After some yummy BBQ, we headed back to mom and dad's house. At this point we kind of forgot about the threat of bad weather because it was fine all day aside from the wind. Dad (who had just been called as Bishop maybe a month earlier) left the house to go extend a calling to someone. For some reason I was prompted to open my phone and check the weather. I saw that Garland was under a tornado warning and yelled for my mom to turn the news on. Sure enough they were talking about a tornado that was headed to Garland. She called my dad and told him to hurry back home. It wasn't until that point that our phones started getting the emergency alerts and we heard the sirens. So, we got in their closet and waited. Still, we weren't too concerned because this happens often enough to not be too scary anymore. The thing that bugged me was how eerily quiet it was outside. Not one leaf was blowing. And despite it being dark, there was a yellow-ish haze. Brianne and I drove right through where a tornado was hitting one time on our way home from Tupelo (before the days of cell phones), and it was the exact same. We had every tv in the house on a different news station. When they started saying street names we recognized that weren't that far away we got a little nervous, but still had no idea the extent of any damage that had been done. The tornado finally passed and we knew there was another bad wave of weather coming, so we decided to head home before it got there. Just before we got to the bridge to get home, a cop came and blocked it off. We turned on the closest street to go through a neighborhood to try and get around the block and were left completely in shock. Houses were gone. It looked like New Orleans after Katrina. Here is the path the tornado took. It went straight along the lakeshore in Rowlett, which means it was within 2 miles of our house. Our neighbors said you could hear it. What's scariest of all is that dad was going to visit someone that lived in the path of the storm. Had we not called him back home when we did, he could have been caught in it. I totally believe I was prompted by the Spirit to check my phone when I did.
The next week Jeremy and my dad went out nearly every day helping with the clean up. It was a bit nuts. That Saturday (Jan 2), I woke up with a fever. I was supposed to go volunteer with the relief effort, so I took some Theraflu and felt better and went anyway. By the time I got home that afternoon my fever was 104.8. The next week is pretty much all a blur. I ended up having the flu and pneumonia, and I was lucky enough to find out the hard way that I can't have Tamiflu or cough medicine with codeine...both things that would have helped me a ton but instead made me even worse. I am pretty sure the night I was dry heaving (because there was nothing in me to throw up) for 4 hours non stop I thought I was going to die. It sucked. On the bright side, I did lose 6 pounds and met one of my goals for the year within the first week. So there's that.
Aside from all of that, things have been pretty good. Our ward split on Jan 3, which means new callings for pretty much everyone. I was called into the Relief Society presidency, and Jeremy was called into the Elders Quorum presidency. Things are going well so far and I am excited to finally be in a calling where I can meet all the new people that move in. Work is still busy and I am not sure if there is such a thing as a slow period any more. Jeremy has been busy as well, as they have decided to send every new AE to Jeremy for training. Lucky him.
We are looking forward to this year and all (we hope) it will bring!
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