Life forever changed..

As you may have noticed neither Brittany, Erica, or me have been on.. We have all currently been without power for over 24 hours now. Early yesterday morning really bad storms started moving in. Starting at about 9 am I was getting calls from my school saying that if we were on campus we needed to get to a hallway and stay there because that area was under a tornado warning.. I never imagined how yesterday would end.

I wasn't on a campus and by the time it was time for me to go to class everything was clear, so I thought it was over. I called my school, and they said we still had classes, so I got ready and headed to school. My second class got cancelled because they had closed my teacher's son's daycare, so she had to go pick him up. This was a blessing because on my way home the sky was getting darker and darker. I got home at abou 2:30 and at 3 it started raining hard with really strong winds, and tons of thunder and lightening. There were two tornados within a few miles from us within that time, and another one a little south of us that took out my cousin's house. Her and her family have lost everything including their beloved dogs, luckily they were not at home and are all safe though.
Then at about 5:30 the thunder became constant, lightening was everywhere, our power cut out, and it was almost pitch black outside. I packed a bag with some diapers, wipes, and clothes in case we had to get out of there. Chris was outside taking video (like a dummy!), and that's when I heard it.. the sirens started going off. Grace had been asleep in my lap, and Chris busted through the door. I knew it was time to go. I jumped up, Chris grabbed Ollie and we jumped in the car. I didn't even put Grace in her car seat at first. Chris was already driving before I got her hooked in. I was so terrified that we were going to lose everything. We drove straight to Chris' mom's because she was the closest to us. In the time it took to walk in the house we all got soaked, it was raining that hard. At about 7 it seemed to calm down outside.. The power at Chris' mom's house went in and out. I had been texting my mom most of the night, and then around 8 she stopped texting me. About 10 minutes later I found out there had been a tornado in Ringgold!! My home town.. nothing like that had ever happened, and my mom, sister, and brother were there!! I couldn't get ahold of her, no one could. Not my dad, my nana, or me. I was so afraid that they had been hurt or killed. We finally got ahold of her neighbor who said their power was out, but that her house looked fine. I didn't even hear from her until this morning. She said that when the sirens started going off she got my brother to the basement, then got my sister, and they stayed there until the sirens stopped two hours later. And the cell service and power, and even the water in Ringgold has been shot ever since. You cannot even get into Ringgold. They have it completely shut off. The tornado tore through that town. So far 8 have been confirmed dead, and there are tons of people missing. The tornado came within a block of my mom's house!! The only reason it didn't get to her is because she lives on a hill, and when it hit the hill it bounced it in the other direction.. praise God!!

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid34619011001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAB_0PyCk~,_pBlGqvGs04Tc8UUwQF4CFKPQB-OCvyg&bclid=0&bctid=921805233001    ----This is a link to a video of some of the damage.

So far there have been something like 300 people confirmed dead in the Tri-State area. There were like 9 tornados yesterday.. And out of all of GA that got hit they are saying Ringgold got it the worst :(

I almost lost my home, my friends, and my family. We still have no power at our place, so we are staying at Chris' mom's (that's where we are now). And don't worry, Brittany and Erica, and their families are all safe. I don't know the names of anyone who died, so I'm not sure if I know any of them or not, but I do know that one of the people who died was a junior at the high school, so I very well could know that person.

Everything I knew and loved as a child is pretty much gone. Even my high school has been damaged. They are saying that it is going to take months to repair everything. Thankfully our home is not damaged, but this was just all so scary.. I'm glad it's over. I really hope nothing like this happens again. They are saying it could be as long as Sunday before we get power back.

They are also saying that if you are going to drink the water it needs to be boiled because of gas leaks caused by the storms, but no one without power can boil water, so they are evacuated tons of people. My mom took the kids and went to stay with my grandmother. She was told that if she left she was not allowed back in to Ringgold anytime soon, so she doesn't know when she'll get to go home again.

Everything is going to be so different now. I can't just drive to my mom's house anymore. I am so thankful that no one I love was hurt or killed though. So many of my loved ones came very close to disaster.. Please keep the people in our area in your prayers!

UPDATE:
Here is some pics of my hometown..

Hardee's with the sign through the roof..

McDonald's.. so many good memories in this place..

Another view of McDonald's.

Pizza Hut.. use to have a red roof with the Pizza Hut label.

Taco Bell.

The middle school.

From here down is pictures from my high school.

And this was my cousin's house..

Our Easter..

I know I already posted a little bit about this, so now for Sunday..

We did our egg hunt Saturday, so we wouldn't have to wake Grace up early because she is in a bad mood all day if she has to wake up early..
At 1 we left for my mom's. We got KFC, and went to a little walking track down the street from my mom's because it has an open field and picnic tables. My mom, sister, nana, two cousins, Grace, Chris, and I all went. After we ate Chris and my two cousins (they are guys) played football, and me and my mom put out some eggs for my sister and Grace. They loved hunting the eggs, but Grace was so funny because my mom had some eggs that had designs on them and stuff.. Grace would NOT pick those up. She would just walk right by them and head for the ones like what we had at home :p She is so silly. It was so cute though because she was following Cheyenne around everywhere, and taking her hand. She loves her Aunty :)
Then we left there to go to Chris' mom's house for a cookout. Grace pigged out!! She ate a whole hot dog, half a (small bag) of bbq potatoe chips, and half a piece of chocolate cake.. that is a TON for Grace. Plus just an hour or so before that she had ate a few french fries, macaroni, and some biscuit from KFC. I was afraid she was going to get sick because I have never seen her eat that much. Then Chris and his brother went out side and hid eggs for her again. She was less interested in hunting. She picked up like 10 of them and wanted to go back inside lol.
And let me tell you, this girl has no interest in Easter baskets.. Chris gave her one, I gave her one, my mom gave her one, and Chris' mom gave her one, and she didn't pay any of them any attention, but she likes the stuff if you take it out for her lol. She is such a funny little girl.

Grace and my sister checking out the railroad tracks.

Grace's Easter outfit.. my dad bought it for her from Cracker Barrel. And Brittany it is Bluberi :)

My nana helping Grace look for eggs.

Cheyenne helping Grace look for eggs.

Grace finding her own eggs lol.

My mom also gave us a little onesie, a rubber duck, and some spoons for Brentley, and Chris' mom gave us some outfits she got at a yardsale for Brentley. He is stocking up already :p And I'm still waiting on that big box from my aunt. We also got his two Superman onesies today, and tomorrow I am going to my mom's to go through all of Grace's old stuff for anything that is gender neutral, like toys, burp cloths, her old bassinet (it's plain white), an ocean bouncer, etc. And I am also going to pick up the big SIS lil BRO shirts tomorrow..

I think they look a lot cuter when they are together. We are going to have their pictures made in them :)

Also, I found one diaper bag that I love, and guess what? They don't make is anymore :( I can only find it in green on one website, and can't even find it anywhere else. I can't really find any other diaper bags I like that would be good for embroidering.

This is the only one I have found for boys that I like. It can be embroidered, and it's big enough for a newborn. What do you guys think?

A little bit of Easter..

We are going to a picnic/egg hunt tomorrow afternoon with my side of the family, and then we are going to a cookout with Chris' mom's side of the family tomorrow evening, so we decided to go ahead and do our family egg hunt today, so we wouldn't have to rush around so much. She did soooo good with the egg hunt! She loved it!!

Us opening the eggs.

Her basket of goodies after all the eggs were open.

I had more stuff left over then I thought I would, so I decided to go ahead and do a basket for her. I went after work yesterday and bought her a couple packs of color wonder things, then I had two head bands, a watch, a pack of hair bows, and some M&M's and Skittles. I'm going to give this to her tomorrow morning.

Also, I know I said I was getting different shirts, but it turned out that Brentley's shirt would have been too small for his name, so I'll have to get those when they're older.. This is our alternative. I don't like it as much, but it will do for now. She hasn't finished the "big SIS" one yet.

And then this is my prego belly at 22 weeks :)

At my doctor's appointment yesterday I had finally gained 1 whole pound lol. Brentley is also measuring now to where my due date should be Aug. 29th, but they left my due date at Aug. 27th.. Everything was looking good, and Brentley's hearbeat was going strong. He even kicked the monitor a couple of times lol.

Not so good news..

I've talked about my brother on here before.. well he has been limping pretty bad lately, so my parents took him to Atlanta to the T.C. Thompson's Children's hospital, and they discovered that where he had the surgery for Legg Perthes Disease he is now getting really bad arthritis, and it is most likely causing him a lot of pain. There is no room left for reconstruction, so he is most likely going to have to have his hip replaced if they can't get the arthritis under control. He is only 18 and he is probably going to have to have his hip replaced :(

This is him and our sister Cheyenne.

And him with his notorious bunny ears.

On a little bit of lighter news.. I just found out that one of my old friends is 6 weeks pregnant. I'm pretty excited about this because ever since I have had Grace was have drifted apart. She was one of my best friends before then, so maybe it will bring us closer together again, and if she has a little boy our boys will only be about 5 months apart :)

And also, my Aunt messaged me on facebook today and said just sent me two boxes of clothes for Grace, and a big box of clothes for Brentley! She always sends the nicest stuff, so I am anxious to see what we get!! She lives in FL. so she has to spend a ton of money to ship the boxes. I have offered to repay her for the stuff, but she won't let me. She is so sweet! She said that she hoped we haven't bought many clothes for Brentley because "we will be set" so I'm really excited to get this stuff.. it's like Christmas lol.

Just felt like blogging..

I am almost done with this semester of school! I have today, and next week is my last week of actual classes, then I have to go May 2nd and May 5th for my finals, then I'm done!! The summer semester doesn't start until May 22nd-ish, so I get at least two weeks off!
I want to take Grace to Coolidge Park and Lake Winnie during my short summer break. I can't believe she will be 18 months in 12 days.. 1 and a half :( It just goes by too fast! We are getting her Easter pictures/(early) 18 month pictures done on Saturday, so I will be posting those soon :)

I don't really have many updates about my pregnancy. I am 21 weeks and 5 days :) And I have a doctor's appointment Friday morning. I do know he is one active little man! Always moving!

Ohh and Chris bought these for him yesterday :) They are size 3-6 months, so he will be able to fit in them for the winter. I love the little muscle one!

That's all for now :)

So much fun!

So Jessika, I have decided you guys are just going to have to come back every weekend LOL. We had a great time today! Thank you so much for Grace's Easter basket! She has already opened almost everything in it, so I didn't get to get a picture, but she LOVES it! And I LOVE the signs for Brentley's room :) They are adorable!! I feel bad for not getting your little ones more. I hope they like the coloring books, and I didn't know what Ely liked, so I got her some little toys that Grace loved when she was tiny like Ely. I hope you guys had a safe drive back! Kaedyn, Charleigh, and Ely are even cuter in person, and girl you are beautiful, inside and out!

Grace loved Charleigh!

She is such a little cutie! She wanted the camera, so I told her I would take her picture. I turned it around and said "Who's that?" and she said "It's Charleigh!"

Then I took this one and turned it around and said "Is that Charleigh??" And she was like "No." I didn't realize it, but the picture hadn't stayed on the screen lol, so I pulled it up and said "Is that Charleigh?" and she was like "Yes! Charleigh!" So cute!!! 

Great day :)

It seemed like everyone around us was cooking out today, and it smelled sooo good! We don't have a grill so we decided to go buy some charcoal and cookout at the park. Grace was so excited when we got there that she wouldn't wait for the food. I had to take her to play while Chris cooked the hot dogs lol. She had a blast!

Then we came home and she crashed within five minutes lol. She wore herself out!