Blessings on our house

After dinner tonight, Grandma and I drove around the areas hit by the tornado that his June 11, 2008. Even though it has been almost three weeks, I was still in shock to see the amount of destruction for this town that everyone swore would not get a tornado. I drove by the house of some friends from church because she had spoken to us about their steps to survival. It was simple things like putting a crib mattress in the window that kept them safe in the basement. I was shocked to see their house. There was extensive damage, not as bad as some, and especially not too bad considering that the house right next door was leveled. Gone, nothing left. Grandma and I were shocked to see how the tornado flattened some houses, yet left others untouched. Or to see an entire street leveled except for one house.
It was nice to hear about the amount of community service people are offering, and the comradery neighbors have toward each other.
I think what was so eye opening was that almost everyone you talked to said that Manhattan was the safe place in Kansas to live because we live in a bowl and therefor tornadoes just skip over us, or hit the hill tops, but not the areas that are low. NOT TRUE! It didn't matter where on the hill your house was, if it was in the way of the tornado, it was eaten up.
I looked on youtube and there is some great footage. Especially the news report from the local station. It shows the tornado off in the distance and you can see it touch down on the west side of town and make its way to KSU then take out the camera. Amazing 7 minutes of footage and well worth watching. Just type in Manhattan, Kansas tornado June 11th and you will get lots of video clips.
I think the best part of today was driving by the dealership that was hit really hard and seeing a sign that said, "Heck yeah We're Open!" What a great since of perseverance.
Even thought it was about 2 blocks from my house, I was not as close as some. Just down the road is a cute little house that is still in perfect condition, flowers in the yard, yet all the houses around it are destroyed.
I feel blessed that my house and family are safe and that I was able to come home from Japan and stay in Japan knowing that Grandma and my animals were fine.