Tornado Season

I started this post well over an hour ago. But when the weather scanner keeps going off and then you hear the town sirens go off, kids freaking out, running to the cellar, finding a dead squirrel in the cellar.....ok, lets back up.

David has been gone on a business trip for 3 weeks. He has come home on the weekends only to stay for 2 days and once for just over 24 hours. I haven't wanted to put this on the blog just to be on the safe side but since he will be home in a matter of hours and won't be going back, I feel ok about it now.

We have done amazingly well without Daddy. The Lord has really blessed me with patience and peace. Even tonight in the Tornado warning, I felt safe as Daddy had sent our neighbor and good friend over to watch over us. One great blessing that has come from these long days without Daddy has been how very sweet it is for Daddy to come home. You really cherish your time with someone that you love so deeply when they have been gone for longer than you are used to.

Last weekend Brigham's cub scout troop had a camp out on Monkey Island. It was on a non-for profit ranch with bathrooms, fishing, petting zoo, horse rides, wagon rides, camp fires....you name it! It was great! Well, the boys had a great time....Mommy wasn't too happy to be there. Daddy was supposed to take the boys (Levi went too) but they ended up needing him longer on this job that was in Yukon, OK. I love to hike but I am not one for camping. But Brigham was so very excited about this that I couldn't say no. Grandma and Grandpa kept Hyrum for us and I was so grateful after that terrible night......

...but first, the fun pictures. Levi was most excited about fishing. As he put it, "Because I'm good at it." Meaning he was one of the only boys at cub scout camp last summer to catch a fish. He is so cute. Most people who make comments like that are cocky but not Levi. He was just stating a fact. What a cutie! Well, as you can see......not so good at it!

Brigham was super excited to fish for the first time and he kept at it for a while until he got bored and moved on to better things! But as you can see from the back of the picture, Levi is still at it......and unfortunately still not good at it! But hey, that boy was determined! The boys stayed up late just running around with the other boys with only a rope and florescent light up sticks. All they needed was a few things and their imaginations because I kept hearing things about them being werewolves, and kings, and servants, and war, and all the boy things you can think of. But I finally talked Brigham and Levi into going to bed. We were not asleep very long when we were woke up by a VERY loud and LONG thunder. This picture was taken before the real part of the storm hit.....and the boys started freaking out! The weather out here can be so amazing. There was not a cloud in sight when we went to bed and by 2 in the morning we were in a Tornado watch as well as a Thunderstorm warning (watch means the storm has the makings of a possible tornado, a warning means it has been spotted). As you can imagine, when rain hits on the tent it is so much louder than being in a home. Now imagine being in a thunderstorm and the wind going crazy around you!?! LOUD! I was so proud of my boys though. This is where I had a wonderful teaching moment with Levi. I asked the boys what they thought we could do and they both said at the same time that we could pray. So Levi gave the prayer. We all got as tight as we could next to each other while Levi stayed under the sleeping bags. He's my little worrier. I thought I could hear him under those sleeping bags but again it was so loud that I wasn't sure. Finally, I asked him if he was ok. He poked his head out and said, "Mom, something is really wrong! I keep praying and it won't go away!" My heart broke just a little right then but it was really a bittersweet moment. I hated that the faith of this child was not making the storm go away. He truly believed that if he prayed it would go away. But I also was so thankful that I could have this moment with him and teach him of the importance of knowing the difference between what we want and what the Lord has in store for us. Before we knew it, Daddy was texting us about the warnings and we were outta there! Did you know that you can get a Happy Meal at 3:33 in the morning? I felt bad because Brigham was real disappointed about leaving so I tried to make it up to them. We ended up going back a few hours later and got all of our stuff and all was ok. Fast forward to tonight. David calls me and tells me that we are in another watch and that Wayne (our neighbor and good friend) had been over earlier, checked out the cellar and we were good to go if we needed it. I sure do have wonderful men in my life! I actually already knew about the upcoming storm though because our weather scanner had been going off. Not very long afterwards, I thought I heard sirens. I turned off the tv and sure enough the town sirens were going off. It was the only time during this whole ordeal (and even last weeks) that I kinda freaked out. A little frantically I told the boys to hurry and get their shoes on, that the tornado sirens were going off. I felt horrible later because Levi immediately started crying. We hurried, got a flash light and off to the cellar we went. There waiting for us in the cellar was the remains of a squirrel but thank goodness it had been gone long enough that all that was left was its skin. Poor little Hyrum though, wouldn't take his hands off his nose for a quite some time! Of course there were spiders and it was nasty but hey, as I kept telling the boys, spiders won't kill us! We are much safer with those than a tornado. Levi clung to me but kept it together. Hyrum was amazing. He didn't start whining until about 10 minute before we got out of the cellar. Before we knew it, though Wayne, his family and his neighbors were in there with us (and the squirrel left!). It really felt like a long time but before we knew it, the sirens finally went off. I called Grandma and Grandpa first though before we left (they have a scanner also) and they let us know it was safe. We got inside, took showers, and I praised and praised those boys for being so brave. I really was proud of them. One funny thing. I overheard Brigham saying to Levi at one point, "What if the lower elementary got sucked up....COOL!"