What were we doing?

OK, so I know this is a lot of posts re: Friday... but it was one of those moments that I will not forget about.  I wanted to post what we (all of the Tennessee Lovell's) were doing during the tornado.  This one will be long.... like some of the others... this afternoon seemed much longer than only a few hours!  :)

Mark was at work in LaVergne (well outside of path of the tornado but certainly in the warning thus in the vault at work... which is a great place to be if a tornado hit him as he would likely survive hands down).  I called him early once I realized we had a tornado warning and that the storm was projected straight for our house.  At this point, the storm had NOT hit any part of Murfreesboro and there was NOT a confirmed tornado on ground.  As we (Rutherford County) has had a number of tornado warnings since we moved here in 3/06.  The worst time for us (well Mark only as Kaya and I were in Iowa, lol) was at the end of 3/06 when a warning hit in the counties west of Rutherford... mind you this was Mark's first ever tornado warning in his 30+ years!  He and I were on the phone the whole time... and I tried to assure him that he did not to worry too much unless there was a tornado warning in Rutherford County and to watch the radar to see where it was exactly.  Anyway, we all got through that one.  Side note... that same time (a few days after this, I think), there was a tornado warning where I was in Iowa (at my sister's) and I was driving when my sister called to say get to her house ASAP.  Just a few weeks after I returned to TN, on 4/13/06, a F2 tornado hit downtown Iowa City http://www.icpl.org/tornado/ That map looks so similar to the path of Friday's.

Back to present.  While Mark is in the vault at work, you are not supposed to use your cell phone (safety protocol), but he and I were calling/texting each other for quite awhile.  I was calling/texting as many people as I knew to see their status (both if they were ok and to get a on the ground report of where the storm was located).  Throughout, not all calls and texts both were not sending/receiving.  We got the older kids (7 in total) into the bathtub with towels and some pillows around 12:15ish and weather radio (I thought about getting a mattress at some point, but thought that would not be necessary... part of me was prepared for the severity but not all of me).  At that point, myself and my two friends (each of us with a baby in hand) spent most of the time on the front porch with the front door wide open and the TV on load.  The kids in the bathroom were a bit scared and restless, but in all they did SO well.  At some point, I got one box of fruit snacks for them.. then had to get more, lol (side not that hubby had just purchased those the night before.. hmm, great timing).  Chandra had more goodies in her bag, so the kids had snacks.  There were all the bath toys that they were playing with.  When all 13 of us were in the bathroom with the door closed (not a ton as I tried to save that for when I was freaked out so much that I could not be outside), it got quite warm and tight in there... as you can imagine.  We sang some songs... for the life of me I could NOT think of anything besides Twinkle Little Star and ABC, lol.  The three of us adults were all texting people to get on the ground updates. 

I would say around 12:30ish (DNJ posted at 12:33 confirming touchdown near Hwy 99 & Barfield Cresent Rd (basically as the tornado hit the first part of Murfreesboro)..... I heard on the TV "confirmed touchdown at Old Fort Pkway & I24" and then something about how they did NOT need a person to confirm it b/c they had it on camera.... later I learned this was b/c a camera mounted to the Old Fort Pkway overpass on I24 watched the tornado cross I24... you canNOT get more confirmation than that!  Hearing these words, I felt the need to say some very harsh words and run or something (like I could get away from it or something).  I did go into the bathroom and thought I would stay in there with the other peeps after I heard on the TV that it was projected to hit us (or near us) btw 12:40-12:45.  I am a little unclear on the order of events, but at one point all of us adults were on the porch (I think after we heard confirmation of tornado on the ground.. maybe just before).  Kristen was the first to see what I thought was a funnel cloud and circulation (or at least that is what I wanted to believe).  We had NO way of knowing if it was on the ground as there are houses and trees.  I am yelling across the street at my neighbors who were doing the same thing we were doing.. watching the sky while watching the radar.  I asked them "does that look like it?"  Yes is the response I get.  Oh, during this time and right before, cars RACE on our street... faster than ever before.  It is eerie calm (just like people say)... the sky looks that greenish/blue color that you hear about... and it just feels eerie.  Not but a minute later, Chandra and I both saw with 100%+ certainty the tornado as there was circulation and debris.  Her and I looked at each other and I think we both said "sh*t".  I honestly do not remember after that but shutting the front door and going to the bathroom as fast as we could.  

At this point, I am truly scared, scared for the first time with these events.  I think if it had just been Kaya, Connor and myself at home..... I would have been much less scared b/c I would have been in the bathroom more and not seen the actual tornado (I would have had to be right there with Kaya instead of having 6+ kids entertain her.. if that makes sense).  Something in me just went into plan mode or something.  I did wish I had batteries for my still camera... and that video camera battery had NOT just died a few days before (timing) to capture our first tornado.  I did snap a few pics of all the kids in the bathtub.

I got out of the bathroom after maybe 5 minutes.  Looked at the TV to confirm it was past.... but there was a line of storms on the radar after it.  The tornado warning for Rutherford County had been extended from 1:45 to 2:00.  Kept the kids in the bathroom, as we were still in that time frame and tornadoes can start anywhere, so we were not taking our chances.  In total, the kids were in the bathtub for about an hour and a half.

After the all clear was good, we let the kids out.  There was some debris in our yard (only a few pieces).  I grabbed a piece of roof with insulation and showed it to the older kids who were all like 'woah that was from a tornado'.  That seemed to be enough for them... as we never heard nor felt the winds, so they really thought they were just having a party in the bathtub (which I am so, so thankful that is their memories of the day).  Kristen wanted to get home (rightly so as it was talked to hit the area where she lived), so she got her kids ready for the long drive home (said it took her 1.5 hrs which normally takes 30 minutes).  Chandra wanted to get home too, but we had already heard about street closures including section of I24 due to semi being overturned.  Mark was enroute home as I told him to come straight home after he got the all clear to get out of the vault.  He got home right as Chandra and I were figuring out how she would get home with the street closures we were hearing about.  I was un-nerved at this point and really needed to get out of the house... I think I had to 'see' what had just happened.  I got in the car and let Chandra part of the way home worried that we might have to figure out a way home as we went and I knew the area a bit better.  

We got to State Farm around 3:10ish (as I texted Chandra at 3:21 to see how she was doing, so I am guessing on the time) which is at the intersection of DeJarnette and Memorial and turned right on Memorial.  Sirens are everywhere.... helicopters too..... debris scattered all over... people walking around in a daze... people in their cars in a daze..... I saw a tree completely uprooted... a man on his roof assessing the damage..... a lounge chair in a tree......... my neighbor at the bank as he works there walking around assessing everything I imagine.  The talk of 'it looked like a warzone' was all I could think of.  This is an area where the tornado did indeed cross, yet it hopped or something as the damage here was nothing compared to what it HAD done (this I would learn later though, so for me at that moment.... this was bad and seemed like a war zone).

I have asked Kaya a few times what she was doing during the tornado and she says "playing in the bathtub with bath toys and my friends"... oh, I so love that is her story to tell of the afternoon's events!!  Connor spent the entire time in my arms... even though he really wanted down especially when we were outside.. he wiggled and put his arms out which his is way of wanting to play.... when it was raining a little, he really lit up and wanted to play in the rain, lol.  Nope, he stayed on my hip as I could NOT let him out of my sight for a second!  The youngest child here that day, who is all of 2.5 months, spent some of the time in the bathroom sleeping in his mom's arms!  Oh, I am truly THANKFUL these are the stories we have to tell and remember!

A teacher of mine once said 'God creates tornados (floods, fires, etc) but people create tornado (flood, fire, etc) damage'........... hmm, yes this is true.  Had this tornado hit just an empty field or something like that, then it would have been talked about a minor tornado that caused crop damage or such, but not what how it is being talked about.  Now, I do agree and believe that God knows this would happen right when it happened..... but it is not an act of God in that he is punishing anyONE...... God is the all healing..... he did know there would be loss of life and that is something he is VERY sad about along with us... he lost his son, remember.  God is healing...... this I believe more than anything.... I know God is what was the driving force that got me through things after our fire... and after so many moments in my life, good and bad.  God WILL heal us all...... it WILL take a LONG time.... but he is all healing!