ELKHORN, Neb. (KMTV) — The Foyt family's home in Ramblewood was destroyed in the tornadoes. It's been a journey getting to where they are now. These sunflowers are a sign of hope after moving on to a new neighborhood.
- James Foyt moved to a new home in Underwood, Iowa.
- His family tried to salvage everything they could at his old house in Ramblewood before it was sold, but they couldn't bring one thing because it'd be too expensive.
- The sunflowers are a sign to them that James' late daughter Angela is still watching over them.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
15 years of memories in this place the Foyt family can no longer call home after a tornado destroyed it three months ago. Now - sunflowers have popped up surrounding only their house, holding special meaning for the family that’s decided to move on.
James Foyt was home with his son Bobby when the storm hit.
"Oh, it was, you never thought you’d ever lived through one of those or, or experience one of those."
His daughter Raven arrived home just after the family’s house was leveled.
Recovering is a daily struggle. Today they’re doing better but it’s been a long journey.
"It was a lot; I’m not going to lie. We were very stressed, said Raven."
Moving from hotel to hotel before their insurance company came through with money to rent a house.
Now there’s finally a place he can call home in Underwood, Iowa.
"This feels really good. It’s finally coming to an end, finally getting everything the way I want it again," said James.
But before selling the Ramblewood home, the Foyt’s took everything they could salvage.
One thing they couldn’t take, a purple crab apple tree planted as a memorial to James late daughter and Raven’s sister Angela who passed in 2015.
"We’ve been putting a lot of money out on everything else, but we can’t, it’s going to cost too much money to have that dug out and then shipped over here," said James.
"But I did find a lot of solace when I showed up to the house and saw just tons of sunflowers had popped up all over the house." Said Raven.
Sunflowers which were Angela’s favorite flower.
“What does that mean? I mean, there’s these little signs”, said 3 News Now reporter Jill Lamkins.
"I don’t know, it’s like Angela is still around. She’s still keeping an eye on us I guess," said James.
"I felt it right away. I was just like; this is her like she’s still here. It made me super emotional, but it definitely made me feel better about things," said Raven.
Better about leaving the tree here and about the road ahead.
"People are just like going by the neighborhood or going by the house and just seeing all the sunflowers and they’re feeling that, that warmth and that hope a little bit of hope, you know, after all that devastation. So, it was pretty miraculous," said Raven.
To bring a little bit of Angela with them, Raven tells us they’re going to plant a new memorial tree in Underwood. She’s also collected some of these seeds from the sunflowers to hold on to.
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