Count Your Blessings....

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed... This is what's left of the homes about half a mile from my house!

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost...

Count your many blessings name them one by one... And it will surprise you what the Lord has done...

Amazingly, all we lost were some shingles and three trees...which were so kind to have not landed on out roof!

Last Friday evening as the kids and I were snacking on some homemade oatmeal cookies, watching "Robots" (a terrible movie...I would highly recommend that you do not waste any of your precious time watching that one!) a storm blew it's way into our town. We've had a bit of a rocky spring, so when the sirens went off, I thought, "Oh great, here we go again" Since we weren't watching the news, I assumed that the sirens just meant there was a possibility for a tornado somewhere in the area, but didn't take it too seriously...until the second time they went off. I then decided we should probably play it safe and head on down to the basement. That's when I saw the Radar...the whole city was covered in red and all I heard the weather reporter say was "tornado....Maryland Height*s" over and over again! Well that's pretty darn close to where we live, so I was quite relieved we had hunkered down to the safety of our basement playroom. Not even two minutes later, the lights began to flicker and then went out. The boys leaped into my arms, while Kacey remained on the couch just under the window...but as the wind began to howl, she too rushed into the safety of our group hug. I felt like a mother hen gathering her chicks! I tried to remain calm as I said, "Ummmm I think we should say a prayer!" And pray I did!!! The wind was so loud...it was SO LOUD! And honestly I was completely petrified! Kurt was here and as he checked out the bedroom window, it flew in and knocked him on the head! He survived and quickly replaced it! As suddenly as it had started, it ended. He soon went outside to see what happened, and the report came of, "Oh man, a limb is down off one of the trees...oh wait, the whole tree is down...oh no, it's all three!" Yep, three big ol' trees were completely uprooted and landed diagonally in our yard, completely missing our house! The tall pine tree between our house and the neighbors wasn't quite as thoughtful and landed on their two cars in the driveway. (I was kinda wishing it had landed on mine, since the transmission has decided to quit, and I'm not really looking forward to a new car payment!) Further investigation found shingles had been ripped off the roof, but no other structural damage. The street soon filled with neighbors in shock over what had just happened, and immediately I was on my phone to check on my friends through Faceb**k. Well it didn't take long for my battery do wear out; so after getting a really scared little boy to sleep, I hopped in my car to drive around while it charged. What I then learned was horrifying...just up the block and across the street, houses had been ripped apart and some even leveled to the ground! An EF4 had torn through our neighborhood leaving nothing but piles of debris behind. Trees were down everywhere, streets were blocked, police were directing traffic, neighbors were rushing about to check on their friends. It was an amazing scene. I'll never forget the sounds of that sleepless night...helicopters, chainsaws and sirens...running continuously through those dark, dark hours.The next morning (my 40th Bday...happy birthday to me...I still have a house!) I was able to walk through the rain to see much of the "War Zone" and with tears in my eyes the observed the damage that had been done to my friends' and neighbors' homes. There was no school on Monday, but the district had free childcare at one of the few grade schools that still had power. Four days later my power was restored. One week later I was fortunate to team up with the trusty "Kohl*s crew" to help clean up the mess. Nothing, no pictures or videos can prepare you for the incredible destruction that was awaiting us. The shuttle dropped us off, and as I walked up the street (less than half a mile from my home) tears filled my eyes...These people lost EVERYTHING! How incredibly blessed I felt...4 days without electricity, that was nothing compared to the devastation these poor families have endured. We spent the afternoon picking up scattered shingles, broken fences, siding, drywall, garage doors, bits and pieces of these families' homes. We found a few personal items, but after 5 days of rain, they were pretty soggy...a full refrigerator, a linen closet, random photos, cd's, a birthday party invitation from October and even pages from a telephone book. So many thoughts ran through my mind (including...man, I really need to get rid of all the junk in my house so that if this ever happens to me, there won't be so much to clean up! I can't imagine all of my clutter being scattered every which way!!!) but mostly I was just grateful. Grateful to have a home... Grateful to have my kids... Grateful to be alive!

Amazingly there were no deaths and only 4 reported injuries!