I'm excited!

Look what I found in the courthouse! I highlighted the craft part. I'm so excited!

Beavers Build...

Built in 1990 (or should I say flooded in 1990?), Beaverdam Park contains the county's biggest body of water. It's also a great place for the kids to play while moms sit back and take in the pretty weather or a good book!

Let's Leave it to the Experts

I believe this is the news 'copter. Whatever it is, we saw it circling the damage on Hickory Fork the day after the storm.

And now I think it's time to move on to more cheerful subjects.

Putting Gloucester Back Together

Working nearly round the clock, power crews and volunteers are putting our little county back together.

What if this was your home?

As schools try to restart and damage is assessed, I'm realizing the extent of the storm's effect. Homes were destroyed. People died. Lives changed.

But even more than that is the damage done to people emotionally. Today, as we tried to decide what would happen to the displaced middle school students, our principal stated and restated the importance of keeping Page's students together and with their teachers. How true! For some kids, school is the safe part of life. To have your safe place destroyed in a matter of seconds, well, it has to have an effect.

Page... or what was

In Gloucester, we have two middle schools. I teach at one (Peasley) and the other is Page. Page has been around... forever. It was, at one point, the high school for the county. But not so much anymore. As of Saturday evening, Page is only kind of still in existence. The 8th grade wing was ripped apart. Several of the buildings behind the school were thrown across the street. Buses were flipped and mangled. The roof was torn from parts of the building.

In pictures from news sites, you can see books and computers strewn around the fields. Classrooms are open to the elements. Pipes are broken and spewing water. Power lines are strung between buses and buildings. Trees and power lines have been uprooted and used as battering rams against county cars.

The damage is pretty horrific.

Starting Anew...After the tornadoes

Pastor Mike Gray of Newington Baptist Church gathers with church members after the storm. Hundreds of volunteers swarmed the county cutting up trees and providing food and water to storm victims.

I know I haven't posted in a million years (or somewhere close to that). But I'm going to try again. This week, of course, will be devoted to the destruction of our little town. We had tornadoes last night. And things went very badly for certain areas of Gloucester.