About Me

We just got back from taking donations out to the hard hit areas here in Moody, AL. We caravaned with the church and we were the water truck. We drove through a hard hit area giving out batteries and candles, boxes of food, cases of water, bags of ice, etc. I also picked up Capri Suns since I know kids don’t always want to drink water.

We got a message from the school that there will be school tomorrow. We were out Wed – Fri. The kids will not be counted absent if they can’t get to the school. They have missed more days for weather this year then I ever did.

I want to thank you all so very much for supporting us here in the south through your prayers, donations and really just by reading this blog. I am so grateful for all of you!

It’s bad. I drove over about 4 downed power lines (dead) and had to drive under a few that almost scrubbed the roof. The elementary school can’t open because you can’t get to it because of the power lines.

I saw houses that lost entire stories. I saw blown out windows, blown off roofs, blown out garages. It looked like a blizzard had hit with all the insulation. And then I saw a house that brought me to my knees. It was originally a split level house and the window blew the second story down on top of the first story. I’m just thankful no one was killed!

And it all hit at 6 am with almost no warning. And it could of been us…. It could of been us.

I lost a sheet or two of shingles. Nothing major (I don’t think). I have a roofer coming to look at the damage in the morning. I praise God that is all we lost.

This is a shot of our television as we watched a tornado rip through the town of Tuscaloosa (about 75 miles from here). The tornado was over a mile wide and went right through the heart of the town. It then made it’s way up towards Birmingham and they said on the news “The Tornado just hit Birmingham Southern”. My brother is at that college and was in a bathroom at the time. I was beyond scared until I heard he was safe. Then we watched as the tornado got closer to us. It turned and missed us by just a few miles, but my mother in law who lives 10 miles up the road saw it from her window.

But that was just one of the tornados yesterday. At one point I counted 4 on the ground. This morning they reported that 128 people have died. One man lost his wife and his 2 children. That could of so easily been us earlier in the day….

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5 am to start blogging. I had a dentist appointment so I wanted to get posts scheduled while I was gone to keep all the deals coming to you all. Around 5:45 I checked Weather.com and was shocked to see a tornado warning for Birmingham. I turned on the news and there was a surprise line of storms (we were expecting the evening storms). The news said it was headed straight towards Moody, so I woke up the family and we went to sit in the hall.

The house began to shake. The wind was howling and rattling the windows. The front door kept beeping (house alarm) and trying to open. We were all scared and praying for God to protect us. At one point everything got VERY quiet. Then it started back with a rage. We believe a tornado touched down just behind our house at that time. After it quieted down, we went to assess the damage.

This is a picture my friend Michelle took from her backyard. This building is directly behind her house and her house is just 20 houses up the street from mine. That is a steel building that toppled in the storm.

Our church is less than a mile from the house. The steeple was found 45 feet from the building on the ground. We lost part of the church roof, a bunch of awnings and there was a gas leak they had to get under control.

My friend just moved from a trailer park in February. That park is located 2 miles from my house and the news reported that 120 trailers were destroyed in the storm. The news have not shared any pictures of it. That is a lot of people to lose their homes. A lot.

We were very lucky. The hand of God was definitely over us yesterday. Our house suffered minimal damage. We lost 1 sheet of shingles. I spoke with a lady up the street who had every window blown out of the back of her house, her roof was destroyed and she lost a bunch of siding off the side of her house. I drove through town yesterday and it was like driving through a war zone. Some areas of the road only had one lane open for both flows of traffic because the other side was blocked by trees. Twice I had to drive under a tree that was hanging on a power line. Homes, businesses, fences were all crushed by trees.

They are saying this is one of the worst tragedies to hit Alabama. It is overwhelming to watch the news. Photo after photo of destruction, people crying, homes ruined. And all I can say is…

“And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am”

We are blessed to be alive. Thank you all for your prayers for our family. I could feel them wrapped around us. Please keep my fellow Alabamians in your thoughts and prayers.

I am online for just a minute between storms (both my main internet and my 3G on my phone was down). My town was hit by a tornado at 6 am this morning. The above picture is the warehouse behind my house! There are tons of trees and power lines down and there was even a fatality within 3 miles of my house.

I was online working this morning and decided to check Weather.com. I saw that there was a tornado warning in the Birmingham area and turned the weather on 5 minutes before it hit. We ran to the hall and the winds started shaking the house and setting off our house alarm. It lasted for 2 or 3 minutes. After it calmed down, we went to check out the damage. We only lost a set of shingles on our roof. Our friends up the street lost their fence, half their chimney and a bunch of shingles. The house across the street had all the windows on the backside of their house blown out.

This is just the first storm. There is another one coming. Please pray for all of us here in Alabama. The storm is expected to go into Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas too.

Do you see the baby in the clouds above the rainbow? This picture was taken at Disney World on January 2nd, 2011. We took that trip to heal as a family and that was what we saw in the sky on our very first day!

Today is my angel baby’s due date. I’ve been dreading this day ever since I found out I had lost him on October 15th. But the day is here and he is not.

People tell me I am a very strong woman. That they can’t believe how well I am doing after suffering such a loss. I don’t think I am a strong woman. I feel like I am just surviving. I lost my father in law in 2008 and my grandfather in September of 2010 and although I missed them, that pain didn’t cripple me.

When I lost my child, that pain brought me to my knees. There were days I would find myself on the floor crying and wonder how I got there. I never thought I would be like that, but I was.

It was so very hard to lose my 3rd child. I thought I was immune to miscarriage since I had 2 healthy kids already. So I didn’t do everything I should of during this pregnancy and because of that, I can’t help but blame myself. People tell me all the time, “you didn’t do it!” but the doctors didn’t have any answers, so I find myself laying the blame on my body and the thoughts I had. It was a surprise pregnancy. We didn’t want to have another child. And when we almost lost Emily to appendicitis in September, I remember thinking to myself “I’d rather lose this baby then lose my daughter” and then I did.

I am a Christian and I believe that God has a plan that I am just not meant to understand. I don’t blame Him for taking my child and I believe that one day I will get to see my child again. But honestly, that doesn’t really give me a tremendous amount of comfort. I am still mad that I didn’t get to raise my child.

Someone told me that God understands the pain because He lost a child too. And that is true and it put it into perspective for me. Another quote that gave me a lot of strength was “I always thought I’d be the one waiting at the gates of Heaven to introduce my children to Christ, but instead God chose my son to be the one to introduce me to His Son.”

Throughout the past 5 months, I have got absolutely incredible letters and cards from my amazing readers. You have all been such a source of strength for me. When I felt like I couldn’t get up and face the day, I would remember the 1,000s of wonderful people that depend on me to bring them the deals. The blog also became an outlet for the pain. I actually get excited when I realize that I don’t have any plans for the day and I can blog from dawn to dusk. I love love love love love my blog and my incredible readers. You guys have touched me so incredibly deeply. Even those of you that never comment, never email, you are still here and I know it and that matters.

I am taking the day off completely to be with my family. My wonderful friends are going to help me post some hot deals and put my posts on Facebook. I am going to spend the day enjoying the day as best I can with my family. Thank you all for reading this post and know how much you all mean to me.

And I also wanted to let you know that baby Mason, the son of the amazing family that paid for our reservations at Disney, is finally home after being in the hospital for 2 months. I am so happy that I have this joy today. God bless you all.

I’m sure you have heard on the news about the winter storm that has hit the south. I just got a call from the school that they are closed AGAIN tomorrow. And I wanted to show you pictures of what shuts the south down……

I was so excited for the snow….. but it ended up being ice, snow mixed with ice and more ice. It’s terrible.

This is my neighbor’s car.

This is my van. I haven’t driven it since the snow and it hasn’t hardly melted at all!

I wish we were at Disney World this week instead…..

My entire life I have prayed for a White Christmas. And yesterday we had the first White Christmas in recorded history here in Birmingham, AL. I firmly believe that it was a gift from Heaven. A gift from my son and my grandfather who passed away this year, my father in law who passed away in 2008 and so on and so on. It gave me tremendous peace and happiness.

I saved some in the freezer. We will see how long it lasts.

As much as I was dreading this Christmas, it turned out to be one of the best ones I have ever had. And all of your prayers for me this holiday season were so appreciated. I hope your Christmas was as great as mine was.

Just 6 days until we leave for Disney! I can’t wait to share that experience with all of you.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by Couponing to Disney on Christmas. I wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful and magical Christmas full of incredible memories.

We are home and settled in. Emily is doing well. Her tummy still hurts (where they removed the appendix) but she is feeling ok. She broke out in a contact rash this morning (probably from the sheets) but it isn’t bothering her.

We went by the Redbox and it made her day. They have been advertising this Chipmunks cartoon but it was NEVER in the box. But it was today and it put a huge grin on her face. She also talked me out of the Barbie doll from Toy Story 3. Sneaky!

I am so glad to have this behind us. I can’t tell you what a tremendous relief it was when we saw her after her surgery. I am thankful for wonderful doctors, a big hospital room (the one we stayed in for 8 nights in September was half the size!), and a wonderful staff who took great care of us.

Thank you all for your wonderful prayers, thoughts and support. I am now ready to catch up on the blog and get back to normal around here. I haven’t known normal since August 27th. I can’t tell you how ready I am!