So in the midst of all the transitions going on you read about in all the previous post God was not through with me yet. And believe it or not I still haven’t told you everything I went through and I may not. Somethings are better left close to the chest.
On July 21, 2018, at 3:30 am while my daughter and I were at home sleep a tree fell on our house. It was one of the most terrifying events I have ever gone through. At the same time, I couldn’t do anything but shout when I realized how God covered and saved us. SO, let me start from the beginning. I woke up to a loud sound. It sounded like the largest hail I have ever heard striking my house. I immediately jumped out of bed running towards the hall yelling to my daughter to get up and go into the bathroom.
Well, it ended up being unnecessary because she met me in the hallway (our bedrooms were right beside one another). Before we could make it into the bathroom I heard a loud explosion, glass breaking, and rain pouring in the house while my house alarm was blaring. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I honestly thought we were in the middle of a tornado and that debris was hitting the house. All of sudden… complete and utter silence except for the alarm (at this point I thought the eye was over because it was so
I turned on the light only to cut off immediately because I saw that there was a tree in my kitchen and water was not only coming from there but also through both of my light fixtures. I thank God I didn’t make it worse. I turned on the light in the living room and found a hole in the ceiling and water pouring through it. I went to unlock the front door and my locks would not turn. Mind you I am a police officer and it took me a second to gather my thoughts and figure out what I needed to do. I called 911 and then my neighbor. After working my locks for awhile they finally turned but then I couldn’t open my door.
I had no clue as to why my locks wouldn’t turn and now my door wouldn’t open. It took some strength but I got it open and when I walked on my porch that is when I realized a tree fell on our house. I had no way of getting out and going beyond my porch. There were branches everywhere and we couldn’t get out!!!! (I am tearing up even as I type this, the magnitude of this moment in my life still does not escape me, BUT GOD!!!) The firefighters arrived and so did my neighbor. It was my neighbor that went into action and began cutting and moving branches to make a path so that we could get out, this was after we both realized that the firefighters wasn’t trying to do anything.
Don’t get me wrong I love my first responder family but that night they failed me. They just looked and watched. The best thing I got from them is light from their truck so I could take these pictures of the front of my home. I took them because I thought about my insurance company probably needing visual “evidence”. There was a walkway between the house and my garage which is where the light is you see shining but my house was completely covered by the tree. Once we got out and I made it to the end of my drive and looked at my house is when I realized how God had saved me/us. I began to cry and shout right there, in that moment.
I say me because once more branches were removed and we could see where the tree did the most damage I saw that the only room the tree did not rest on or cause damage to the roof was my daughter’s room and the bathroom. Had my garage not been there and took the brunt of the force I would either be disabled or dead. Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Base of tree was over 12 feet wide 
My house completely covered by the tree.
I made a few phone calls and my support system arrived. They immediately went to work helping my neighbor cut branches to release some of the pressure from the house because of the weight of the tree. They began to put tarps where they could and even strangers that I had never seen before stopped to help them. I couldn’t do anything but see God at work and acknowledge how He sends angels you know and ones you don’t.
While they were going to work my dad and my sister P comforted me. It was still raining and the wind was still blowing the trees around the house pretty bad and I was freaking out but trying to keep it together. Ironically my daughter was handling it pretty well and our dog wasn’t even phased. I was so jealous! We watched the sunrise in more ways than one, while my dad and all my angels continued to get as much done as they could. When the sun came up we were all able to see the true extent of the damage.
Ironically had been cleaning out my garage so that I could park my car in it but for some reason, I didn’t. That was another blessing I had to acknowledge because my car would have been a total loss. Once the insurance company came out the adjustor determined my house was a total loss. Here comes more sad news… I was underinsured. I had insurance to cover the value of my home but not how much it would cost to totally replace it in case of disaster. I had no clue there was a difference. So please check your policies people and make sure you are covered for what it would cost to build from the ground up. So needless to say, this was another punch in the gut!
A year later and I am still dealing with things related to my house. I didn’t realize that I needed to submit paperwork to the Pulaski County assessors so that I pay taxes on a vacant lot and not for a house that does not exist. When you think that you are over and passed your trauma things happen to let you know it isn’t quite over and done with. At the same time,
The good thing is He is still delivering on His promises even though I don’t always see it or know what expect, he keeps surprising me, reminding me not to worry, He got this! We can’t help but to worry when we have no control but then I think about if I was in control I would not be where I am now and how awesome is HE that he snatched control away from me in the most devastating ways and is giving me what I needed and still need. So yes I was crushed but not broken.
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