The damage can be measured in big and small ways: Old family homes destroyed. Business dreams shattered. Homework scattered by the winds.

Thousands of lives were upended Sunday when tornadoes ripped through North Texas. Families hit by the storm have been picking up the pieces and searching for something that looks like normal since then.

But how do you recover when the future you planned for has been turned upside down?

In the aftermath of the storm, five North Texans we met shared what this week has been like for them -- from the moment the storm hit, to the cleanup, to their first attempts to move forward. They are grateful for the outpouring of support and feel lucky to be alive.

And they know it will be a long journey to regain what they lost -- if they ever can.

“In all this tragedy, you see the love"

The tears came Monday for Camila Lopez.

She had been in too much shock the night before when she first saw her 25-year-old bridal shop destroyed by one of the tornadoes that tore through Dallas. But on Monday, as she surveyed the damage -- gowns covered in dust, drenched by rain, buried in rubble -- she cried for two hours straight.

“Your whole life -- destroyed in seconds,” she said.

Lopez immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1985. Soon after, she began selling bridal dress business out of her home. In 1995, she opened the location on Walnut Hill and has helped countless brides find the perfect dress ever since.

More than a business, Emmanuel Bridal was her American dream.

“I always believed you come here to do your best,” she said.

The shop helped put her three children through college. With the youngest now in law school, Lopez began saving for her retirement.

Lopez won’t have to start over on her own. Friends and neighbors stopped by the bridal store Monday to help her salvage what was possible. Her niece has started an online fundraiser.

“In all this tragedy, you see the love," Lopez said.

She estimates that she was able to save about 20 percent. There are some dresses that can’t be sold but are probably good enough to be cleaned and donated to charity.

Damage inside the Emmanuel Bridal Shop on Monday, October 21, 2019 on Walnut Hill Lane in Dallas. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

The store was not insured, Lopez said. She had let her coverage lapse this year. And despite a nagging feeling that she should reinsure her store, she never did.

“God was telling me to get insurance,” she said.

Lopez has not been able to return to the store since Monday. She plans to begin coordinating with her brides and vendors this week. There are 10 dresses she’ll need rushed for upcoming weddings. And she’d like to re-open in three months. Though, returning to Mexico has crossed her mind, too.

On Friday, her family experienced another setback. Her husband was laid off from his construction job.

“You feel like, ‘What's next?’” she said. “It's spiritual warfare. But we still have faith. I'm not going to allow this to stop me. I'm going to keep going.”

“I’m scared of the clouds ...”

Moments before the building collapsed around her, Allisson Landeros had found the perfect dress for picture day. It was velvet pink with black roses.

"It looked really, really pretty,” the 11-year-old said.

She was out shopping with her family and friends when a tornado barreled through the shopping center they were at on Walnut Hill Lane. Allison’s mother grabbed her and her sister, who felt like she was flying away.

When they looked up “everything was everywhere,” she said. The dress was gone. So was the dress her best friend bought for her first communion.

Allisson Landeros, 11, hugs her aunt Maria Lara in the parking lot of a shopping center near the intersection of Walnut Hill Lane and Marsh Lane in Dallas where a storm hit Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Allisson was in the shopping center with other family members when the storm hit. "We were measuring our dresses for tomorrow's picture day ... then all of the sudden we were in the middle of the storm ... and everything started collapsing," she said. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News) (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Her month-old new iPhone was destroyed. The windows on the family’s truck were shattered. It was repaired just in time for the rain Thursday evening.

Allison missed picture day. It was Monday. She hopes the school lets her take a photo on another day. But she doesn’t know yet. When she returned to school Wednesday, her friends accused her of making the whole thing up. There was no way she was caught in a tornado, they said. She just wanted to be more popular.

“It made me feel embarrassed,” she said.

It’s been hard to concentrate, she said. Allisson was on edge when she and her family went shopping later in the week. The lights at a similar store started to flicker, she thought another tornado was coming.

“It's been hard,” she said. “I’m scared of the clouds. The hard rain. Other than that, I’ll be pretty OK.”

“I grew up in this house”

The hideous 1980s kitchen wallpaper was just one of many details Heidi Edmonds loved about the Garland home her grandfather built.

Her mom kept nagging her to modernize the house that was nearly 60 years old. But Edmonds didn’t want to change a thing, including the dated wood-panel walls she refused to paint over.

Her grandfather, a foreman, had put a lot of love into the home over the years, including the wooden arch on display in the backyard that he brought over from his family farm in Commerce.

“I grew up in this house,” Edmonds said. “Rode my bike all over the neighborhood and spent the night here. When my grandfather passed away, my mother let me stay here because she knew how much I loved it.”

Edmonds and her family moved into the home on Westway Avenue in Garland about four years ago, taking care of it as best she could. The little details -- like an old grandfather clock -- a comforting reminder that her grandparents -- Billy and Dorothy Moore -- were still with her.

Tommy Edmonds, left, embraces his wife, Heidi Edmonds outside of their home, which was destroyed when a tornado hit the night before, on Westway Avenue in Garland, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2019. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

But the tornado that ripped through the town took most of the house’s roof with it. A large tree in the front yard fell over the garage and living room area, bringing down the home’s brick facade.

For now, Edmonds, her husband, two daughters and granddaughter are staying at one of the Airbnb’s she cleans.

A structural engineer for the insurance company is scheduled to inspect the house early next week. She’s bracing herself for the moment they officially declare it a total loss.

The home of Heidi Edmonds, which was destroyed when a tornado hit the night before, is seen on Westway Avenue in Garland, Texas, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Her grandparents were more than the house. She knows that. But still, it’s painful.

Edmonds takes comfort that the clock survived, as did the arch her great grandfather built in 1910. She’ll take those with her when she finds a new place, ideally still in Garland.

“But I’ll never find another home that means so much to me,” she said.

“We can find our home again”

Debi Bird can talk about nearly every detail of surviving the tornado that destroyed her home in a matter-of-fact tone, except when it comes to her youngest pup.

Bird was deep into the Cowboys game and hadn’t noticed the wind picked up suddenly that night. Her 9-year-old son Remy urged her to seek shelter because of the storm, so they headed to the garage situated below her North Dallas home.

She tried to trick their three weimaraners -- Sydney, Lucky and Ellie Mae -- into thinking that they were going for a car ride. But Ellie Mae, 4, didn’t fall for it.

Bird heard the neighbor’s live oak trees snapping in half. She rushed everyone into the garage closet. Still no sign of Ellie Mae. Remy pleaded with her to find the dog.

“That’s a tough decision -- do I go search for her and maybe all five of us get hurt or do I closed the door and the four of us are safe?” said Bird, her voice cracking. Luckily, Ellie Mae came rushing down the stairs at that moment and joined them in the closet. They shut the door and the tornado hit.

When the family emerged, the house on Northaven Road was standing but missing the roof, windows and other large chunks. The chimney was flung into the neighbor’s yard.

Friends arrived within 30 minutes to shove whatever belongings they could into cars to save them from the rain. Her clothes ended up at one friend’s home. Her photos somewhere else. And who knows where all Remy’s belongings are?

The roof blew off Debi Bird's home along North Haven Road in Dallas. Bird returned to assess the damage Tuesday. (Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Bird is grateful for the swift outpouring of help from those who helped her salvage what she could throughout the week, including coworkers from her media sales job.

The whole experience has been surreal with moments of heartache, joy and even humor, said Bird, a single mother.

Of all the things to be worried about, she and Remy spent part of Monday combing the backyard until they found his blue school folder.

Remy spent three hours on a big poetry project over last weekend. He didn’t want it to redo it because then it would be late. Bird knew his fourth-grade teacher would understand. But frankly, she didn’t want to redo checking the assignment either. So they dropped the homework off on Tuesday though he stayed home from school that day.

Bird knows everything is going to be OK eventually. Friends have let the family -- including Ellie Mae, Sydney and Lucky -- stay with them until she can find a place.

But finding a house to rent with three dogs in tow isn’t easy.

She hasn’t decided if she’ll rebuild or look for something new altogether. The family had lived in that house for about a year and a half and was wrapping up renovations that included a basketball hoop for Remy as well as a pool.

“We made it a home that was ours,” Bird said. “We can find our home again.”

“I think we feel stronger now”

The house Antonio González bought for his family is now a pile of debris.

The night the tornado hit, González and his family were watching TV at the northwest Dallas home they had just moved in to late Thursday. The new house was going to be what he, his wife, Verónica, and their children would call home.

When his house began to shake and pieces of the roof broke off, González ran to the second floor for his two younger children who were already asleep and threw himself on top of them. His wife and the other three children stayed in a hallway on the first floor.

Since Sunday night, the Gonzálezes have been staying with Verónica’s parents.

"It's not easy. We're a family of seven. It's hard. But a lot of people are helping us out,” he said.

Antonio González moves items from his home on Glenrio Lane, which sustained significant damage after a tornado hit parts of northern Dallas on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. González said he planned to stay with in-laws in Oak Cliff. (Lynda M. Gonzalez/The Dallas Morning News) (Lynda M. Gonzalez / Staff Photographer)

Some people have brought them groceries and clothing, and family members created online fundraisers for them.

"We have a truck that had all its windows smashed. But I found some cheap panes and now I have it wheeling around. So many blessings from people willing to help,” he said.

For a few days after the tragedy, the family was still in shock. But by Thursday, they were already determined to keep on with their lives.

"I think we feel stronger now, I don't know why. Now I feel more enthusiastic about life, to live the day, because, as people say, you have to go through stuff so you strive even harder in life," said González, 36, and originally from Tamaulipas, Mexico.

On Monday, the children will be back in school, and González will return to his small remodeling business.

Unable to rebuild their home, González hopes to reverse the private sale of the home that was finalized just three days before the storm.

“We didn't want to buy a house because we feared I could lose my job at any moment, or we might have an emergency so I would be no longer be able to pay. But, who knows? Maybe God has something better in store for us," he said.

For now, it’s enough that his family is alive, unharmed and together.

"We have always gotten ahead together, and it doesn’t have to be any different now,” he said. “Most importantly, we are in good health. Everything else can be solved.”

Staff writer Hayat Norimine contributed to this report.