Tornado Damage

The tornadoes came through on April 16th - Katie's 11th birthday! I was at a movie theater with 8 little girls watching Gnomie and Juliet. Before the movie started at 3:00 pm, I told Tabb that I thought we should cancel due to the reports that this storm was going to be really bad! Tabb assured me that we'd all be okay and that we didn't want to disappoint Katie. It was her first birthday party with friends....I know, I'm a slacker. That's what happens when you're # 6. Anyway...despite the terrible looking clouds and the threat of tornadoes, all the parents dropped off their kids. About 30 minutes into the movie, the hail and wind hit, the lights went out and my kids started crying. I was holding as many as I could and praying with all my heart that we would not die (while watching Gnomie and Julie). I felt terrible that these kids were not with their parents at such a serious time. It took about 10 minutes for the storm to pass. I ran out to the lobby to see what was happening (i.e. tornado coming). All I could see was intense rain, winds well over 50 miles an hour, and crazy people out driving in it. The storm passed, but it was really scary....I wasn't sure it was the last of the storm. When we got home, we were so fortunate...just a few small limbs down (we have over 70 pine trees on our property). However, about 5 miles tornadoes tore apart several large areas of NE Raleigh. 4 children died and many, many people lost everything. It was surreal to think that I still have a house and power, while others have died. From what I understand, 42 tornadoes tore through NC. We had twin tornado tracks in Raleigh. My guess is that there were many tornadoes touching down at the same time in Raleigh. Some members from our church went out yesterday morning to help clean up storm damage. I'm so grateful that more people did not lose their lives ....if you saw the damage, you would realize it truly is a miracle that more people were not hurt. On the humorous side.....I'm not sure I'll ever plan another party for Katie! :)