Real Life: Safe and sound back home!!!

Hadassah is back home!!! She had a wonderful time and loved the whole missions trip. Her stories are fun to listen too but she did miss us and is happy to be back home. We missed her like crazy too! Hadassah loved the mountains in North Carolina and even got to see a little bit of snow. She said that the snow is different there. It snows in balls instead of flurries. :) It was a great time for her to see another culture and see how some Indian people live. Witnessing to them was stretching but she did a good job!

On the way home, after driving all evening and into the night, Hadassah's class arrived back at school at 2 AM Friday morning!!!! I'm not sure why such an odd timing but they played dodge ball until 4 AM, then slept on the classroom floors, ate a simple breakfast and I picked her up at 8:30. She came home ready for a hot shower and soft bed. :)

Her class will have this memory forever and what a blessing it is to have a Christian teacher that leads her class to the mission field!!! Thanks so much Mr. & Mrs. Alderfer and all the adults that went along and made this possible for the eighth grade class!

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Safe and Sound ...

Wednesday night we went to small groups. In Honey brook. But this time it was different. We left the house with it raining. A text went through earlier wondering who is all coming and if we should meet because of a tornado warning being put out. How often do we actually get a tornado in our area??? Not often! We decided to still get together and as we shared and prayed, it rained even harder!!! Our phones all started to beep and telling us to take cover that a tornado has been spotted! By now, we were in contact with some people in the Gap area and saying it was really bad there. We waited out the storm in Honey brook and then started towards home. We drove through so much water and even stopped once to see if it was safe to keep driving on the roads because of so much water!!! We had to detour RT. 340 at different places because by now the tornado damage has happened and police and firefighters were out working hard to fight fires and direct traffic!!! A tornado did come through our area and destroyed as it went storming right past our friends and relatives houses and land!

I knew the storm was bad but didn't go out to take a look until today!!! So much has been cleaned up already and it still looks nasty!!! There is stuff in trees. Trash along the roads. Houses in need of repairs. Barns being rebuilt. I was asked to help make a lunch for Manny and Suz today. They had damage from the tornado on their farm and asked people to come help fix their barn roof and clean up. I was told to bring food for about 30 people. I called Rachel to help me and I made sandwiches and she made soup.

When we pulled into Manny's today around lunch time, my mouth dropped open! They were tearing down the old tobacco shed and hauling off all the trash!!! The barn had shifted from the high winds and now needs to be replaced! There was tons of people there to help!!! Like 100! Neighbors, friends, church family, family, etc.!!! Rachel and I both looked at each other and knew that if our food got served it would have to be a "feeding of the 5,000 miracle"!!! :) We were told that White Horse Fire Company was sending food over for lunch too!!! We put all our food together and served it up!!! Lots of men, children and friends ate and we had plenty of food!!! :) God is so good!!!

Mike helped cut up trees and wood. Matthew ran around outside and played with his friends while the dads worked. Hadassah even stayed to hang out and watch the action. I left after lunch to go pick up Ashlyn and Austin. I asked sister Jody to watch them till I was finished serving! Thanks Jody!!! Bless you, Manny and Suz, as you finish the clean up work and get a new barn built! We enjoyed helping your family today!!!

I made these huge sandwich rings and they got devoured.

It's amazing how community gets together and makes food for occasions like these!!!

After lunch, I decided to drive around the neighborhood a little to see more damage. Here's the farm on Amish Road. Lot's of people were out helping them clean up too. And then a picture of where two chicken houses were destroyed. I saw men out picking up trash along the roads. It is a nice day outside and people were out everywhere to help!

An Amish school house was destroyed on Wednesday night and already rebuilt!!! How could all that happen so fast!!! It's our wonderful work ethic, helping hands and willing hearts!!!

We were grateful and blessed to not have any damage here at our home!

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Austin is growing in leaps and bounds. He still pulls himself around on the floor. He just started to pull himself up on some of his toys. When he's standing, he cries because he doesn't know what to do next!!!! Still no teeth but feeling something on the bottom gums. It won't be long before we will see some teeth! He is also getting better at foods. He loves cheerios! He ate baby cereal much better this week! He is healthy and growing!!! We love him so much!