to also.
They come back.
Choir starts singing "Mountain Mover".
Walker starts singing every word to the song. What the?
He's swaying back and forth.
I ask where he learned that song. "Tucker has it."
He continues to sing almost as loud as he can.
His head is now bobbing.
I tell him to knock it back a notch or six.
He doesn't listen to me. And I think, "you know, that's ok. He is worshipping. Let him do what he wants."
Song is over.
Offertory song is next. Brody is mad because he didn't get to pass the plate to me.
He pouts.
He gets over it.
I constantly hear pages flipping. That would be my two sons looking through the hymnals.
Loud thump. That would be the hymnal falling on the floor.
Preaching.
Loud thump. hymnal again.
Loud thump. You guessed it. It gets taken away this time.
Loud thump. That would be me dropping my Bible. Good job.
I take my Bible away from me.
I feel a tug on my hair. I look at Walker and notice he is chewing on my hair. Really son?
I wipe the spit off my hair.
Brody passes the red crayon back to Avery.
She breaks it..."on accident".
"Is it time yet?"
"No. Almost'
"What about now?"
"Hush"
And then finally....the invitation. It was music to my ears and probably to everyone else around us. :)
Gotta love the "Dunn's from the pew" stories. Hope you all have a blessed week! Maybe it won't be so long between now and the next post!

The heart of a child

Back when the power was out from the tornadoes, we decided to take the kids camping at Joe Wheeler since they had power. We had so much fun, and the kids loved everything about it. Especially meeting some new friends there.....

Walker met this group of kids playing ball, so of course he wanted to hang out with them the whole time. He comes back telling me all about this one kid...name, age, school, hometown. He never said anything about baseball or sports of any kind. And me with my travel ball mind at work, I asked Walker if the boy played baseball. And just as serious as he could he said "I didn't ask him if he played. But I did ask him if he was saved and went to church."

Wow! How great is that? My son lives, breathes, and sleeps sports. Yet, all he was worried about with this boy was whether he was saved. I truly wish my heart was like that of a child, my child, at all times. Thank you God for blessing me with Walker and his faithful walk with you.

Disney Part 3

This will probably be the last Disney blog, as I'm kind of getting sick of trying to remember what all happened and then blogging about it. :)

Our first park trip was to Magic Kingdom. We got through 2 parts of it...Liberty Town/Square/Whatever it's called and Adventureland. I bought the "Unofficial Guide To Disney", and I had great intentions of following the tour plans that are included. But that lasted all of 30 minutes. It was a total bust for our family. So we just did things at our own pace and saw the things we wanted to see and rode the things we wanted to ride. Avery rode Splash Mountain and that wasn't good. It completely did her in and she wouldn't ride anything else the rest of the time. The boys loved everything they rode.

The next day we went to Epcot. I hated it. The kids hated it. The only fun thing was the GM Test Track ride, and it was fun until it gave me a 2 day headache.

Animal Kingdom was very cool! While we were waiting on our bus to take us there, I told the boys "The Dunn family is going to give the animals a run for their money", to which Brody replied so seriously, "Do animals like money?" LOL That kid cracks me up! The first thing we did was the safari ride. I did follow the book on this, as it said the best time to ride is in the morning. You will see more animals at that time. And we did! We had lunch next, and it had a bit of the African flair to it and it was great! Kevin and the boys rode Mt. Everest Expedition, and they loved it! Me and Avery had an ice cream cone while waiting, and we loved it! LOL

Hollywood Studios was pretty good! The boys were hoping to be a Jedi for the day, but we didn't get there in time. So they had to settle for watching the Jedi training. Then we went to the Toy Story ride! It was like an interactive carnival game ride, and it was awesome! I almost beat Kevin and probably would have had I known how to best work the stupid cord in the beginning. Kevin and the kids had their faces painted. It was awesome. And yes, I was a loser and didn't have mine done. Oh well....

We went back to Magic Kingdom on our last day and stayed there for about 12 hours. We knocked out everything we wanted to ride, plus had lunch with the princesses! Snow White flirted with Kevin. And Ariel got to spend a lot of time with Avery which was very cool because that is her favorite princess. The electric parade and fireworks that night were pretty awesome! We were so exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel.

All in all, it was a great trip. We did not overdo it by trying to see everything there. We only saw or rode the things we wanted to, and it worked out great that way. Some people go back year after year, but I can say I'm not one of those people. If we go back, it will be 3-4 years before I do. I much prefer laying on a beach to standing in line for an hour! :)

Disney Part 2

Well, let's pick up where we left off. We have landed....thank you God!

There are 5 of us, and I didn't care that I had to pay $100 for baggage fees. I was not about to lug around 5 bags on top of what we carried on the plane. Disney has a great service that will take your checked bags to the resort and put them in your room. SWEET! Because of this, we were able to go straight to the bus that takes us to the resort. No sooner than we sit on the bus do I hear from Brody "are we there yet?" Not yet son...we haven't even left the airport. And then I hear the following questions on the 30 minute bus ride:

"Where are we?"
"Is there a zoo?" (little did they know we live in one)
"Are we there yet?"
"Where's Mickey?"
"Is Cinderella your best friend?"
"Where are we going?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Did you bring the PSP?"
"Can dogs break their arms?"
"Are we there yet?"

Finally, we pull up to the resort. Thank you God again! :) I get us checked in and then we begin our 1/2 mile trek to our room. The resort is beautiful! It has the look of old New Orleans, complete with plantation style buildings and bayou brush. The room.....not so great. Now granted, we would not be staying in the room much, but I am very picky about accomodations outside of my own bedroom. These queen beds were more like extra-full size. Uncomfortable. Pillows were so big that you could lose a small child inside of one. But anyway, let's make the most of it! We are there, it's just 5:00, so let's do something. So we go eat at the restaurant located at the resort. It's not the best, but it's food. Brody is eating off of everyone's plate. Walker won't hardly touch his food. The dessert was a hit for all though!

We were told that there's a boat ride that will take you from the resort to Downtown Disney. So that's what we decide to do. It's not a park, but it's definitely Disney. All kinds of restaurants, gift shops, stage show....I just loved it! I could have visited this place every day we were there! We let the kids ride the merry go round, shopped like crazy, watched a hula hooping contest and ate the worst caramel apple I've ever had. :) But it was all so much fun! We head on back to the resort to hit the sack. First day at the park was looming.....

Disney Part 1

I have not been on here in a long time for many reasons....too busy, nothing to say, completely forgot I had a blog. So I thought I would just come on here and talk a little bit about our trip to Disney World over spring break.

I have referenced this several times, but we really did make the Griswold's look like amateurs. Let me just start off with the plane ride down there. It is packed to the gill with families going to Disney World. Amy George and her family are also on the plane. I want to say hi and tell her I love her blog, but she looks a little stressed...guess so with two kids, a husband, carry ons and what looked like grandparents in tow. So I decide not to say anything. If I was her, the last thing I would want is some stranger to stop me on a crowded plane to chit chat. So anyway, I am stuck in the middle seat between the two boys and Avery is sitting with her daddy. Thankfully, we all are on one row. Every 2 minutes Brody is asking me when the plane is going to start moving. Walker has his head stuck in a PSP and he's quite, thank goodness. Avery is coloring. We are pretty settled. And then the plane starts backing up. And of course Brody says "are we moving?" I don't even bother to answer. We take off down the runway and as soon as the plane leaves the ground EVERY KID on the plane starts hooting and hollering. Oh precious Lord, please give this plane lightning speed and get me to Orlando ASAP! It's all cute for about a split second, and then it starts to wear on my nerve. Finally, they all calm down. Now enter the kids sitting in the row in front of me. There are 3 of them. And unfortunately, their parents were not able to sit in the same row as them. One parent was in the seat across the aisle and the other was in the seat in front of them. All I will say is the man and woman sitting in front of the kids are angels. There is NO way that I would have allowed my kids to punch, kick, pull their seats the way they were. Mom was too busy reading a magazine to do anything about it, and dad was too busy talking. Every now and then they would turn around and say something along the lines of "honey, stop it". And here's the kicker...when we landed the mom tells the lady "Oh, I'm so sorry about all the kicking". REALLY? Cause you sure didn't act like it! Geez! Anyway, back to the Dunn's.....

The flight for the most part was very smooth. Well, that is until we started the descent into Orlando. Then all those happy kids who could not wait to hug Mickey and kick Pluto in the knee are now whining and crying because their ears are hurting...my kids included. Brody is flopping around in his seat like a fish out of water. So I threaten to pull his ears off. Avery is whining...as usual. And Walker just gives me a look like he's about to experience the worst pain in his life. We hand out gum hoping the chewing will help. It does for about, ohhhh, 10 seconds. You can hear kids scattered through the cabin complaining about it. Finally we land. Then we have to sit on the tarmac for a few minutes because our flight was early (thank you God for that answered prayer). Hey, this is the perfect time to have the kids call Nana and tell her we landed.....just as soon as I can get Brody to quit asking me for the 7th time why we are just sitting there. And then finally, we pull up to the terminal. I have never heard seatbelts on a plane unbuckle as fast as I heard them at that time. Parents across the plane were rejoicing!!!!! I stand up and look back at the rows behind me and I see disheveled looking moms and dads, excited kids and worn out grannies and pawpaws. It makes me giggle....even now thinking about it. I even think the flight attendant opened the door as soon as we pulled up so she could get us out of there ASAP. I hear you sister, I know the feeling.

Hello Orlando, it's so good to see you!!!!!!!!!!