Twister

Saturday was forecasted to be 100+F. We decided last minute to pack a picnic lunch and spend some time out on the river. It was a fantastic way to beat the heat. After Jarred milked in the afternoon, he wanted to take his friend and his Dad out again. I opted to stay home with the kids. We got some cleaning done, put the kids down and hunkered down to clean out the fridge. (nesting much?) It was starting to lightning and thunder and before long, Emma came downstairs afraid of the storm. I saw the guys pull in with the boat so I told her she could wait up until Daddy got in. I noticed the sky was a weird red color and actually took a picture all the while trying to remember that saying about red skies and sailors and what a red sky means! Jarred's friend Alan brought their daughter in the house while they finished cleaning things up. Pretty soon after that the skies opened up. And not like a little summer shower...I'm talking torrential downpour. I ran outside to grab Jarred's work boots off the front porch and saw the rain swirling around in heavy winds. I moved the girls into our family room and the winds quickly picked up. The sound was weird...And then I watched our rain gutter be ripped off our house. The lights flickered off and on a few times and then we lost power for good. At this point Emma is panicking. I moved the girls to where there weren't any windows and was trying my best to speak really calmly and remind her that we are safe, together and that Jesus is our protector.
At that point our earthly protector came flying in the house ordering us to get in the basement because it was a real tornado. He scooped up Emma while I ran upstairs to get Colson from his crib. We all made it down to the basement and Jarred was all pumped up in adrenaline telling us what was going on outside. Emma's eyes were getting wider and wider so I reminded Jarred to keep things on the calm side. Literally within minutes the storm had passed and we were able to come out of the basement. Since we live on the farm,, Jarred (when we were sure it was safe) was outside hooking up the generators and assessing the damage.
Although it hasnt been officially determined, we are pretty sure it was a tornado that passed through. Whatever it was, there is a lot of damage to our farm as well as the neighbor's. Alan, Jarred's friend lost most of his barn roof, we lost a barn roof and had lots of doors bent, trees down everywhere, and of course our gutter.
Jarred's been working like crazy on cleanup and I've been working like crazy on dealing with the aftermath at home aka processing through Emma's fear. She doesn't want to sleep by herself at this point do we're working through that.
We are SO beyond thankful for our safety and protection. Although there is a lot of cleanup to be done, it could have been much much worse. It's also been a really cool thing to watch the community come together in the cleanup effort.
Crazy, right?