A Crazy Turn of Events
We ended up having a low key Memorial Day, I think we may have gone out to eat with some family and then came home to hang out because it looked like some thunderstorms were coming. You never think much about thunderstorms in Texas- they’re frequent, never really turn into anything and the forecast could show you’re supposed to get 4 inches of rain but you’re lucky if you get 1. This particular evening, we visited the new house, like we did most evenings. There were dirt and sand piles for Delta to play in, we loved seeing each and every update as the house was being built, and our backyard has the prettiest sunsets.
As we were watching the sun go down, Ranger and I noted how strange the sky looked. I had never seen something like it before. It looked like someone had gone full speed down a dirt road and all of the dust was on the horizon, but it never went away, it just lingered there. Above it, the only thing I can describe as the most “eerie” color orangey-pink. I don’t even know if that makes sense, but we noticed something was a little off in the sky. And it was windy.
Fast forward maybe 2-3 hours, we’re watching the news for the storms and we notice some strong winds north of us, but nothing to be worried about. The news anchor says we will have some severe thunderstorms, Delta was already asleep in bed, we don’t think much of it at all, but all of the sudden our power goes out. Again, nothing to be alarmed about. It is the beginning of Summer, but we light some candles and we’re good.
We decide to walk outside and see what the weather is doing. It was a pretty standard thunderstorm. We saw frequent lightening, heard the thunder, but it was windy and there was no rain. The air was warm, so we just chatted about to our neighbors also standing outside watching the storm roll in. Out of nowhere, the temperature drops about 20 degrees. The wind stops completely. There is absolutely no sound, like SCARY QUIET. Within seconds of us realizing something is not right, mine and Ranger’s phones started going off with a tornado warning. You know the sound from the severe weather or amber alerts on iPhone? Well, I actually have mine turned off. When my phone starting alerting me I knew it was serious, and there was no way for us to get it to go away, there was no closing it out. It told us to seek shelter immediately.
We went inside, woke Delta up to take shelter in our closet. We tried to get online to see radar, or any news station, we tried to reach out to family members to see what was happening all around us but our phones weren’t working. Thinking that was weird, we had no idea what was actually happening outside. After about 15 minutes, Ranger went outside to see if anyone knew anything, someone told us that a Shell gas station about 4 miles down the road from us was completely gone. A tornado had taken it out and there were people trapped inside. Sick to my stomach, unable to reach anyone by phone, it was the worst feeling ever.
After a little while longer, our phones started having spotty service. We were able to get in touch with my sister and brother in law who live seconds from us. My SIL has family in the town where the tornado hit, so she confirmed the gas station was gone, as well as an entire mobile home community about a quarter of a mile from where our new house was being built.
Ranger and his brother decide that they can’t just sit around and wait for the morning when people are trapped, their homes have been lost, we heard there were trees and power lines down across roads to where first responders could not reach the homes and people affected. (Our other BIL is the Asst. Fire Chief in a neighboring town, so they were also keeping in touch with them as they were on the scene) They set out with chainsaws and drove down back roads to get to these homes that had been destroyed, chopping trees as they could to clear the roads. The time is about 11pm and they did not get home until 4am. Our power was out nearly that entire time.
After seeing a few photos and posts on Facebook, we decided as soon as the sun was up, we would go check out the damage and see if there was anything we could do to help anyone. We had no idea what the daylight would show us. We turned down our road to the new house, where we pass the manufactured homes first and they were just GONE. It looked like a war zone. Nothing can prepare you for what it looks like. The photos and video you see on the news don’t do the destruction justice. You just lose it, I was bawling, there were people that lost their lives, their children, their pets, their entire livelihoods in their homes. We had not even gotten to the new house yet and we were just struck with shock and complete disbelief that this had happened 4 miles from where we were currently living.
We drove down what would be our new road, and every single new build that was standing beautiful, nearly complete the day before was completely destroyed into crumbles. Roofs caved in, yards ripped up. Tin and metal from homes crumpled up like pieces of paper. Power lines snapped as if they were tiny tooth picks. It was unreal and felt like a bad dream.
There has not been a tornado in this area in over 100 years, and one decides to rip through when we are 3 weeks from closing on a brand new home? You would think we would be sad, disappointed, and maybe even angry. And of course there was a little bit of “aw man” inside of us. But truly, seeing all of it in person, I felt incredibly protected. I kept coming back to that word and thanking the Lord that we were not living in the home. Not only could we have been injured, but we would have been on our own with insurance claims, we would have had to find somewhere else to live until the house could be repaired, we may not have been able to financially recover from that- there are a thousand scenarios where this could have been so much worse. And for some, that was the case and it’s devastatingly heartbreaking. I felt protected from the storm, I felt protected from not living there, and I felt protected from financial burden.
It feels strange to thank God when something terrible happens. And sometimes we are unable to do that in the moment. Although I have never been through something like this, I have been through enough in my life to know that God’s plan is greater than anything I could ever imagine for myself. I don’t believe that God “sent” that storm. Only the enemy seeks to kill, steal and destroy. But I believe that God protected us from things we would have been unable to bear. and I believe that a lot of times, things happen so that we have no choice but to lean on Jesus. And my hope is I am always faithful in that.
We were not sure what came next- will they rebuild our home? Do we even still want it? Does this mean there’s something else for us? We were in shock and in limbo as we waited for our builder to tell us what came next.
Next, I’ll share the steps we took in the weeks following the storm and where we are now 🙂
xx
