Hey All! This is just a special thanks and shout out to those of you who have expressed love and concern over our welfare in the past couple days. Although the tornado struck a little more than half a mile from our home (0.6 miles to the north, 2.0 miles to the west, and 1.0 mile southwest of us) it just missed us. We ourselves were actually in Chicago, but my in-laws were staying at our house, so we had a few worried hours, as we have no basement. However, our home, our yard and the goldfish in our pond are all okay! We lost power for about 12 hours, but that was it. Barely a blip, while devastation hit neighborhoods all around us, including many within our ward boundaries, which kept me busy on the phone Friday night checking on my girls.
The St. Louis airport was ripped up pretty bad, with glass blowing out the windows, and vans being tossed around. One plane grounded on the runway filled with passengers spun around 40 degrees on its nose. The spotters in flight control tower are describing their experience as 'harrowing.' Disaster crews got a jump on the major repairs over the weekend, however they seemed to have missed something crucial! On the commute to work this morning I noticed that the freeway going the other direction I was traveling was completely stopped! I turned on the radio and found out that traffic was proceed over the I-70 interstate bridge at the St. Charles Rock Road as usual, when a police officer got on his megaphone and started ordering everyone off the bridge, yelling that it was going to collapse. Yikes! Well, I'm at work, but I bet the people on the freeway are still exactly where they were 2 hours ago.
As bad as the property devastation was, they are calling the tornado an 'Easter Miracle.' Although more than 750 homes were damaged or destroyed, only three people were seriously hurt or injured, and there were no fatalities. Needless to say, we feel incredibly blessed at how God has watched over us and our loved ones.
