snow in alabama.

In case you have been living underneath a rock of some sort, last week Alabama saw snow! I don’t believe we saw any last year that I can remember, and Benjamin can’t really remember the other few times he has seen snow, so literally 5 minutes after I woke up, we all dressed and headed outside to stand outside in the cold. And this is a sacrifice on my part because I actually hate snow with a cold-hearted passion.

 

But seriously, how could I pass up the opportunity to take pictures of Benjamin out in the snow, even if all he did was stood around? I’m attempting to get back into the practice of taking more photos. I never thought that I’d start falling short on that one, but you know… it happens I guess!

The flakes were really big, but as soon as they hit anything, they were pretty much gone. Of course, growing up in the South, this really wasn’t much of a surprise to me. I sort of wish that Benjamin had been able to see some sort of accumulation. Tuscaloosa actually had some accumulation, but the only reason we were there that afternoon was because I had a doctor’s appointment.

I think that one of Benjamin’s favorite parts of it all happened to be finally wearing his giraffe rain boots. He’s had them for a couple of years thanks to our good friend Maddie and he can finally fit in them and doesn’t walk quite as awkwardly. I just can’t believe it though… finally able to fit in those boots. {aren’t they precious?}

 
 

The snow barely lasted an hour and a half from what I remember, honestly, but it was nice to be able to take these pictures.

I wonder if it will snow again anytime this winter. The weather has been so wacky and unpredictable, so who knows?

None of Self and All of Thee

I know that most everyone here knows about the monster tornadoes that ripped through the South Wednesday evening. I know that a lot of you have probably suffered damages, or you know personally people who have. There is a congregation in Tuscaloosa that has lost their building to the monster tornado that ripped through there. The Central church of Christ was completely ravaged and we decided, almost spur of the moment {as I am sure many things have been lately… you can’t really plan extensively for things like this}, that we would try to get a group together to take supplies up to Tuscaloosa and help the Central church of Christ as much as we possibly could.

Yesterday was a busy day for many of us as the congregation here, as many as we could get in touch with, worked hard to gather supplies and basic necessities to distribute to those in need in Tuscaloosa. Our kitchen area was filled to bursting with clothes, food, toiletries, candles, diapers, and so much more.

You have to understand… we had about 8 hours to collect all this stuff. This is also around the time when people were getting off work or for some still working. We weren’t able to call everyone up but those whom we did call… boy did they deliver! We are SO proud to be associated with this giving, selfless congregation. What a blessing!

Anyway, so we went to bed after midnight and we were up at 6:45 rushing to get ready. This included getting ourselves ready and making sure we had everything ready for Benjamin to go to the babysitter’s house. We were so blessed by Mrs. Amelia who agreed promptly to keep him all day for us on such short notice. I am serious she was here around like 9PM last night and we asked her then and she was so happy to oblige. This meant that we could both go with the folks to Tuscaloosa to help and not have to worry about Benjamin getting in the way. We toyed with the idea for a while of bringing his stroller so he could sit in it and everything but once we got there… it would not have been possible or safe for him to be there.

We set off around 7:40 for Tuscaloosa. It’s about an hour’s drive for us and we made good timing I’d say. Once we got into the city you could start seeing the destruction but it was really getting heavier the closer we got to the church building. As we were driving I could feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach as I saw the houses and buildings that were just leveled to the ground, and the trees and electric poles that had been felled. Members of the National Guard were blocking off some roads {hummers, heavy-duty guns, the works} that were impassable to the public. We finally got to the building and I was … speechless. There are no adequate words to describe what we saw. A picture speaks a thousand words, so here are a few thousand for you:

{one of the soldiers hung his jacket on an up-turned desk outside to better help out}

{The church van crushed by the steel beams}

{church bus also crushed}

{can you believe it?}

{mattress hanging on a tree}

{I read that there were tons of old, old trees all over this neighborhood – gone.}

{can you tell that the wall is leaning? there is a sign that warns you that the wall could very well fall at any given moment}

{there is glass EVERYWHERE.}

{there is another chandelier tangled up against the wall too}

{looking at the neighborhood}

{National Guard at the end of the street}

{this was upstairs in a classroom that as you can tell was blown pretty much away. Carl took this and he says that it was just totally undisturbed. Isn’t that crazy?}

{another shot from upstairs looking out at the houses surrounding}

Absolutely incredible… considering there were six college-aged members in the building at the time of the tornado, and they reportedly said that it lasted about 15-20 seconds… and that is all it took for this tornado to rip this beautiful building apart.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, though. It wasn’t the total destruction of this building that touched my heart, nor the rubble that used to be houses littering the streets. What touched my heart more than anything else was the fact that this congregation of the Lord’s people were not concerned with their building. Yes, there were people bringing out things as they could to salvage, but most people were not concerned with the building. Instead, they were feeding fellow tornado victims. I watched as they had an assembly line of people packing lunches of hotdogs and hamburgers into grocery bags, including a slip of paper that personally invited the people who would receive these to worship with the church of Christ in their area. These lunches were passed out to people everywhere in the area. And not only that but they had tables and tables of clothes and toiletries and diapers and food and other things for people to come and get what they needed.

I couldn’t help but to think that this congregation was being that light on the hill, shining through this dark time in so many people’s lives. This is what Christians should do in the face of such destruction. Use it as an opportunity to reach out to others and show them the love of God.

Like many others in Alabama I am sure, I left there changed, and for the better.

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Would you like to help? Your prayers are valued more than anything, but if you would like to help in monetary efforts, here are a few links to check out:

http://www.servealabama.gov/2010/2011%20Tornadoes/Response.aspx – The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_how_you_can.html – A list of places you can donate to in Alabama
http://www.alredcross.org/index.asp?IDCapitulo=DRGYJ0Q5XZ – The American Red Cross
{Call: 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and you will be prompted to a menu that includes financial donations
Text: "Red Cross" to 90999.}
http://www.everribbon.com/ribbon/view/442 - To specifically donate to the church for their rebuilding.

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Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
“None of self, and all of Thee.”
None of self, and all of Thee,
None of self, and all of Thee,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
“None of self, and all of Thee.”

a simple truth.

Moon Pies

taste better

on a special, sunny day

under the shade of a few trees,

and it’s good till

the very last

bite.

Sweet Home, Alabama!

So we made it to Alabama! And we finally have internet at the house now, so I can finally get back into blogging! I have really missed all my bloggy friends and I have been spending some time catching up on y’alls blogs. I’m trying to leave comments but you know how things are. We have been very busy around here, if you can imagine, but I am happy to say we don’t have any unpacking left to do and we finally have places to sit in the living room! We are just waiting for the rest of our furniture to get here (that would be tables and lamps for the living room), and I’m also waiting for paint to dry on these shelves I’ve painted for our DVD’s… and then I  just need to keep things tidied and all is good!

I have been so good about keeping busy lately. Part of that is because I have been getting up earlier than I used to (which actually is about the same time in Georgia that I used to get up, but it also means I am getting more work in as I’m seeing more daylight).

Benjamin has adjusted very well. You’d never know he just moved here two weeks ago! He’s made friends whom he loves very much already and he just has made himself right at home with his new church family.

Speaking of which, we are so thankful God has blessed us with the church family we now work with! They are a wonderful group of people and we are really looking forward to really working with them and getting to know them better and building relationships with them!

We do miss being close to family and we know that Benjamin does too. A lot of the time, especially when we first got here, when we got in the car Benjamin would say, “Nana? Papaw? Bailey?” It was sweet but it also broke my heart. We are looking forward to seeing Andma and Poppa and Uncle Preston this weekend for Benjamin’s 2nd Birthday Party, though!

All in all, we are very happy here. We love the house, we love the people, and we are getting into the swing of things here in LA (Lower Alabama). Benjamin and I are getting used to not seeing daddy so much during the day but we are enjoying the time spent together.

I just wanted to give a quick update and hopefully later I’ll be able to share pictures of the house and everything with those who haven’t seen it yet. Here’s a hint: If you’ve seen Micah’s old house, you’ve seen our new house, HA! We love the Paschalls!

Well Mr. Benjamin is wanting help with his new train set… y’all take care and I’ll be catching up with your blogs soon enough!