Bound 4 Escape

Two years ago today, at 5:41 pm, an EF5 tornado changed the lives of the residents of Joplin. What started out as a happy day, graduation day for many, turned out so differently than any of us could have imagined. I am so proud of the residents of Joplin and how they responded to this tragedy, especially my family members. Whether it was a lost home, a damaged home, or helping others in their time of need, I truly have an amazing family. I’d also like to thank the thousands and thousands of volunteers who continue to help Joplin rebuild.

We have said from day one that we were happy that all we lost was the store. We still had our home and not one person in my family was hurt. We are truly blessed!

Our furniture and bookstore in Joplin before the tornado.

What was left of our store the night of the tornado.

Our store now. We reopened on June 9, 2011. We went out of town and bought new furniture to fill the store. I’m still working on filling the bookshelves. I had over 100,000 books in the first store and it’s going to take a while to get back to where I was.

Here’s a video from the Joplin tornado. Our store is on here from 2:34-2:40.

My heart goes out to the people of Moore, Oklahoma.