It’s been almost two weeks since several tornadoes swept through this area causing death and havoc. I think the whole world heard about Enterprise where it hit the high school full of students. My neice reported seeing it on BBN in Kuwait. Our prayers go out to the families who lost children and loved ones.

Our little community of Echo was hit as well. There are some YouTube files on it now. Mr. Riley’s chicken houses were hit the second time in ten years. He lost six of his eight houses when a lesser tornado struck in 1997. This one was far worse as locally it injured six people, damaged many homes, took out chicken houses in at least three other locations and left several families homeless.

I was home alone when it went through. I was cleaning bee equipment indoors while the storm sirens wailed. That part was nothing new. The wind had been doing some really weird things so it was obvious the weather was not right. Shortly after the power went off I heard the twister in the distance. I’ve always wanted to see one but was pretty scared out of my wits by then. I took shelter in the bathtub and had prayer meeting till the noise ceased. There was a lot of stuff banging around outside – it was very scary but all I could think was that as long as I feared God I had nothing else to fear. Pastor Lewis had given us that quote from Oswald Chambers only a few days before. God was my refuge and I knew that even if I died it would be ok because I’d be with Him. I just didn’t want to get sucked up for it to happen!

We were spared major damage. The back of the barn was blown out, fences were damaged and our roof needs to be repaired, but we’re ok. The yard looked like a war zone. The bee yard got blown around pretty good but as usual the bees saw it coming and had propolized things pretty well. I'm sure honey will be down as the water they took affected brood production. Trees and power lines were down everywhere. It took hours to clear the roads. One very close neighbor lost his home. Mr. & Mrs. D. were going to ride out the storm in their mobile home and were urged at the insistence of Eddie P. to get out of there. Eddie was returning from a wedding and the only reason they budged was to check on his children at home alone. Their home blew to pieces as soon as they got to Eddie’s house.

I continue to be impressed by the people of the community. The fire department was at the house within a few minutes to make sure everyone in the house was ok. The rescue and volunteer work continued several days. We're well into cleanup and reconstruction now. All the men of the holiness church pitched in to replace a member’s roof the day after the storm. It took a week but Fema finally decided Echo needed assistance. They have an office set up in the Community Center.

So that’s what’s going on in southeast Alabama. We still have a lot to clean up and are waiting for Alfa to estimate damage. I've been able to press on with Fire Ant First Aid sales despite it all. We've picked up two new stores recently and it looks promising for more. I'm thankful for God's mercy and provision. And we pray for the people of Enterprise who have more work ahead than Echo does. Our barns, homes and chicken houses can be replaced. The lives that were lost there will forever be a memory.