Monday, June 23, 2008

What A Weekend!

What a wonderful (and scary) weekend!


It started out with a perfect Friday night. The kids and I met my husband at a yummy Mexican restaurant - the food was great, the kids were great, and it sure was fun to sit with my sweetheart on one side of the booth while the kids were on the other side. Usually we split up - my daughter in the highchair, me with one son on one side, and my husband on the other side with the other son. I'm not sure why we do it that way, because it was really fun to sit with my honey and hold his hand! Because we met my husband there, we had two cars - so he took the boys, and I took my daughter and we raced home - oh how the boys love that! Of course, all it takes is for Daddy to rev the engine and be the first one home, and they're convinced it was a race, even if we didn't break the speed limit (that much ;) ) We then sat on our deck while the kids played around us. We had the tiniest amount of rain, yet this appeared in the sky:

My daughter was so upset when the "bay-bo" disappeared. Little did we know then that on Sunday, we would need this wonderful reminder of God's promise to us.....but I'll get to that in a second.

On Saturday, my Mom, sister and brother and their families came over and we had lunch at our pool. We packed lunch meat, grapes, chips and drinks, and headed over for a nice afternoon. Its great to see how much all the children love the water....even when it is cold! After, we headed up to my parents as my Dad had picked up my grandmother who is up visiting from Florida. One can only hope they stay as healthy as she is - she is 77 years old, and 5 foot 9 inches! Can you imagine? She had not met any of the granddaughters yet, so as we had a BBQ at my parents, it was a great chance to not only catch up with her, but for her and the next generation to get to know each other.

Then on Sunday, my family came down for dinner (and can I add I have TOO much ziti leftover because a certain BROTHER did not stay for dinner - cough, cough, wink, wink). At about 5:00 p.m., my sister gathered her family to leave. Everyone just got completely soaked running 20 feet from the house to the car. The rain was coming down upside down and side ways. Right before my sister ran out to her car, it hailed the biggest I ever saw (about the size of grapes, but just last week golf ball sized hail came down nearby and completely dinged up my Dad's car, so that it looks, well, like a golf ball with all the dimples!). We had been sitting out on the front porch visiting, but had to run in when everyone was getting a little wet. It was hurricane type weather, yet we all just stood by our two sliding doors watching the crazy wind, rain, lightning and hail. When there was a pause in the thunder and lightning, my neighbor called to check on her daughter who had come to our house, and said they were in the basement. Later, we learned most of our neighbors were in the basement, as there was tornado warnings - our one neighbor said there was definite cyclonic activity, so he too was in the basement.......yet we, with all the kids, were just at the sliders with our noses pressed to the glass looking out - how foolish! But how would we know unless the TV or radio was on? I now completely understand how people can be caught off guard. We don't live in a tornado prone area of the country, so we have no sirens to warn us. Yesterday I learned to be a little more aware. It was reported that a trained National Weather Center spotter saw funnel clouds. The news said it would take a few days for the National Weather Center to determine if it was in fact a tornado. I've been thanking God frequently for His protection of us yesterday!

Back to the story.....My husband looked out front and hollered, "you have to come look at the road!!!!" Well, I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!


While it was still raining. This picture is of our neighbor-across-the-street's garbage cans floating away!

Our neighbor (whose daughter was visiting). As you can see he was not in the deepest part of it.

Some mailboxes across the street.

These are my boys, nephew, niece and neighbor. Foolish, yes I know.

This man drove through at least three times - he was just having fun!

My husband (the civil engineer who designs roads and drainage!), inspecting everything. Yes, he thinks the road and drainage could be designed better!

This picture and the next are of some damage to our home - shingles came off, and our soffit (spelling??) got damaged. I'm thankful this was it - it could have been so much worse! My husband covered both quickly to protect the exposed wood from the elements (and good thing he did, as it rained more overnight!).
I'm so thankful for how my husband takes care of us!

And this last picture was the wonderful picture of the promise God gave to us that He would never flood the earth again. This was the biggest rainbow I have ever seen in my life! The rainbows I usually see are thin, like the first picture, but this rainbow was so thick and vibrant!

God is good, all the time. He protected us. I am so thankful today.

3 comments:

Liz said...

Wow Jen what a story! Thank God nothing happened to you guys!!! Be careful today we're suppose to get more bad weather! Talk to you soon! Liz

Nathan said...

I was there in spirit! We missed all of that weather on the way back, then when I was going into town it was raining so bad I had to pull into someones driveway and just wait!

Like I said, the leftovers are the best!

Love you.

Jen said...

Yes you were most definitely here in spirit - we sure missed you guys! I completely understand though that you had to get back to get your work done.

Megan had left, but ended up coming back because she said it was so scary! I have a picture that maybe I'll post tomorrow of her driving through all that water! Today its like nothing happened - the drains that were overflowing (and obviously causing the flooding) are just a trickle 6 feet down - amazing!

Its also amazing that not even 2 miles north and south of us there is nothing - they just got rain, no winds, no hail, nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in fact a tornado - so scary!

Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best.

Weary and homesick and distressed,
They wander east, they wander west,
And are baffled and beaten and blown about
By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;
To stay at home is best.

Then stay at home, my heart, and rest;
The bird is safest in its nest;
O'er all that flutter their wings and fly
A hawk is hovering in the sky;
To stay at home is best.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow