Going Home

This weekend we went to my hometown of Mena, Arkansas. It was kind of bittersweet for me. My mom's side of the family had a family reunion on Saturday. It was great to see all my aunts and uncles. My favorite part is watching my girls with my Papaw, whom I adore more than I can say! Grace is absolutely smitten with her Papaw! She says he is her boyfriend and loves him so much. We can call him and I can't get the phone away from her once she starts talking with him. Here are a few pictures from our morning...

Grace and her beloved Papw! She was pouting because the "Big Kids" were not letting her play their game. She sat in Papaw's lap for at least 30 minites while he loved on her andcommiserated with her!
My mom and Hope! She did not want to let go of her Grandma. She was a little bit overwhelmed by all the family!






So here was the par of our trip that was a little bitter for me... Hunter and I went and drove around the scenic little town that was torn apart by the F4 tornados about a month ago. It was heartbreaking to see in person. Home after home dystroyed. Piles of trash and twisted metal were everywhere. The home that my firend Sherri and I used to sneak out to (inorder to play Nintendo with Josh Miller) was devistated. My aunt and Uncle's home that had held lots of memories... completely gone. The former home of a friend was marked only with a chimney and concrete foundation. It was so scary to see how just a block over from my parent's home the devistation started! Amazingly, only 3 lives lives were lost but it will take years for this little town to recover. It was not one little bitty area but the tornado skipped it's way across Mena leaving a trail of destruction. Here are a few pictures that Hunter and I took. It does not even come close to what we saw!