Tornado party?

On May 24th we had 5 or 6 tornadoes come through Oklahoma. It was quite scary after the devastation in Joplin, MO on Sunday. Some friends of ours from Stillwater, who now live in Joplin, had their home leveled! But they are all safe and ok, thank heavens!!! So, our weathermen were watching the tornado situation very carefully and predicted 24 hours in advance that all the elements were right for severe weather. Now, I'm the first to admit that our meteorologists are like kids in a candy shop when this crazy Oklahoma weather gets exciting. Sometimes it's a little over the top but I realize that it must be hard because if they don't warn us, we're upset. So....tough job!!! But this time....they were simply amazing!!! So much so, that the governor, Mary Fallin, did a statewide conference call with all the big wigs and the meteorologists on Tuesday morning---they decided to close EVERYTHING at 3 pm----government offices, public schools, the universities etc....so that everyone could get home and to a safe place in enough time. And it's a good thing they did.....the tornadoes started hitting right around 5 pm and two of them were close to major freeway systems. If everyone would have been on their way home, the death toll would have been much higher. Sadly, at least 9 people lost their lives in this terrible storm.

The power that a tornado has is unbelievable. We were watching the weather to see if we should go to the shelter and when we saw this happen LIVE on tv, we decided it was time to go!!!

We grabbed our 72 hour kits and went to the school. We must have been a sight to see....everyone had matching RED backpacks (our 72 hour kits) the kids had their bike helmets on (for safety), we all had our pillows and we packed the car up and left. Our neighbors probably thought we were going on vacation!!! But....I am SO glad that we have been counseled by our church leaders to have those 72 hour kits. The were AWESOME! We got to the school and the kids settled down into our little corner and had snacks & water, books, coloring books and crayons, a blanket etc... and then when they power went out, they pulled out the flashlights and everything was great! It literally was a Tornado Party! Lydia even asked our sitter if she would come back tomorrow for another tornado party. :) The next day she also asked when the next tornado party was going to be....she obviously wasn't too traumatized!!! The pictures at the top of this post are of our "Party!" I'm so thankful for God's protecting hand!

This was an amazing moment...the chopper pilot watched as this family crawled out of the rubble. They'd been in their storm shelter and it obviously saved their lives. The pilot was really choked up at the miracle he witnessed! Needless to say, we are getting a storm shelter...and soon!