Thursday, October 7, 2010

Twisted and Mangled But Alive To Tell The Story!

June 5th, 2010 was no different than any other day in the life of our daughter, Kimberly Lemire. She got up that morning just as she always did and began her day. Her husband is a US Marine and was deployed and fighting the War in Afghanistan, so she and her baby girl were back home in Indiana and renting a mobile home from one of our neighbors.
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She's not the type who likes to sit at home and do nothing, so she began working. That afternoon on June 5th, she brought my grandbaby over so I could watch her as I always did when she went to work.
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The weather was getting bad that night, but she was supposed to come home around 8 or 9 pm and pick up her baby and then head for home. 10pm rolled around and she was still not home. She told me that her boss wanted her to stay and work late. She was aggravated with him because she wanted to hurry and get home. I told her that the baby was already sleeping, and for her to just leave her here and to go on home. But I also told her that there were tornado warnings out, and to be careful.
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Around 1:15 the next morning (3 hrs later) on June 6th, our younger daughter came running into our bedroom and said that Kimberly was on the phone and wanted us to get the baby and get to a safe place because a tornado was on it's way. My husband took the phone and started talking to her. She was scared and didn't know what to do because she was in a mobile home. I told my husband to tell her to come over here to our house which was 2 miles down the road from her. She said she didn't think she had time.
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At that moment she began screaming and then the phone went dead! My husband began screaming her name over and over and she never replied. He immediately jumped in his truck and raced down the road to check on her. He was totally horrified at what he saw when he rounded the corner. The trailer was no longer standing, but was scattered all over the road. At this point, he did not know if she was dead or alive. His phone rang and he thought it was us and he began screaming in the phone that her trailer was gone!
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The caller on the other end of the line WAS OUR DAUGHTER!! She made it out alive!! She had to keep screaming in the phone telling him that it was her and that she was okay! She had been buried underneath the rubble and managed to dig herself out and ran for the ditch and then ran to the neighbors house. And that is when my husband pulled up. Everything happened so fast!
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She was taken to the hospital in an Ambulance where she was told that she should not have survived. We took her to a second hospital later that day for a second opinion because she was having complications, and they too told her that she was a miracle and that she should not have survived. It was later declared that the tornado was an EF-1. We are so thankful that it was not bigger than it was.
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Our daughter did not have renters insurance and she lost everything and had to start all over again. With the help of the community, she was able to get a good start.
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In the meantime, her husband was serving in Afghanistan and all he could do was talk to her on the phone while she lay in the hospital. He was not allowed to leave and come home since her injuries were not life threatening.
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This young couple has been through many storms in their marriage, but they are proving to the world that with God as the head of their home, they are going to make it. God protected Kimberly during this tornado and He protected Alex during the War and brought them both back together again on Sept. 29, 2010, safe in each others arms, at Alex' HomeComing from Afghanistan!
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As you look at the pictures below, you can't help but realize that God sent a Guardian Angel to carry our daughter through this twister! This was no coincidence! It was God!! Had she gotten off work at the regular time, she would have had the baby with her in the trailer and we could have had a different outcome to this story. After analyzing the damages, we discovered that the twister hit the baby's room first before carrying it out into the road and across the field. We cannot thank God enough for His protection and for what He is doing in the lives of our children!
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Below is one of the News Media Crews who came out and interviewed her.

~Fox 59 News Coverage~




This is what the trailer looked like before being destroyed


This is the sight we saw at 1:35AM June 6th, 2010




The rest of these pictures were taken after the home was cleaned up
out of the road


Debris scattered across the road and into the field


Sifting through the rubble trying to find anything salvageable.


This neighbor dedicated himself to searching for photo's that could be salvaged.
He managed to find them all. Thank-You Earl!


Neighbors helping sift through the rubble






Debris scattered across the road and field. We were picking
debris out of the trees in the foreground.


Where the trailer used to sit






Another view of where the trailer used to sit


Neighbors gathering in to help



AND THEN.........................................


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