Home Sweet 'Homa

Many thanks to all of you who called, texted, and sent messages via Facebook to check on our little family during the horrible storms that crossed our state earlier this week.  Our family and our home are completely fine, but unless you have been hiding in a cave for the last three days you have seen the utter devastation that has taken place here in Oklahoma.  It is absolutely heartbreaking to see our neighbors going through such upheaval of home and family.

Both Sunday and Monday's storms came too close for comfort.  On Sunday I watched as my alma mater (and current place of employment) was shown on live television with a huge funnel cloud on the horizon.  That tornado missed our beloved campus, but did terrible damage and claimed homes and lives.  I have yet to blog about it, but we closed on our new home on Friday.  In our four days of home ownership we have had two tornados pass within miles of our new home.  What a humbling reminder that this new property we are so excited about could all be gone in an instant.  The things of this world must be held with open hands.  

Our new place has a storm shelter built into the floor of the garage, so when Monday's storm started looking serious I woke the boys from their naps, threw them in the car with the dog, the deed to our new house, their blankets, and some food, and sped through the pouring rain to our new home about ten minutes away (we are staying in our rental until we finish some work on the new place).  My inlaws met us there since they do not have a shelter.  We figured if anything our cars would be safe from hail in the two car garage, and at worst we would have underground shelter.

Jonathan left the practice and joined us, and we huddled around the storm radio as I watched the live coverage on my phone and the boys watched The Backyardigans in a bedroom.  It was absolutely horrifying to listen to the live coverage of the tornado ripping through Moore, and as the meteorologist gave the street-by-street description of the tornado's path we realized that if the storm continued on the same path it would head right for us.  When they said it had reached Lake Stanley Draper, we unplugged the radio and ran for the shelter.  

My Okie husband doesn't blink an eye at storms.  I have seen him get "intense" about a storm only once.  When we lived in Waco, a huge storm was in our area and I will never forget him coming in from watching the storm on the porch and telling me to get in the bathtub while he and a friend got a mattress off the bed to put on top of us.  That tornado demolished the area just one mile from our house.      He knows storms, and I could tell he was taking this one very seriously.  When he said it was time to get in the shelter my heart sank.  

Just as we were climbing into the shelter, the broadcasters started saying, "It's roping out!  It's breaking up!"  (If you've never seen a tornado "rope out" before, google it.  It's the craziest sight.)  The storm fell apart on on the southwest corner of the lake, just a few miles short of our new home.  We were so incredibly grateful to be out of harm's way.  

So many families have lost their loved ones, their homes, their belongings, their pets, and their security.  Please pray for our state.  Please consider giving to any of the wonderful relief efforts that have been established specifically for Oklahoma.  Cherish the mundane moments with those you love and the simple comforts of home.