So even though Oklahoma lost the honorable *eyes rolling* distinction last week and is no longer TORNADO ALLEY, we sure got a beating yesterday! I'm sure most of you saw it as the leading story on the national news...more than 20 tornadoes hit and left paths of destruction hundreds of miles longs (one tornado alone stayed on the ground for 165 miles!). There are so many families who've lost their homes, and a few even their lives and our prayers go out to them. Luckily, our family and our local neighborhood are fine.
We did have a crazy afternoon though. Carter and I were up at Trevor's school for a while and Emilee's spring concert for Choir was scheduled at 6:30. I had made a lasagna earlier in the day and it was on auto bake in the oven so that we could have a quick dinner between school and getting to Emilee's performance. Emilee came home with a friend after school and Trevor and Carter and I arrived soon after. Joshua's mom flew in on Saturday for a visit so she was here too, and Joshua was downtown at his corporate office. About 4:30 the weather got pretty iffy so we headed downstairs into the storm shelter...me, Em, Trev, Carter, Em's friend, Joshua's mom and our neighbor and her little boy...storm shelter count--8 (oh and plus one furrball...can't forget Reese!).
(I'm taking this shot while sitting on the stairs that lead up and out...everyone all smiles and snuggled in!)
It still cracks me up that I have wi fi reception down there, but why argue lol so I emailed with Joshua back and forth, who was trying to get out of his meeting to head home. Things were pretty quiet while we were down there. The rain and wind came and went and came and went. I got a broken up phone call from Joshua that he was on his way home and I urged him to watch the sky and be careful. Then about 5:30 I heard "bang!...bang!...bangbangbangbang!!!" on the metal door of the storm shelter and I told everyone that the hail was coming and to hang on (in the tornadoes of Feb 2009 the hail directly preceded the touchdown of the tornado). Then the latch of the storm shelter turned and there was Joshua, up top laughing at us! He had gotten the ice bucket from the freezer and was throwing ice at the door, trying to fake the hail and scare the junk out of us!! What a stinker!! We all had a good laugh after we settled down and he told us things were clearing off. Since it was quite the procession getting all 8 of us down there, I wasn't ready to come up just to go right back down so we sat tight for a bit longer. Meanwhile Joshua went back in the house, pulled my lasagna out of the oven where it was nice and warm, and served up plates for everyone...so we had a tornado dinner party downstairs!!
We did come out shortly after 6 to cleared skies. The news coverage on tv was jaw dropping, but our area looked to be out of the woods. So we made the fast decision to dash for the school and see if Emilee's concert was still "on" and try to get her there in time to perform. When we got there we were told indeed the show must go on so she jetted backstage. The performance was wonderful! The choirs sang some awesome songs and we enjoyed the show immensely. We also got another glimpse of Emilee carefully caring for her blind friend I've shared about before. She's in choir with her, and it was touching to watch Emilee meticulously make sure that her friend was in place and on cue and safe on that big stage at all times. *double proud parent moment*
(Emilee is in the front row, second from the left.)
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