One Year Later...

It is hard to believe that one year ago today we were trying to figure out how we were going to deal with this!  

The number one question that Murray and I get is, "How is your house situation?"  The answer is, it is exactly the same it was the morning of April 27th with a blue tarp instead of a tree on the roof (and all the problems you might imagine would occur over the course of a year with a hole in the roof only covered by a tarp).

The day the movers came and packed up our house and moved us for the first time, we never imagined we would have two more moves within the same year!  You know when I type it, it sounds very crazy, especially for a mom of three young children.  But the Lord has shown us an extreme amount of Grace!  It has been a great year!  While I have lost it a few times (ok, maybe more than just a few), we really don't feel like this year has been characterized by packing up and moving all the time.  Each house has brought us lots and lots of fun memories!

First Rental House:
We will always remember the Dance Parties we had in our shag carpeted den...

Sara Wells starting to join in on all of our art projects...

 all the fun treats that we made...

and of course dress up.

Rental House #2

We had so many fun memories in Rental House #2.  Things we will never forget are 

Carving our pumpkin...

Christmas morning...

Sara Wells's Second Birthday...

And all the fun we had playing outside!

Rental House #3
Although we have only been here a short time, we know this house is going to be great for our family!  The Lee kids love to play outside!  Leaving Rental #2, we did not think it was going to get any better than living on a cul-de-sac and having a killer rope swing, but our new house is great!

Our new backyard is every child's dream.  The Lee kids play for hours outside every day!  The yard, and all the fun we have had together outside, will definitely be the thing we remember most about this house!

April 27th is a day that we will never forget.  I will never forget the sound of that tree falling on our house!  But that is not what forever marks the day in our life.  To our family, it is a very visible display of God's protection.

In 1 Samuel, Samuel placed a large stone, Ebenezer, to always remind the Israelites, and all those that passed by, of God's faithfulness to his people.  When they saw this stone, the people were always reminded of God's faithfulness, mercy and restoration.  I wish I did a better job of physically keeping a record of the ways that God has been faithful to me and to our family so that in times of struggle I can always look to a physical reminder of God's faithfulness.  April 27th will forever be one of those reminders.  I will never forget how God protected our family on April 27, 2011, our family at 5:30 a.m. in Cahaba Heights and Wellon and Stephen's family at 5:30 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.  The only times I have gotten really emotional about the tornados are when I see specials on tv or at sporting events (yes, I have cried at several football games and even a gymnastics competition) where they have dedicated highlights of the tornados and the victims.  Not because of what we lost, or Wellon and Stephen lost, but because of how God protected us!  What we have been through is so little compared to the complete devastation that some families have been through in the past year.  I will always look to this day and be reminded that God protected us on that day.  His protection may not always look like protecting us physically.  But, we can look at this day and see how He does protect us and be reminded that there is never a time that we are out of his hands.  No matter what the situation looks like through our eyes, we know that God is always working for our good and will never let his plan be hindered.