tornado.

Wednesday, May 25. This was the view from our front porch. Crazy clouds and rain and hail. And reports of it getting much worse and heading our way. 

Our weather radio had been going off all afternoon and evening. We were trying to downplay for the kids and keep them calm, yet frantically trying to get necessities to the basement storage room and text with friends and family. "Mom... why are you bringing all our scrapbooks downstairs?" 

Staying calm got a little harder once I got a text from a co-worker and a picture of her house... 

We lost power and although it was still light outside, it was dark in the basement. So we were letting the kids sit on the stair landing, halfway up and down. Corey and I were going out on the front porch, watching the sky and radar and listening to the weather radio. Sophie went outside and yelled, "I see the tornado!" We rolled our eyes at first and said, "No, you don't..." and then we went to look. Um, yes. Yes, you do. We had Lawson and Gretchen come look so they could say they had seen it and then everyone went downstairs! 

The tornado ended up turning and going south of us by 4 miles. All the years I've spent living in Kansas... this was the first time I had ever been scared during a storm. Definitely too close for comfort. Reports later said that the F4 tornado was on the ground for over an hour and for 26 miles. At some points, the tornado was 1/2 mile wide and winds were up to 180 mph. Amazingly enough, no serious injuries and no fatalities occurred. Over 20 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, including my friends.

The next day...

I worked with a friend in the master closet (which was fairly untouched) sorting clothes and gathering laundry to take home and wash. The Reese's peanut butter cup in Christina's shoe made us laugh.

In awe of my friend today. Her smile, her strength, her positive attitude and ability to see the silver lining in the midst of this tragedy. Christina Stroud... you are amazing. So blessed to all you friend. 

#irishfamily

 I *may* have gone a tad overboard with batteries and flashlights at Dollar General the next day. 5 radios in our house and not one with batteries that worked! And only 1/2 our flashlights worked, too! I was telling myself being over prepared was a good thing!

One of the first pictures from someone who got to the Strouds house early Thursday morning...