live and forwarned

They told us DAYS ago that Monday afternoon the atmospheric ingredients would be primed and perfect for severe weather...and they were right!! It was sunny and a bit windy all day but there were no sign of storms until about 3PM. I turned on the TV and the news station had already broken into regular programming to discuss severe storms popping up throughout the state. None were heading our direction...yet. Suddenly, at about 3:50PM the weatherman starting talking about storms hitting Mustang by 4:30 but when I looked out the window I still didn't see anything...huh!?!? But then, like a lion, clouds began ROLLING in!! It literally got dark in a split second! When I stepped outside on my deck this is what I saw in the sky. It was beautiful blue sky and sunny on one side and the dark clouds were creeping in and taking over on the other...

Then the wind picked up...FAST!!! It was the kind of wind that told you "yep, a tornado is coming". It would blow really fast and gust from one direction and the very next moment whip around and blow from the other direction. The deck furniture didn't stand a chance.

Then, as I talked to my mom on the phone...the sirens went off. I heard the sirens in the distance first and then the sirens near our house started sounding. I had already cleared out the hall closet (just in case) and was in the middle of preparing the boys dinner. I called for the boys, who were watching a cartoon in my room, and settled them into the closet...yes, with their dinner! HA!!! The commotion, chaos and noise of the storm didn't phase Maddox one bit. He didn't even blink an eye at what was going on around him...Ashtyn, however, sorta freaked out and started crying. It breaks my heart that he gets so scared but it's especially hard for me because both times we have had this kind of, siren blowing, weather in Mustang Brandon hasn't been home and I have to admit that on the inside I'm freaking out too! So, I do my best to hold it together for Ash so that he won't get too scared but it's not easy. Today, though, was the closest a tornado has actually gotten to us and so I was more anxious then ever. Cell phones had stopped working and I couldn't get ahold of Brandon who was driving home from work while the weatherman described tornadoes touching down on the very route Brandon was driving. HUGE SIGH!! So what was a mom to do!?!? I prayed! I knelt in the closet with the boys and rubbed Ashtyn's leg while I prayed that we would all calm down, that daddy would get home safe and that the tornado would go back up into the clouds and not hurt anyone's cars or houses! And guess what?? As soon as we said "amen" we heard the weatherman say from the TV in the living room that the tornado closest to us had just lifted back into the clouds! Whew! Thank you God!

By the time Brandon got home from work the worst part of the storm had passed but little did we know that Brandon had come eerily close to the tornado! On his drive home he snapped some photos on his phone. You can see the elephant trunk tornado coming out of the wall cloud on the left side of the photo! It ended up touching down between Mustang and Yukon. Wow! I think that's the closest an actual full on tornado has come to us since we've lived here...sorta cool now, though, to look back at it in pictures!

As soon as the storm ended we invaded the yard to gather hail! It was funny to see nearly every neighbor up and down the block doing the exact same thing! Some of the hail was just HUGE! Brandon and I are betting that first thing tomorrow morning the roofing companies will be calling and knocking on doors!

Needless to say, Brandon was quite proud of his "near tornado experience"!! HA!!! I think he sent this pic to everyone he knows!!

While we escaped the worst of the storm some cities east of us were not so lucky, to say the least. Here is some of the damage captured from the news helicopter...

Believe it or not this is a Love's Gas Station! The chopper was able to take video from the air where the entire roof of the Love's was torn off and yet all of the contents and people inside the gas station were nearly untouched. There was minor damange inside but on the video you can still see chips on the shelves! Tornados are so weird!

Probably one of the most amazing shots of the day were these U-Haul trucks that were literally picked up and moved into this area of trees!

I was able to take some video when the hail was coming down! Take a look!

I did my best to explain to my boys what a tornado was and why they happen (in toddler terms of course) and then, as you know, we prayed that the tornado would not hit our home. After the Mustang sirens quit blowing and I allowed the boys to get out of the closet we had the news on and the boys saw some of the damage caused to other people's homes. When Ashtyn saw this he said "They should have prayed!" Although his comment was innocent and kinda cute I did try to explain to him that sometimes when we pray Jesus protects us but sometimes our house still gets broken. I don't want him to grow up thinking that if something bad happens to you that means you didn't talk to Jesus. But it was sweet to hear him say that Jesus could help them! Overall, the storm came and went really quickly! I think they said it was moving at 60-65 miles per hour. We are still watching the news, as I type, and the city managers are talking about clean up and red cross relief efforts, etc. It's sorta sad to think that all the people who lost their homes today were probably just as anxious as I was at about 4:30 when my sirens went off and they were probably just as frantic to get their kids somewhere safe...only they weren't ever able to come out of their safe spot to an intact home. I hope that the police find all those who are missing and help all those who have nowhere to go. Keep Oklahoma in your prayers!