A big tornado hit Joplin, MO today....

At around 4:30 I was awoken from my Sunday nap by tornado sirens. My husband was gone home teaching and the little boys were napping, the other kids were quietly playing downstairs. I picked up the baby and headed downstairs. The weather appeared mostly calm, and with the exception of that blaring tornado siren at the end of our street there didn't seem to be many signs of an impending tornado or even an impending storm. We don't have a basement so the last time we heard the sirens we gathered in a storage closet under the stairs. This time I really didn't think much of it and we just gathered in the family room to watch a movie and wait it out. The sirens continued, it rained slightly, there was some wind but really it was just a rainy day like any other.

When the tornado warning was over the girls went upstairs to play in their room. They turned on the radio to listen to a cd and noticed that the news was on the radio. Ashlynne came downstairs and said something about the news saying for everyone to get inside. She was kind of panicked. I told her the storm had passed...it was nothing. Then we all started to listen and realized they were talking about Joplin.

First we heard the Home Depot was gone...then we heard the new Walgreens was gone...then there were reports of cars overturned, trees coming out of cars, neighborhoods leveled...

From there it all went so fast! I ran downstairs to get online and check to see what I could find out. We don't have a tv so the computer was all I could use. The new reports weren't coming in fast enough. I could only get the information from twitter updates that were showing up on Google when I searched for JOPLIN TORNADO. Some of those updates said that the Hospital was on fire and that it had taken a direct hit. Another twitter update directed me to Weather.com where they had live feed of the tornado aftermath.

All I can say is WOW. There are absolutely no words to describe the devastation that was unfolding before my eyes. My heart was heavy, we all gathered around the computer to watch the live feeds from Weather.com Jeremiah received a phone call from a friend from our church and they decided to mobilize and get over to Joplin and help anyway they can. He quickly got his boots on, grabbed a hard hat, some bottled water and a jacket. Then as a family we knelt in a circle to pray for the people of Joplin, to pray for their families, to pray for Jeremiah and those that would go with them. The spirit was so strong in our home at that moment I knew that Jeremiah would be guided to help those that needed help.

I've been monitoring the damage in disbelief all evening. My only sources have been the radio, weather.com and various news reports on the web.

You hear about things like this on the news and you think wow, that is so sad and your heart goes out to them but the truth is those places are just a name, a location on the map. I don't think I ever fully understood the hearbreak caused by devastation such as this until it happened in my own backyard. Joplin is where I go to shop for groceries. Joplin is where I enjoy spending time eating, shopping and chatting with my best friends. Joplin is where just a few weeks ago we celebrated my sons 10th birthday and where we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Joplin is where our Stake Center is and where I've gathered for Relief Soceity meetings and Stake Conferences. In a matter of about 5 minutes that Joplin changed forever.

It's 10:08pm and Jeremiah is still gone. I received a text message from him around 9:00pm saying "No Voice. Check Email" Apparently there is little to no cell service out there and he was able to just send quick email updates through his phone.
First was an email at 8:06pm which said, "At Hopsital, There is no voice service" followed by, "...we are almost to the devestation"
The third email he sent said, "Cleared last patient off of the 6th floor"

It's now 10:14 and I just received a message from him stating that they have finished at the hospital and are heading towards Range Line. I'm not sure what that means at this point but I know that Heavenly Father is with them.

We have also received some emails about a few girls on Ashlynne's cheer squad who live in Joplin. One has lost her home completely but is safe with grandparents, the others house has received extensive damage and her fathers office was flattened, but they too are safe. Please pray for them!!!

I will likely write another post to update later....