Tornado

Last night, Eric left to go attend graduation for the Senior class.  I warned him that I thought the weather may get bad.  He thought about not going but Caitlin really wanted to go so he went anyway despite the weather warnings. Unfortunately graduation was downtown Omaha so about 25 minutes from home.  I made a nice dinner for me and the other kids and then I sat down to play Settlers with the boys.  A few minutes after starting the game, my neighbor, Steve, who has never once knocked on my door came over.  I answered the door and he asked, "You are watching the tv, right?"  and I quickly told him no that I was playing a game with my kids.  He told me to turn on the tv.  I must have looked puzzled and he said, there are tornados in Lincoln and they are headed our way.  He quickly left to go warn the other neighbors.

I didn't know what to do about Eric.  Here he was, almost a half hour away from home.  Do I text him and tell him to hurry home or do I leave him in Omaha to wait out the storm which was predicted to take hours?  I asked Mario and he thought Eric might be safer at the Civic Center where graduation was taking place. But I didn't want my child away from me during this time.  I texted Eric and told him about the storm. He didn't know what to do.  I didn't know what to tell him.  I started clearing my yard so there wouldn't be flying objects to hit my windows.  I asked my neighbor, who is always on her front porch, for advice on what to do about Eric.  She said, if it were her son, she would want him home.  So I ran back inside and saw that the news said the storm was about 45 minutes out from hitting us.  I quickly texted Eric and told him to leave NOW.  So he and Caitlin got up and left and headed home.  I asked Caitlin to text me every few minutes to let me know they were ok.  After a few minutes, I texted them and told them that there were no tornado warnings at this point, so they were ok.  As soon as I said that, the tornado sirens went off.  The twins screamed for me and Erin to get to the basement.  My heart sank, I had put Eric and Caitlin in danger telling them to get home now.   Fortunately Eric and Caitlin got back to her house within a couple minutes of the siren going off.  Caitlin called and asked if Eric should stay at her house or come home.  I looked at the news and they weren't reporting anything yet in our area so I made the decision to have Eric come home.  It was tough, but at a time like this, I wanted my children all gathered together with me.  I guess I knew that he would be ok driving home because now as I think about it, it was probably crazy having him leave her house to come home.

Fortunately the sirens went off pretty quickly and I waited in the garage for Eric to pull up.  As soon as I saw him turn on our street, I cried.  I knew he was safe.  What a relief!

We all huddled in the basement that had been stocked by the twins with all the essentials for a tornado. They brought blankets, pillows, video games, toilet paper, flashlights, bandaids, lotion, water bottles, cell phones, Sophie, and every stuffed animal  they own.  What touched me most, was they remembered to bring their scriptures.  As soon as we all gathered, the twins suggested we say a prayer.  I think it was Nathan that suggested we read our scriptures (I think that may have been first time EVER that Nathan was the one asking to read scriptures.)  We did immediately.

Eric and Erin each brought down their kindles and phones.  You can see what earthly possessions they value most.  I looked around to see what to bring down.  I decided on the gifts that Mario had given me for Mother's Day (a framed picture of the Washington DC Temple with a tulip garden in front and a book by Elder Holland) and my broken wedding ring.   I had passed by my Bernina and thought about bringing it.  But figured it could be replaced.  I was so happy to have all four of my children with me and that was what was most important.  I wish Mario was there with us too, but I knew he was safe in Virginia.  The thought did occur to me what would happen to him, if he lost all 5 of us to a tornado.  To be honest, I don't even want to think about it.

While Eric and Erin read, the boys and I played games and worked on scouting stuff.  Then Erin declared that she was going up to take a shower.  I looked at the news and it looked like we were out of the danger zone.  The worst of the storm went north of us.  So Eric and Erin said goodnight, they were going to bed up in their rooms.  There was no way I was going to convince the boys to go sleep upstairs, so I slept in the basement with them.

It is interesting to see how we all react in an emergency situation and what we value most.  I love my family and I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that allows us to be an eternal family and for the peace that brings.