Last weekend’s storms in the mid-west left much destruction, injuries, and at least seven deaths in Ohio.  Perhaps most tragic of all, the graduation exercises at Lake High School (near Toledo) had to be postponed and moved to another location.  The back wall of the gymnasium ripped off.  Not so tragic in and of itself, but one of the seven who lost their lives was the father of the class valedictorian. Their home also destroyed. Mere hours before what is supposed to be a happy moment in the lives of young adults, family, and friends was put to a violent halt.

My little corner was spared such devastation, I knew the wind had picked up. There was lightning, rain, but no sirens went off.  Many of the surrounding neighborhoods issued warnings but I guess we were under the dome.  Walking to work Sunday morning, there was no standing water, downed trees, or any of the disastrous signs of the damage that Mother Nature wrecked on several communities in our area.  The worst incident I heard of was a customer whose newly purchased picnic umbrella had been whisked away.  We were lucky.

I love a good thunderstorm; however, when it brings destruction, injury, and loss of life it makes me stop and think about the awesome power of things  which we have no control over.  May God be with those seven individuals and their families and the communities who were in the middle of the wrath.

It’s 1am and I can’t sleep.  Why?  We are right in line for our second round of severe weather tonight.  Round one was kind of fun.  The two older kids were still awake, and they came downstairs panicked at the Tornado  Warning that was flashing on their tv.  It turned out to be for a different county, but then one was issued for our county a few minutes later.  But it soon became clear that our town  would be spared – a few very soft claps of thunder, and we were done.  The tornado sirens blared, so we dutifully went to the basement, but before we could even get everyone down there, the sirens were off.  So right before bed, I checked the radar again, and round two is headed straight for us.  I’ve had the news on while laying in bed, and after all of the very serious reports of damage and that which is yet to come, I gave up on sleep.  My husband and I came downstairs to  watch the radar on the news and…  wait.

I’ve got a comforter and some bottled water and snacks waiting by the basement door; it looks really bad.  I hope I’m over-reacting, but better safe than sorry, I guess – and it’s 1:30 in the morning so it’s easy to panic; I’m tired.  Plus, preparing for disaster keeps my mind of the feeling of impending doom from outside.  The county just north of us has a Tornado Warning.  It feels like a pressure cooker outside – the humidity is stifling, and the wind is picking up.  So far they’re saying on the news that tornadic activity is heading straight for our town, but weather is very unpredictable.  But even if we don’t get a tornado, they said to expect winds 80-90 mph.  Did I mention we invested in an inflatable pool for the kids yesterday?  😉

I’m praying for the safety of our family and friends who are spread all over this county and the next one over.  I’m praying for our old house and for all of the tall trees around it.  There are reports of heavy damage (possible tornado) in the county to the east, and we have many friends who live there – praying for everyone.

Well, this thing appears to be in our county now, and no tornado warning for us.  The wind is howling, so I better go before I lose power – I have flashlights and battery radios, think we’re well prepared…  just difficult to decide at what point it’s safer to panic the kids by waking them and taking them into the basement…  always a tough decision.  I’ve lived in the midwest all my life, but this is so much harder when you’re the parent and the one who has to make the calls.

Stay safe everyone…  I will leave an update on this post tomorrow, but so far, it looks good for us – the storm turned due east at the last minute…

*UPDATE* –  Yes, the storm turned away from us at the last minute – a miracle.  So other than being extremely tired, we are unscathed.  Some friends I saw at church today are ok too, so I’ll have to do some digging about the rest of the area, but I think everyone is ok!  Time to catch up on that sleep…

Kids say the darndest things, as we all know – they even made a tv show about it.  Here is a list of some of the cute mispronounciations my kids have made and their ages when they said them.

“ah-cro-poose” said by Sammie, age 3.  Translation: octopus

“Taylor lelled at me” said by Sammie, age 4.  Translation: lelled = yelled

“Beeber” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Christopher (her baby brother).  This has actually led to Christopher having nicknames of Beeber and Beebs.

“Kipper” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Christopher.  She moved out of the Beeber phase and now calls him Kipper.

“may-sa-peer” said by Sammie, age 3.  Translation: disappear

“tormado” said by Sammie, age 4.  Translation: tornado.  Look closely at how I typed the word – she replaces the “n” with an “m” sound.

“ith ith” said by Taylor, age 1.  Translation: kitty.

“diaper call off!” said by Disney, age 2.  Translation: Help!  My diaper is falling off!

“gggg” said by Christopher, age 5 months.  Translation: various.  I just wanted to put his sounds in this list too.