Went to the gym. Pretty normal.
Went visiting teaching. Also normal.
Went to the park. Not as normal because it rained all night last night and I knew the playground would be wet, meaning MUD. That is such a magnet for my boys, so I decided to let my hair down and let them splash and play in puddles and get muddy.
My friend and I were sitting watching our boys have a hay day and there is some very distant thunder in the background. I'm not thinking anything of it, because if it starts to rain we'll just go home right?
Suddenly TORNADO sirens start going off and the clouds are looking much darker than they were just seconds before. I start frantically yelling at Everett & Ryan to come get in the car (I think that's an exception to the no more yelling goal). I stripped them down totally naked because they were drenched. We all got buckled up and I couldn't find the KEYS! What?! No keys, and a tornado coming to get me and my 3 little kids? I said a quick prayer then remembered that I'd put them in Emma's car seat.
Turned on the car and started listening to the radio for weather reports. It was 12:37 on my clock and the announcer was saying that at about 12:39 the tornado would be right at the intersection that I was at basically.
This is a pic of the first tornado we experienced here in Memphis. Feb '08
I started driving home, but as I kept listening to the reports it was headed right to my house. I was telling Everett to say a prayer in the backseat. I couldn't hear him because I had the radio up to try to figure out what to do and where to go. He finished and saying, 'mom, say AMEN!'. I did.
I then realized I should just stop by a friends' house that was much closer to me and just ask to go in. I got there, ran through the sheets of rain, pounded on her door and I guess the look on my face must have said something to her because she was teasing me about it later. But she let us and and let my naked kids borrow some clothes. Oh what a sight we must have been!
We waited out the sirens and terrible rain at her house.
Oh how thankful I am that the Lord answered our prayers to keep us safe and to guide me as to where to go and what to do. AND so thankful to have a friend that doesn't even question my sanity when I show up in the middle of a tornado warning with 2 naked boys!
As an aside, last week we had tornado warnings on Tuesday night. I hate tornadoes at night. It is so erie to hear those in the dark silence! But before the sirens went off, Erick and I were listening to the storm in bed. I looked out the window and right when I looked out there was a HUGE flash of green that lit up our entire room. Erick turned on the radio to hear the weather and the sirens went off and then the power went off. It was off for 2 days. We got the boys and Emma and hung out in the bathroom until the sirens went off. With that storm almost all the houses in our neighborhood had some sort of damage. Tons of BIG trees were snapped in half and the damage around the neighborhood seemed pretty bad. I think we were in the eye on that one.
It's been interesting and intense living right in tornado ally. I used to think I'd seen a BAD rain storm. Then we moved to Memphis.
Thankfully the Lord has really blessed us to always be safe.
8 comments:
Glad you guys were safe! This crazy weather freaks me out a little bit! But it's also a great motivator for stocking up on food storage, water, etc! :)
Wow! I've been nervous in Tulsa when it's been bad, but it's never been anywhere near that. Glad you're all okay. What a blessing.
I was wondering if you all were headed to the park today anyway. When those sirens went off I was hoping none of you were out there! The storm last week freaked me out. I stayed up ridiculously late until the sirens went off. Janae slept through the whole thing, but it's scary being the parent!!
Crazy! Being in Tornado areas would be so scary. I don't think I could handle it. I just watched Twister the other day--and it freaks me out. Good luck. Hopefully nothing huge comes your way.
We are TERRIFIED of tornadoes over here too. I have to shut all of the blinds during a windy rainstorm now because my Emily freaks out thinking it's going to be a tornado. But I'm so glad you were prompted in a scary situation and that everyone is okay!
WOW! Thats all I can think to say and glad that your family is okay.
I'm glad you are safe. I can only imagine you with a car seat and two little naked boys running through the rain . . . priceless image :)
So glad you guys were safe! I was thinking about everyone as I was watching the news as it was all happening. How priceless little ones prayers are! I swear that their prayers get to heaven faster :)
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