Alabama Tornadoes, Easter Recap

1st and for most, everyone in my family is safe and sound. Sing praises! Also, all my friends have been accounted for.

As you may know I am from Alabama, one of those "southern bells." My family still resides there, in a small town 20 miles south of Birmingham. A few days ago a devastating storm rolled through, dropping huge tornadoes, and killing hundreds.

I got a call from my mom, around 5pm Idaho time, telling me that they were packing up and heading to the church for safety. (Their house was built in 1873, not the most up to code structure.) They rode out the storms at the church, but thankfully nothing hit their towns. Phew! One went north of them, and another tornado went south.

However the main path of the large tornado went through my home stake. Heard of Tuscaloosa? It's the home of the University of Alabama. Also Pleasant Grove (which was hit) is home to many in my home stake, too. (A stake is a collection of LDS churches, typically 8 to 12. Everything is zoned for more order, etc.)

Some wonder if tornadoes are common in the Dirty South. Yes, yes, they are. I practiced tornado drills is school, listened to the town alarm sirens go off every week, and hid in my safe spot when a bad storm came through. In one of the episodes from Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers," a statistic was given that the Southeast receives more dangers tornadoes than the plain states. Weird, huh?

The devastation hurts, I mean KILLS, my heart. I may not love, Love, LOVE the State of Alabama, but it has been so hard to see my home torn up.

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So Easter was fun! We dyed eggs, had a small family hunt in the morning (outside, hooray!), then a larger hunt with Matt's family in the afternoon.

However, I am really excited about the family picture we got. Nobody cried, nobody ran away, everyone stayed and looked at the camera. An Easter miracle! It's not a perfect picture, but this is as good as it gets!

Coloring eggs, the day before Easter.

Easter morning! Eli was shocked there were goodies inside, Titus enjoyed the hunt from indoors, and Isaac was so happy to see all the egg goodness abounding in the yard.

All the cousins at Matt's Uncle and Aunt's home, showing off their Easter goodies.

These boys really tried their best to look at the camera. But those blue eyes of theirs just kill them in sunlight.

Titus loved eating everyone's left overs, Isaac enjoyed all the extra goodies, and Eli had a lot of fun running with the other two year old in the family.

Easter in my favorite holiday, pretty much always has been. The church hymns are wonderful; the Spring time is fantastic; the time of remembrance of Christ's Atonement, sacrifice, and resurrection is uplifting and inspiring; and simple, new goodies in a basket filled with love and a new outfit is so refreshing!

I sure hope everyone's Easter was wonderful...

... He is risen!