II Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Friday, June 06, 2008

The Calm before the Storm

Last night, after doing an hour and a half of yoga, which helps stretch and calm me, my mind was clear and I was finally read for bed. It was 12 o'clock midnight and I was SO ready to drop into bed. However, as I walked into the bedroom where Matt was sleeping (and the tv was on) I heard the weather man say, "People in the town of _____(our town)____ need to take cover immediately. You are now under a tornado watch."
I casually woke Matt up and mentioned that to him, but we could hear the wind REALLY picking up so we looked outside our window and that's when we knew this was SERIOUS! We obviously couldn't see very well since it was dark out, but the lightning was nearly constant so we good a good enough picture of this to know we needed to go get the kids out of bed and take cover.

This is Matt's metal shop building that houses our 4-wheeler, riding mower, boat and a million other smaller things like his air compressor, tools and so forth. Here is a picture of what his shop looked like "before." (You can see it back there behind the pool)


We cleared out our "safe room" which is actually just a closet in the middle of the house and got the kids out of bed and into that closet. Then we gathered up a radio, cell phone, flash light and pillows and hung out there for a bit. After it seemed like things had setteled down, Matt decided to go outside and look better. That's when he saw our neighbor (who lives directly behind us) out on top of his roof. Apparently the roof of Matt's shop flew up and hit his house, busting a large hole in his roof. He was up there nailing a tarp over the hole. (btw, it was POURING rain during all this) Meanwhile, Brooklyn woke up and started freaking out, as you can imagine. She was VERY concerned what was "going to happen to us and our house." Thankfully by that time we were able to tune into the weather on tv again and see that the worst of the storm had passed us.

We don't know if this was actually a tornado or just high winds...but obviously it was something pretty strong to do this kind of damage. Here's another pic. This is my chaise lounge (that I lay out on). It flew all the way off our back patio across our large yard and into the trampoline where it we found it this morning. As you can imagine, we have stuff strung out ALL OVER the place now. The dog house is also completely across the entire yard.


If you guys have an extra minute, say a little prayer for my hubby, who is feeling extremely discouraged this morning. Not only has he worked 80+ hours in the past 5 days and now because of this storm, will be likely working ALL weekend long but this shop building was something he had worked looooong and hard on. It is completely ruined and will have to be torn down and he'll have to start all over. (which of course costs money...but also time).

Okay, well, I have lots to do today so I better get off here. I will try to post again soon and let you know how we're doing!


6 comments:

Logzie said...

OH.MY.GOSH! I am so glad to hear that you all are OKAY!!! That is quite some damage there. Wow!

I know how discouraging things like that can be...it seems to happen to us all the time...things that take EXTRA time that you don't exactly have...and lots of them. Ugh...

I remember when Matt built that barn and how excited he was (from your blog) and I feel very sad for him! ...atleast your house is not damaged...

Keep us posted! Love you!

KC said...

Thank God you are all OK. I had heard there was some bad storms up there, and was hoping that they missed you. At least you have a nice, sturdy, Brick House, so your family was safe. That is such a blessing.
I know Matt must be discouraged by the damage, and the thought of re-building his storage building...that is a lot of hard work...but remind him that it is also a GREAT workout! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, I'm so glad you guys are okay! We had a bunch of shingles from our roof blow off - and now the roof leaks. UGH! So, we need a new roof. I was up and watching too. We were all ready to take cover. It was blowing so hard - scary! For future reference, we have a storm cellar if you guys have time and EVER need to come use it since we're just down the road. I will definitely keep you & everyone around us in our prayers.

Kate said...

so glad to hear you are all ok! I'm sure Matt is really stressed out now, expecially after how hard he's worked all week. The important thing is that your family is safe. The shop can always be rebuilt.

((hugs)) and prayers,
Kate

Unknown said...

Wow, that is scary! Glad to hear you are okay! So sorry to hear about the shed. Hopefully the things inside the shed survived the winds.

Jed & Carrie Sowell said...

Oh my goodness! I'm glad to hear you guys are okay! We were having a party in our pantry when it blew threw too! SCARY!

On another note, the whole snake thing made me laugh so hard!! YOU'RE SUPERWOMAN!!!