Saturday, May 8, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee, 4:43 p.m., D.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Terri Hershey here.  I am afraid that I am not doing too good.

I am staying with my older sister, Talitha, and her family.  Our house got flooded; it sustained a lot of damage, so now we don't have a home.  Hopefully it can be fixed soon; until then, David (7), Danielle Grace (5 months), and I are without a home.

The flooding was terrible.  A good part of Nashville was flooded; many businesses and residences sustained heavy damage.  Even the Grand Ole Opry House was not immune; it got flooded too, the first time in 35 years (the last time the Grand Ole Opry got flooded was back in 1975, but this time was much worse).  I am happy to say that the Opry House will eventually be repaired, and a lot of the artifacts were saved; however, until the Opry House is fixed, the Opry is now having their shows at the War Memorial Auditorium.

Over 12 people lost their lives in the flooding; there's fear that more bodies might be discovered as the debris is cleaned up.  Right now, a good part of Nashville is a mess; it's heartbreaking to see!

Last weekend, round after round of severe storms struck Nashville; we got over 13 inches of rain in just one day, and there were even reports of tornadoes east, north, and west of here.  It was scary!!  I'd never seen so much rain come down in a matter of a few hours!  I was afraid we were going to drown in the rising waters!

Thank God we got rescued in time; we were taken to a Red Cross shelter; it was there when my sister Talitha got a hold of us and told us that we were going to stay with her.  Small comforts; good in the way that we survived the storms and now could stay somewhere other than a Red Cross shelter; but bad in the fact that our house was heavily damaged in the flooding.

David and his sister are fine:  Danielle Grace is too little to understand the implications brought on by the flooding; meanwhile, poor David misses his friends from school, and he doesn't like the fact that his bedroom (and house) got flooded.  He wants to go back to the house so bad it isn't even funny!  He just doesn't really understand that it is going to take time to fix things to the way they were before the flooding hit.

David did make it to the televised portion of AGT:  he will be going to Los Angeles, California, next month; if he does well, he has a chance to make it to the semi-finals in Las Vegas, Nevada.  I was so surprised at how well he did; he didn't even cry when he got through singing and the people applauded for him.  I was very proud of my little man; he die great!!

Maybe there's another David Militello in the offing!  :)  He certainly is good enough, and that is his hero.  He also loves Kaitlyn Maher, but David Militello is definitely his first choice!

Next month, when David goes to California, I, Randy (his daddy), and Talitha are going as a way to support him for when he does try out.  Danielle Grace will probably stay behind; she will more than likely stay with MeeMaw (Randy's mom).  We are really looking forward to this opportunity for our boy:  David wants to be a singing star when he grows up.

Well, I hate to cut this short, but Talitha has supper on; tonight it's fried chicken, collard greens, poke salad, potatoes au gratin, and for dessert, a choice of cherry or blueberry pie.  Yum!  Just the thought of the food is making me hungry!  Take care and may God bless you; please say a prayer for us; we'd greatly appreciate it!  Pray we are back in our home soon!

~Love, your friend in Nashville, Tennessee, Terri Hershey.  :)

*to be continued.*