Reagan Patterson here.  Hope this finds y'all well; we are doing okay.  Not great, but at least we still have a house and at least we still have each other.

We had some really bad storms come through our area yesterday afternoon and last night.  We did have some damage to our house here in Hope, but it can be fixed in time.  Until then, we will be staying with an aunt until our house is repaired.  We also have no power.

Last I knew, there was one person hurt, and nobody killed.  There was a lot of damage around, especially around Searcy, where the tornadoes really hit hard.  It was scary; we were in bed, asleep; then the tornado sirens went off, and we headed for the basement, where we took shelter, until the storms passed.  We could hear the wind howling and ripping our house apart; it was the worst feeling in the world!

All the while the tornado sirens were going off, Lindsay, my one-year-old sister, was screaming her little head off, and Johnathan, who is six, kept wanting to go outside, but ma and pa said nothing doing; he was staying put with the rest of us. 

I was never so glad when the "all-clear" sounded, but then we came up, and saw part of our house was missing.  The livingroom and kitcen got hit the worst; the back of the house was still standing, but it was damaged.  So we had to pick through the debris and get what we could, and go to the Red Cross shelter they had set up at the high school.

While we were at the shelter, the doctors and nurses there checked us all out, to make sure we were okay.  We were; we were just shaken up badly was all.  The Red Cross then fed us; we had barbeque chicken and green beans, and for dessert, peach cobbler, one of my favorites.  Yum!  It was good, but it didn't help matters any that our house got damaged.

We saw Auntie Tressa there, and she said she'd put us up until our house got fixed, so at least we will have a place to stay. 

I just hope that this isn't a sign of more storms to come!  I hate storms, especially when they have tornadoes or hail inside of them!  I also hope we don't have a lot of flooding!  Just be praying for us; we would greatly appreciate it!

I will write more when I can.  Until then, this is Reagan signing off! 

~Love, your friend in Arkansas, Reagan Laura Patterson.  :(

*to be continued.*