tornados.

wednesday our area was hit hard by storms and severe weather.
we started the day with bad weather, bad enough to delay school openings by two hours.
then only a few minutes after i arrived at work and settled in, we were all called to the tornado shelters.
we stayed there for an hour or so and then we returned to our desks.
schools were letting out early because the next line of storms was going to be really bad.
john and my parents rushed to pick up the kids from their schools and i made my way to walmart.
i know right? walmart? but it was anna's birthday and we hadn't bought her one thing. (what a birthday! poor girl!)
i was in and out, and on my way home with little time to spare until the next front worked its way through our area.
as the afternoon went on, things outside started to feel energized. things were definitely different now.
it wasn't just raining, it was windy and dark and lightening and just electric.

we spent several hours in our "safe place".
it was scary and horrifying.
the power went out and all we heard were tornado sirens, over and over and over.
once it calmed down a bit, all we could hear were police and firetruck sirens.
it was frightening and dark.

we lit candles and dug around for flashlights.
i turned on our only battery-operated radio and we listened to the bad news coming through.

(all photos courtesy of whnt.com.)

our home is ok.
the screened porch took quite a beating but john worked his magic and made it like new the next day.
we lost a couple big tree branches and maybe a couple of trees (their roots are still intact but they were leaning over touching the ground from the wind).

we got power back last night.
you should have heard the cheers from everyone in the neighborhood as the power grid was turned on.
i was out back and kids were yelling and parents clapping. pretty funny.
being without power was interesting to say the least.
but my parents hooked up their generator so at least we had coffee in the mornings and cold milk for cereal, etc. they even hooked up their tv so we could watch the news and so ben could watch word world.
our hot water heater is gas powered so we still had hot water.
even without electricity, we had a pretty good setup!

i told a friend that having no electricity actually had its charms.
the kids played outside all day. sun up to sun down.
they took baths by candle light and then went straight to bed.
i sat on my porch with a lantern listening to the radio and then went to bed early too.
we had to connect to each other, be with one another, in ways we haven't for a long time.
no distractions. just being together.
yes there were fights and some yelling. but overall, it was nice.
i will miss that part.

thank you all so much for your emails and facebook messages and phone calls and texts.
it is so appreciated!
i hope to be back to blogging regularly now!
yea for the internet! :)

please take a minute and say a prayer for those families that are suffering.
so many lost homes and possessions and security.
others lost loved ones.
they need our prayers.
xoxo.