thankful thursday # 16.

huge storms rolled through alabama yesterday.  tanky & i woke up to the sirens going off early in the morning.  luckily, nothing major with that storm.  then as blakey was driving home from work yesterday evening, the sirens started going off again.  not so lucky this time...

{found through msnbc photos}

a huge tornado went through tuscaloosa {home of the university of alabama, 45 minutes SW of birmy} causing quite a bit of havoc.  a hospital was on a back up generator, buildings down, crazy stuff.  as it was headed right towards downtown birmy, debris started falling from the sky!  among the papers buzzing around, a crazy big chevron sign fell from the sky!  {two fellas from our building retrieved it later.  haha.  it was big.}

so i did the normal kendall thing & started freaking out :)  blakey, tanky, fuchsia, & i headed down to our basement to sit out the storm.  you know how you always talk about what are the things you would grab in your house if you had to evacuate quickly?  i actually got to live out this game.

{disclaimer: we have a GIGANTIC sky light in our bedroom.  it is quite old.  as are the big windows in our living room.  strong winds with big things flying through the air could surely break them open.  i'm not that crazy.}

the things i grabbed, other than my "everything is fine" husband & pets:
my wedding ring.
the diamond necklace my dad gave my mom years ago & she gave me.
our external hard drives with every digital picture i've ever taken on it.  {which i need to update!}
my camera with the best pictures that haven't been put on the hard drive yet.
our cake topper birds.
tanky's green man.  {haha...i knew he would be annoying downstairs.}

& i moved all of our picture albums that are stupidly on the bottom of our bookshelves right next to the window into the one room of our loft with a door & its own ceiling - the bathroom.  those may find a new home.

downstairs, we got to hang out with one of our neighbors that we've become friends with.  her husband was working at the hospital, so we were happy to ensure her everything was going to be fine.  {we are from oklahoma, after all.  we know tornadoes :)}

so i'm thankful.  i'm thankful everything here was just fine.  i'm thankful blakey was home from work to keep me semi-calm.  i'm thankful i grabbed the most important things.  i'm thankful i have renters insurance.  i'm thankful we had a friend to hang out with.  & i'm so thankful for all of you who checked on us during the storm.

we are blessed.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today.

love love,
kjp.

ps prayers to those who were affected by the storms.

pps a video of the tornado passing north of downtown {here}.  tall buildings = downtown, where we live.  red buildings = uab's campus.