"Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark, that He may tell us things. Into the dark of the shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, where some infirmity closes us in from the light and stir or life; into the dark of some crushing sorrow and disappointment. Then He tells us His secrets, great and wonderful, eternal and infinite; He causes the eye which has become dazzled by the glare of the earth to behold the heavenly constellations; and the ear to detect the undertones of His voice, which is often drowned amid the tumult of the earth's strident cries."
-from Streams in the Desert by Charles Cowman.

Wow...what a month it has been....maybe more correctly put, what a weekend it's been.

This past Friday, the boro was hit by an F-3 Tornado. It's unbelievable. According to the news, the tornado was on the ground for 22 minutes, has a 15 mile long line of damage and was at least a half mile wide. That is SO hard to get my mind around...

My mom and I along with some girls my mom was taking pictures of and their mom went in the closet when we saw the tornado on TV. The power went out and we just sat there for a few minutes....I went outside after a minute to see if I could see anything. I did not see anything but heard it. It was horrible. I knew it when I heard it...

After it passed I went out with the people that were over to see if any damage had been done, totally not expecting what I was about to see...


This was about half a mile away from us...

This was less than half a mile from us.

My heart breaks for all of those hit by the tornado. It's been just over a year since I was in their shoes. It's a horrible feeling and I was even so blessed to escape with my possessions and friends, some on Friday were not so fortunate. In fact, about a mile away, a woman and her 9 week old daughter were killed in a house I passes every day on my way to school and now it breaks my heart to think about it. The dad is still in critical condition in the hospital.

Please continue to keep all of Murfreesboro in your prayers. So many lost homes and some lost loved ones. It's going to be a long journey back to "Normal".

Slightly off subject, I got a devotional book I had ordered in the mail the day after the tornado and a quote at the top is from it. I opened to the date and couldn't believe what I was reading...I found it so fitting for everything going on. If you didn't read that part at the top, I encourage you too. It's so....accurate? needed? true? all of the above.

Also, Happy Easter to all reading. I enjoyed a wonderful day with my family today...went to church and out to eat with them. I'm blessed. :)
I also got a pleasant surprise when I put on my Easter skirt this morning....it was too big! I just bought it about a month and a half ago and it fit well then. This morning after the service I had to get a safety pin at the house before going out to eat to keep it from falling down too far! haha! It was encouraging since the last 2 weeks, I've been at a low and really frustrated having only lost 7 pounds since starting. But it's working and I'll get there.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I'll try to keep an update for everything going on in the boro over the next few weeks. School is winding down which hopefully means more time for fun things like blogging. We'll see!

Love. Love. Love.
Katie