Tornado Here

I woke up on Friday to a dark sky outside my window, and as I waited on Walt to wake up I read a little of Isaiah and checked the Weather Channel app on my phone to see when it would rain. I was supposed to run some errands, but I they weren't urgent enough to force me out into the rain! Around 8 a.m. Noah came home from driving the school bus, and we talked about how we expected flash foods today, but we had no idea what was coming towards us. About 30 minutes before the tornado hit I was outside talking with my neighbor about the March of Dimes bake sell we were supposed to have this past Saturday. While bread was baking, laundry drying, and me making lunch for Noah the electricity flickered. Then, Noah went to get Walt up from his nap to bring him downstairs to be safe. It had happened before our minds could wrap around what was going on.

Afterwards Walt and I walked around and took these pictures, and it was then we really began to sink in. Walt was an awesome little man. It was as if he felt and understood the situation.

My stomach was in knots the rest of the day as we thanked God for our safety and made plans to go to my parents' house who had electricity, and since we were blocked in, my dad came to pick us up. Noah went to help clean up the mess the tornado had made, and Walt and I stayed at my parents' house for him to nap and me regain sanity.

Praise God no one was hurt, but there was a lot of damage done to the housing and cars where the tornado came through.

Noah and I have tried to go and check on Magdalena's grave without success. They have closed the gates because so many of the large trees have fallen. I have to be honest, I was planning to sneak in and walk through the park to her grave for my heart could not take another minute without knowing how it was there. (Noah, who is the most level headed person I know, was going to sneak in with me!) Then, the memorial park did put out a sign for us.

When a storm strikes you want to hug your family so close to you, and although I am glad that she is forever safe from the bad things of this world, it was hard not having her with us to hold tight.

There are many families in the area who had major damage done to their homes. Please pray for them as they mend their lives back together.

I read these sweet verses on Saturday morning. I hope that they mean as much to you as they do to me.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

The pool and playground where we live

The pool is in front of where we lived until last summer

Speed Limit sign within the townhome area

This tree was right outside our building where we live