Four Months Later

Darrell and I took the kids out for a drive and went down to the town just south of us that got the worst of the tornado damage last May. This is what we saw. While a lot of progress has been made in the clean-up of debris, there is still a lot left. Then again, there is nothing left. This poor little town was just wiped out.Some of these people have already received their insurance money and moved on, some are still waiting for a settlement, some have no idea what they will do. Most are not coming back. There's no town to come back to.
While these next few shots may make for boring pictures, they were actually the saddest scenes for me to see. There are many areas that look like this- just a cleared lot, or only a foundation remaining. Just a hint of where a home once stood, and memories were made.

(If you weren't a reader back in May, and don't know what I'm talking about, you can check the posts from May 10th to around May 16th to get the tornado story, or click the label "Tornado Stories of 5/08.")

It's in! Everything you never knew you wanted to know about tornado shelter installation. (Picture heavy)

Alternate Title: How Frightened, Paranoid People Restore a False Sense of Security in as Little as One Afternoon

Darrell and I were joking the other day, after that last trip up to the church, about how funny it would be if a huge tornado ripped through our area, wiping out our home and everyone in it while our storm shelter sat outside in the yard, uninstalled and completely intact. Actually, that wouldn't be the ha-ha kind of funny, as much as the ironic/isn't that weird kind of funny. Obviously. Just to clarify, we do not sit around laughing at the thought of our family being wiped out in natural disasters.

But, I betcha now we won't have another tornado warning all year. Probably not even a watch. The scary, threatening storms are done. How do I know? Because... We are now the giddy owners of an in-ground tornado shelter. And doesn't it stand to reason that if you've just plunked down fraploads of money on such a thing, you will never actually have to use it? In my world, yes it does.

The excitement started around here bright and early last Saturday morning. The Backhoe Man came over, ready to start digging a ginormous hole for our shelter. BUT...

He informed Darrell that our chosen location (one that Darrell and I spent quite a bit of time *discussing*) wouldn't work because there was nothing but solid rock down there. Of course.

So, Darrell chose a new spot while I was inside, blissfully ignorant of any problems.

It is right outside our back door.

I'm making a face right now. Too bad you can't see it. If you could, then I wouldn't have to tell you that this is the spot where I absolutely did not want to put the shelter. Who in the %&#* (heck) wants a big hill with a door attached, smack-dab outside their back door?

The upside is, the kids won't have far to go if we ever need to make a mad dash in the middle of the night. All we need to do is open the back door and we're there. That's nice. Very convenient... Of course, it won't be so convenient if a tornado knocks our house down on top of the shelter door, trapping all of us down there, but what do I know? Apparently, as I've been informed by my spouse, Mr. Science, tornadoes almost always travel from southwest to northeast, so the debris should fall away from our shelter's door, not on top of it. Oh. Good. I hope the tornado knows that.

I'm making that face again.

In Darrell's defense, I should add that he didn't really want the shelter there, either. But considering the layout of our yard and the cruddy type of ground we have (rocky), it was the best place to put it.

Anyway.... The Backhoe Man started digging a new ginormous hole (directly outside my back door).

Not to insult your intelligence or anything, but this is the ginormous hole to which I am referring. You probably could have gathered that much on your own. It's much bigger than it appears. There's only so much you can do or say to make a picture of a hole interesting, so let's move on, shall we?Next, the shelter is hooked up to the backhoe, to be lifted and lowered into the hole.These steel poles go through the bottom of the shelter. Concrete will be put over them, which helps anchor the whole contraption into the ground. And here is Evan, trying out his best "Exhaustion Pose," to make it appear as if he's working really hard instead of standing around. There appears to be a beer can on the ground, but we do not litter our yard with beer cans. I promise. That's actually my contractor's can of Full Throttle. And yes, he did go back and pick it up. Good man.Next, the shelter has to be leveled in the hole.The air vents are added. This is the favorite step as far as the Claustrophobic One is concerned. However...The vents (there are two) will stick up obnoxiously above the already-obtrusive-enough hill that will be right outside my back door. You can see in this photo just how close the shelter is to the house. Oh... I feel that face coming back.Then, bags of concrete are put all around the bottom, on top of those steel poles. They are torn open and wet down. This seemed weird to me. I wondered why the concrete isn't mixed up and poured into the hole. But this is how the shelter salesman says it's done, and my contractor assures me this is right, so who am I to argue?You'll notice that Alex seems to be the only one in these photos working. So... Where is Darrell? Where is my trusty contractor? Hmmm...


Oh... Here he is.Just joking. He was right there working, too. That shot was from last Christmas (Sorry, Darrell. Remember... you like my sense of humor). In fact, not only was Darrell working on ours, but it looks as if he's going to continue working on others. He's gotten enough interest in these to get a dealership going and start selling and installing them. He already has several customers lined up (which means I'm not the only one in town traumatized by these recent storms). I have a funny feeling my shelter is going to become the demo model, with total strangers showing up telling me Darrell sent them over to take a look inside ours.Next, straps that go completely over the shelter, are bolted down and anchored by these big, long spike thingies that screw down through the concrete and into the ground. Of course, the weight of the wildebeest sitting inside with her whole family will also help ensure that a strong tornado cannot suck the whole thing up out of the ground.They filled the hole back up with dirt, which will be watered down and packed in, with more dirt being added over the next few days as it settles. And there you have it. You gotcherself a tornado shelter. Obviously, it will eventually have grass growing over it and blend in with the rest of the yard, so it won't always look quite this tomb-like. I've also just been told by my contractor that those air vents can be cut down after we're finished so they won't stick up quite this much. Now, for the inside:

The Apprehensive Descent

From the outside, looking down, it really does feel as if you're stepping down into a coffin. It looks much smaller than it is, from out here.There's plenty of room inside for all of us, our little survival kit (h2o, first aid, snacks, etc.), plus a few visitors...Like these! They can come and go through the air vents. I hadn't thought of that. Isn't that nice? (Terrible picture, I know, but aren't they always?)This is my cheesy, "wave at the camera, kids" shot...And this shows the boys' feelings about my cheesy, "wave at the camera, kids" shotSo, that's it. And to the two of you who remained for this whole boring post, I thank you. I should give you a prize just for staying.

Q: What is the best way...

to end a day that began with very little sleep, and waking up at 5:00 A.M. to go to the hospital for your kid's surgery????


A: With another tornado warning and trip to the urine-scented church basement/storm shelter, of course!!

How crazy of you not to know I was going to say that. Are you seeing a pattern here? This is one pattern I'm definitely ready to break! It's nuts! Last night's storm seemed to come out of nowhere, and didn't do any damage around here. I think some towns up north of us got the worst of it.

Once again, Michael was gone with a friend. Alex was just getting ready to walk out the door to hang out with his "*(girl)friend*," and wasn't very happy to change his plans and go to the shelter with us. Yeah, sorry 'bout that whole being concerned for your safety thing, buddy. What mean, horrible parents we are.

*(He doesn't officially call her what she really is, because she's older than he is, and he knows we are nervous about it, so he thinks it will be easier for us to swallow their constant togetherness if it is called "just friends." We are parents after all, which of course means we're stupid, so we'll swallow whatever a teenager- oh, excuse me, I meant 18 yr. old adult- tells us. Detecting a slight attitude? Hmmm. But that is a whole other post- one that the mommy is not ready to write.)*

We spent another hour up there this time. As soon as we got home, I heard the weather lady on TV say, "Another nervous night for Four-Staters..." Gee, ya think? NERVOUS? Really? I've developed a facial tic and a stutter, and my fingernails are now nothing but bloody stumps, but I don't know what would make you think I'm nervous.

Darrell saw me scrounging around in the cabinet late last night, and knew just what I needed to calm my nerves. Chocolate. He went up to Sonic to get me a hot fudge sundae. Good man. I know, I know. I'm supposed to be eating better and losing weight. But with this recent weather, I am either ready to succumb to my choco-holism, or I will take up alcoholism. One way or the other, this poor little fat girl needs to relax.

By the way, I know you're probably so thrilled to be getting another weather story from me. You're longing for the days of hearing about my sweaty dressing room disasters, aren't you? I bet you never thought that would happen. I promise the next post will be a completely new and different subject, not storm-related at all. No, sir.

The next post will chronicle every step of the storm shelter's installation, in all it's photographic glory, and you guys know what a stellar shutter bug I am! That's one you won't want to miss, I'm sure. The shelter is being put in AS WE SPEAK (I'm so excited!!). See, I told you. Completely new and different subject.

Our Beautiful Monstrosity

Yesterday, Darrell and Alex drove waaay up north, past St. Joseph, to pick up the new storm shelter. They got home around midnight and parked this right smack-dab in our front yard!

Isn't she gorgeous? I love her. And I'm sure all my neighbors will love having her parked in the yard like this. What shall we name her? I'm thinking DOROTHY, although that's not very original. Got any better ideas? We're taking suggestions. Help us christen our new underground haven.

I'm going to post pics as we go through the installation process, because... well... just because. I'm sure you can't think of anything more fascinating than seeing our storm shelter going in, right?

This is coming not a moment to soon. We had to get in the car on Tuesday night, after MIDNIGHT I might add, and drive during a tornado warning to a church basement (designated as a storm shelter for our area) where about 75 other sleepy, sweaty individuals were jockeying for the best and safest positions to wait out another round of storms. We were there for about an hour and a half, maybe. For some crazy reason, I grabbed jeans and a hoodie to throw on and it was 70 Bajillion degrees in there. The basement smelled like dog pee. Go figure. What are they doing in that basement?

I found myself thinking, "If I wanted to die in a storm smelling bad smells, I could have just stayed home."

Michael was spending the night at a friend's house without a basement. Oh, Frap. Alex was out on a date in a nearby town that was getting hammered pretty hard (hurricane strength straight-line winds at 80-90 mph!), so once again, our family was separated and mommy's nerves were SHOT. We reached him by cell before he started heading home, and he and his friend stopped at the police station to wait it out inside. Thank God. Again. He's so good.

I'll keep you abreast of the progress on the shelter. I know you can't wait. Next phase: Dig one heckuva huge hole. It better be soon, because this eyesore of a yard ornament reminds me of Sanford and Son. Badda, badda... badda, badda, badda bahhhh. Badda, badda... Badda, badda, badda, bah. Budda, budda, bum, bum, bumpbum. BUMMM. That's the S&S theme song, in case you weren't catching on to my musical talents, there.

OH MY GOODNESS, you guys! I just had an epiphany! This could totally become like my vacation home. I can tell the fam I'm going to Walmart and go hang out for a few hours in the storm shelter instead! No one will ever know, and I will get some much-needed peace and quiet. I could put a pillow or two down there, some pretty lavender candles, magazines, a bag or two of M&M's... As long as the claustrophobia doesn't kick in, it'll be awesome!

I know. It's a sad, sad little life I'm leading.

What is Brontophobia?

Anybody know? Brontophobia is not the fear of a Brontosaurus or Brontosaurus burgers (any Flintstones fans out there?). It's what you call the fear of storms. Lilapsophobia is the fear of tornadoes (or hurricanes). A fear of thunder is Ceraunophobia. Besides Brontophobia, thunder and lightning phobias are called Astraphobia or Astrapophobia, and Keraunophobia. I don't know why they need all those different terms, but... there you go. I also don't know what a fear of hail is called, but we're just going to keep it simple and say it's Hailphobia. How's that? Maybe there's a Smarty out there who can give me the actual name, if there is one.

Anyway, it would appear that our family has developed all of the above.

Ever since our adventure on May 10th, we've become a bunch of pansies when the clouds start rolling in. Even Darrell, who has always been one of those idiots standing in the yard looking up at the sky when everyone else is taking cover, seems to have acquired a new "respect" for storms (he'd just argue with me if I used the word fear). Michael is the only one who seems to be unfazed by the weather we've been having. Notice I said seems. You know how teenage boys are... For all I know, he could be shaking on the inside and he'd never let me know it. After the May 10th storm, he briefly wanted to become a storm chaser. That has passed, thankfully (Now, his new life goal is to be a "Pyrotechnician." You know... One of those idiots who blows stuff up. He'll come home for Christmas each year missing one more finger. I'll be so proud. Does anyone know if Harvard has a Pyrotechnics program?). Alex is now seriously considering a Meteorology degree, though- so it has affected all of us in some way.

Last night Darrell and I had the kids up at 10:30 getting dressed and ready to drive to the storm shelter, if the need should arise. It didn't. Then we both stayed awake until 4:30 this morning, when the tornado watch expired. Can you say paranoid? We're exhausted, but neither one of us could sleep knowing things may get crazy and we'd have to act fast. Poor Tucker (who was Severely freaked the night of the tornado) was gathering the family together for a group prayer like every 20 minutes. Evan is nervously hovering around a TV or computer all the time, wanting to get a weather report. It's not healthy. We've all gone nuts.

Right now, it's raining and thundering. We're not under any watches or warnings, but I still have a knot in my stomach like you wouldn't believe. It's just rain! Oh, wait... We are now under a Severe T-storm warning. YEAH!!!! Now at least the knot has a reason to be there. It's supposed to get pretty bad today- more storms, more winds, more huge hail. I can't predict the weather, but I can predict with incredible accuracy that Darrell and I will both have ulcers, uncontrollable vomiting, permanent eye twitches, and be calling for our mommies by 5 p.m.

Darrell has been looking at in-ground storm shelters on the Internet. We are getting one. We'll go pick it up as soon as the storms subside. We won't be driving in them anymore, if we can help it.

I just hate this. I hate feeling afraid. I hate knowing that fear has control over me in any way. I believe that fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is a faith killer and a doubt builder. Fear is giving in to the enemy, when faith is trusting in God. I do have faith in God's ability to protect us. I've seen the evidence of His protection, and have no reason to believe He'll start slacking off anytime soon. Yet, I'm afraid. I hate knowing that I have absolutely no control over what happens with the weather. I feel helpless. I hate seeing fear attack my children, and knowing that they are also picking up on what I'm feeling, regardless of what I may say about faith and trusting God. What's wrong with me? Chelle is feeling just a tad traumatized, guys.

Incidentally... This has nothing to do with anything, but when I was looking up the names of the phobias, I discovered that the fear of venereal disease and prostitutes is called Cypridophobia, Cypriphobia, Cyprianophobia, or Cyprinophobia. The specific fear of syphilis is called Luiphobia or Syphilophobia. Should we really need words and names for such things? I mean, aren't some of these so-called phobias things we should all naturally be afraid of? Shouldn't we all already have a fear of VD and Prostitutes? I know I try to avoid both as often as possible.

Let's title this one "MISC"

We had our appointment with the insurance guy today to look at our vehicle and jet ski damage from the storm last Saturday. All 3 vehicles are totaled. We don't know yet about the jet ski- we have to get an estimate, then they will decide what to do. Car shopping times three- Yippee! They are going to give us pretty decent money for them, though- so no complaints. Wait... one complaint: I do not like car salesmen. Not at all. I would rather have an enema, get a root canal, poke myself with sharp sticks, or any one of a million other uncomfortable things, than deal with a wretched, lying weasel car salesman. Nothing personal to any car salesmen out there. I'm sure you're all lovely people. It's the other ones who are weaselly. Not you. Of course I didn't mean you.

We still don't know the extent of the roof damage, if any. Even so, we are so blessed. So many people here are wiped out- everything's gone. I have nothing to complain about.

My mom is here. We're enjoying having her. She helped me quite a bit today getting ready for graduation and we planted some rose bushes outside. She has quite the green thumb. Opposite of me in every way.

Looks like I won't have to fall back on my Standard Plan B Outfit for my son's wedding, which is my old faded Van Halen t shirt (original lineup; none of this Sammy Hagar crap), torn-off Bermuda shorts, and old red Chuck Taylor Cons. We found a dress on our shopping trip up to KC the other day. It does not require any duct tape or other special hoisting devices to keep the girls displayed properly. They will be contained (and we all utter a collective "thank God for small favors"). It beats the baby poop colored dress. It does not beat the champagne colored dress, but I guess it's time for me to let it go. Deep breaths, Chelle... Let. It. Go. This dress... It's very sparkly/glittery. Frap. I feel like flippin' Tinkerbell in it; I drop glitter everywhere I go. This could work to my advantage. I can walk up to people at the wedding and wiggle ever so slightly, shaking my obnoxious glitter loose all over them. It will be fun. The only thing I have left to do is try to exchange the beatiful satin champagne shoes for some ugly silver ones. Breathe, Chelle. Let it go, hon.

Nick (the son getting married) called yesterday to let us know he lost his job. He just bought a house. He's getting married in one month. The place where he works is cutting back and he's fairly new there, so... That's that, I guess. I'm praying he finds something else even better very soon! Hopefully he'll be looking back on this as a blessing in disguise in the not-too-distant future.

Tomorrow is Alex's graduation day. I'll try to post some pics by tomorrow night or Sunday.

Enjoy your weekends, Everybody!

Tornado Damage Photos

Last night, Darrell and the boys went down to help friends clean out their house and try to find their stuff that had been blown to kingdom come. Darrell took these pictures of their neighborhood. This town is just south of us and it's basically wiped out. It was the hardest hit.

The town we live in did not get a direct hit, but still took some damage here and there. Most people around here have hail damage, and there are some blown out windows.

Something kind of funny... After the guys got home last night, we all started talking about our little adventure in the van and comparing stories- what we each saw, heard, how scared we were, etc. As we started to share our own personal take on the whole thing, we began to realize that we saw two different tornadoes! This makes sense, because we now know there had been multiple tornadoes touching down (I believe I heard there were 4), and the one that hit the little town in the photos above actually split into two, with the smaller one that split off going a different direction. However, we didn't know any of that at the time, and until last night, we assumed we had all seen the same thing.

There was a point in the van when Darrell said, "There it is. I see it."

When he said that, Evan and I both looked to the side and saw a tornado across the road in a field, on the driver's side. I was looking out Darrell's side window and there it was, directly across from us. I discovered last night, that the tornado Darrell was looking at was out the front window, in front of us and off in the distance a little. He knew nothing about the one right next to us, because he was so focused on silly things like trying to see to drive through all the water, hail, and leaves, find a spot where it would be safe to pull over and get out, and of course- trying to keep an eye on the tornado ahead. I knew nothing about the huge, looming tornado in front of us because I looked out the side window first, saw a funnel-shaped cloud, and of course assumed that was the one he meant. It didn't occur to me to ask, "Do you mean this one right here beside us, or might there be another tornado you are referring to?" Darrell and Mike were looking at the larger one that caused all the destruction in the photos above, while Evan and I saw the one that split off from it.

Darrell has been thinking I was confused each time he heard me say it was right across the road, but he was trying to be nice and not say anything to correct me. I am a poor judge of distance, so I can't blame him for assuming I didn't know what I was talking about. Then he learned last night that Evan saw exactly the same thing I did. Darrell had been confused about how and why that window behind Bri's seat blew in, since the actual tornado was off in the distance in front of us. Now he knows. He was so shocked to realize he had been driving right alongside a tornado the whole time. I was shocked to hear we were driving into a tornado right in front of us. I'm glad I didn't know that at the time. One more way God protected us, I think- spared us from knowledge that would have sent us over the edge into breakdown mode. We were having a hard enough time keeping our wits about us as it was.

Darrell was talking last night about how helpless he felt- how much pressure he felt to make a decision quickly and make the right one. It had to be the right one. I can imagine how frightening and horrible that must have felt for him as the driver, to think that the fate of his family is going to hinge upon when and where he decides to stop. Of course he knows that he fate of our family was (and is) in God's hands, not his. But still... to be right in the middle of that kind of situation and have to make a snap decision that will affect everyone else with you, makes you feel as if the weight of the world is resting upon your shoulders. It just makes me even prouder of the way he handled the situation.

Anyway... I won't keep blabbing on and on about the tornado. I'm done. We will return to our regularly scheduled overshares about my undergarments, shopping dramas, and such. Thank God for that.

My mom arrives in two days and my house looks like a tornado hit it- lol. I wish I could use that as my excuse. I have to get crackin' and get this place in shape for company. I'll post some pictures after Alex's graduation next Saturday, and let you all know how the upcoming dress shopping trip goes. Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I hope all you Mamas and Waiting-To-Be-Mamas have a blessed and wonderful Mother's Day! I don't have anything special planned for the day, other than still counting my blessings after last night. We will probably celebrate the day with a little house cleaning party after church, to prepare for my mom's arrival on Wednesday for graduation next Saturday. If I'm feeling extra adventurous, I may just top off the FUN with a trip to Walmart!!! Oooooh... Squeals of joy! The excitement is electrifying. Do you feel it, too?

Follow-up on last night's drama: We do have some damage to one side of the house (siding), and we're not completely sure yet about our roof. The cars are pretty bad. Our poor insurance man here in town is probably wishing he could call in sick tomorrow. I bet his phone will be ringing all day. Overall, we are extremely blessed.

A portion of the view from my van's passenger window. These cracks were all happening while we were driving. It sounded unbelievable. I was sure the windshield was going to shatter completely...

And Alex's windshield- this was done by ONE hailstone, the one he was holding in last night's picture... Truthfully, I couldn't care less. It's just stuff. The 7 treasures that mean the most to me (8, if you count my stupid dog) are all here, safe and sound to celebrate Mother's Day with me. I couldn't ask for more. That sounds so cheesy, but it's the truth. I'm a very thankful Mama today!

I just can't convey in words how dangerous the situation really was in the van without sounding like a drama queen. But it was. We can't believe it even really happened. Here is a link to an article on the tornado, if you're interested:

Deadly Storms Batter Missouri, Oklahoma (CNN.com)

I'm honestly not trying to be a drama queen, but last night I did think we could all die. I think we all thought that. I am so, so proud of all my kids and Darrell for the way they handled such a frightening ordeal. Evan and Mike stayed pretty calm, and were trying to help me comfort Tucker and Bri. After the storm passed, Mike said he thought the whole thing was kind of exhilarating, and he now wants to be one of those insane storm-chasing people. I've always suspected something was wrong with him. Now we know for sure. lol. I could do with less exhilarating. Me and the exhilarating aren't so good together!

Liv was amazing and so brave, as I mentioned last night. She had her moment to fall apart after we were safe in that kind stranger's basement. I looked over at her and saw the tears starting, and the bottom lip sticking out. She needed some major hugs from Mama.

Darrell joked that Tuck was apparently the only one in the car who really understood the seriousness of the situation at the time, and was acting accordingly. He was screaming like someone right out of a movie, and his reaction matched exactly how Darrell and I were feeling on the inside, I think! Darrell told Tucker not to feel embarrassed for being so afraid- it just proved he had common sense!

Darrell did a great job of staying calm and focused, as dads so often do. He said he was so proud of the way I handled it, and that I also did a great job, but it sure didn't feel that way to me at the time! Between the shaking, the pathetic prayers of "Please, God!" and the urge to vomit and/or pee my pants, I didn't feel very brave.

Once it all really started to sink in after we got home, got settled, and felt safe, I lost it a little bit. I'd be fine for a while, then I'd cry for a while. A mix of stress tears and grateful tears. I feel so terrible for all the families around us with damages that are far worse, and for those who were injured or have family members who were killed. Some friends of the boys were in Kansas City while all this happened and they are hearing from neighbors that they don't have a home to come back to. They live in a town right next to us, which was hit pretty hard. The number of deaths and injuries is going up. Again, please remember to keep the people in our area in your prayers.

I'll end with a shot of my cutie pie girlies from their first softball game yesterday. They only got to play one inning, but they did an awesome job! The game was called due to rain. We had left the game to go grab dinner at a drive-thru when the tornado hit. Let's hope the next game night is a little less "exhilarating!"

Again, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all! Thank you, Moms, for all you do!

An All-Around Interesting Day

I'm pretty freaked right now. My writing skills will suffer, I'm sure. Bear with me. We just drove through a tornado. No, that's not a joke. Not even a slight exaggeration. We could see it on the other side of the road. We had no place to stop or pull over. No ditches or low places, no culverts, no underpasses, nothing. We had baseball-sized hail smashing our windshield. We couldn't see with all the rain, hail, and blowing leaves. Alex was at home alone, while the rest of us were trying to get home. He had called and let us know the sirens were going off. We were going to stay where we were, but then Alex called back to say the sirens had stopped and everything seemed OK. It was getting stormy where we were, so we decided to start driving towards home, thinking we would be driving away from it. Big, big mistake. BIG. We drove right into it. Tucker was TERRIFIED and crying, asking if we're all going to die. I kept saying we wouldn't; that God would protect us. I must admit, though- I had my doubts. I was trying to stay calm and pray with the kids. It got so scary, that all I could think to say was, "God, please. Please, Jesus. Please." A side window in our van smashed in right behind Bri's head. As the wind and water started blowing in through the window and Bri started to join in the hysteria, Olivia put her hand over Bri's eyes, telling her to just close her eyes and everything will be alright. I've never been so proud of anyone in my life. She stayed totally calm, thinking only about her little sister. What a girl!!! We came up to a driveway and pulled in as our windshield and roof took one hit after another. Darrell got out and went up to the house, and took a major hit on his shoulder from a hailstone (which left a mark about 3 inches across). The elderly couple who lived there let us come in and go down to their basement. Thank God. Very few houses in and around our town have basements. Just the fact that we stopped at one that did is an answered prayer. God was definitely good to us. We're all fine. Shaking and ready to vomit, but fine.

When we got home, Alex was here and safe- another answered prayer. He had tried to get up town to the closest storm shelter, but it wasn't open. He turned around and drove back home right in the middle of this mess. His car was almost swept away in a flooded creek. Oy Vey. It makes my head spin to think what could have happened to him- and to the rest of us- but so, so grateful that we are safe. God heard us, no matter how pitiful and faithless our prayers were, and kept His hands on us. I know He did.

There's a lot of damage aound here and in towns around us. Cars were picked up off the road and flipped over. Roofs picked up off of houses. I'm hearing on the news right now that one death has been officially reported so far. We're hearing from friends that there are more deaths that have not been "officially" reported yet. I cannot believe we were in a van, with our children, right in the middle of it. To say it was scary is an understatement. All three vehicles' windshields are ruined, but who cares? Our house is fine. Most importantly, we are all OK and safe.

I snapped a few shots of our windshields when we got home, but they don't even begin to do justice to the way it really looks.

The missing window...One of the hailstones in our yard...Please pray for all the folks who didn't fare so well. We know people who have missing relatives, and some whose homes are completely destroyed. This is just horrible. We were so incredibly blessed.
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My post this evening was supposed to be about my daughter. Our oldest daughter, Kindra, received her Associate's Degree today. She's hoping to continue on and eventually get her 4 yr. degree, but she's a single, working mom and, as you single moms know, that's a hard, busy life. Throwing school into that mix is an additional strain. We are so proud of her, so I couldn't end this post without posting a pic or two...

Kindra and her proud dad...Darrell, with all nine of our kids and our grandson, Braden (Tucker and Braden did not appreciate the sun in their faces)...