Tornado Warning

Aidan wanted to know what to wear to school so I looked online at the weather forecast.  He was looking over my shoulder and saw the Tornado warning and severe weather warning for later that night.  Normally I wouldn't have told my kids anything but he read it on his own.  The storms were suppose to roll through from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Ryan was in St. Louis and he was hit by the storms first.  They had hail there and two tornadoes touch down.  Ryan wasn't affected but the tornado sirens did go off where he was.  Hearing this report from Ryan I knew the storm was potentially dangerous.

Aidan was really concerned when it was time to go to bed.  He started to cry a little and I knew falling asleep would not come easy so I let him sleep in my bed.  I really felt in my heart that we would be fine.  Either the storm wasn't going to be that bad or if it was bad that we would be prepared and taken care of.  I told Aidan to listen to what the Spirit was trying to tell him in his heart.  Listen for the calm feeling.  He started to sob saying he didn't have the Gift of the Holy Ghost yet and that he couldn't feel it.  I explained he could feel the Spirit comforting him even if he didn't have the Gift of the Holy Ghost yet.  I told him to trust me to take care of him. 

The kids were pestering me with questions and wanted to know what we would do if there was a tornado.  I told them I would prepare the bathroom with all the stuff we needed.  They began to list all the stuff they wanted in there.  Aidan wanted all his toys and all his school stuff and his bed.  I told him that stuff was all replaceable and just chose things we couldn't replace.  He grabbed his favorite stuffed animals and his scriptures.  After laying in bed for a few minutes he ran out to tell me we needed money so he needed to put his wallet in the bathroom too.  Lacey of course had to get her wallet too.  After I finally had them settled down they asked what we would do if we were really scared.  I said we could tell funny stories or sing songs that made us feel happy.  I told the kids to try to fall asleep and no more talking.  From the other room a moment later I could hear the two kids humming I am a Child of God.  I just smiled and giggled inside.  What sweet little children trying to calm their hearts.

I prepared the bathroom while the kids were asleep.  I grabbed everything we would need from shoes, coats, snacks and water, to important docs, camera, fire extinguisher, flash lights and our external hard drive.  I was ready for this storm.  I too was a little nervous about the potential of the storm so I stayed up watching the news showing the storm get closer and closer.  Finally the tornado warning was issued for our county, the sirens went off, and I received the emergency alert phone call.  I looked outside and it really didn't look bad to me.  However, the meteorologist kept saying this storm could produce sudden tornadoes that would touch down for a few minutes and then pop back up into the storm. Also that there were hurricane force winds up to 80 miles per hour.  I didn't know if it was worth it to wake my kids or not.  I saw a few of my facebook friends were in their basements so I figured be safe rather than sorry.  I woke up Aidan and Lacey and had them sleep on the bathroom floor where I had blankets and pillow.  I then put Cassidy in there as well but she never woke up.  I turned the tv up load enough for me to hear it and we waited the storm out.

The kids weren't really scared at this point.  I think they thought it was fun to be up in the night laying all together in the bathroom.  They wanted to hear a funny story so I told them about a small earthquake that happened on Halloween morning when I was in third grade.  The funny part was that I was in the bathroom while it happened.  That made them laugh.  They ate a fruit snack and then our county was cleared from the warning.  All the kids went back to bed but in my room.  Before returning to bed though, Aidan examined all the stuff I had brought to the bathroom.  He looked around and said to me, " I rate your preparedness an EXCELLENT. EX-CE-LLENT."  That made me smile.