Feeling blessed

There are times in your life when things happen and you are reminded how blessed you are for everything you have. These times remind you that Heavenly Father is mindful of you and has all power. Recently we had a day that reminded us of both of these things....March 2, 2012.

It was a day like any other kids off to school and everyone excited for a weekend. I live in my own little world unconnected from TV, radio or weather alerts so I had no idea storms were headed our way. It was 70 degrees outside and I didn't think anything about storms coming. John called at 12:30 to say that UofL was closed after 1 and so he had to come home. I immediately thought of all things he could do with this extra time. I sent him out mini van shopping while he was out that direction. He was meeting up with people while they were going to their schools early to pick up their kids because of storms. John called and said I should find a basement for us to take the kids. I thought, us??? we don't take these storms serious....usually we sleep through them while others are up taking shelter all night. I checked the news and internet and learned that all of the Kentucky schools were closing early but that the Indiana schools were continuing like normal because the storms wouldn't hit until 4-6pm. I felt confident that we would be fine until John came home and he could decide if we needed to take shelter. Meanwhile John is out at dealerships looking at vans and a friend calls to say she is picking her daughter up from school, would Zak like a ride? "Sure," I said "if you are already there then I guess just bring him home an hour early." She said she was picking up her daughter early because she didn't want to be driving in golf ball size hail. I was glad for her to pick him up but still wasn't feeling to worried. John called to say he was coming home and then I told him to grab a redbox on the way so we would have a movie to watch if we had to hang out in the laundry room all night. He laughed but said he would get one. Imagine how silly he looked getting a redbox while the people in McDonalds were freaking out and trying to take cover. He gets his redbox and heads home in his little car watching all of the storms coming in and sirens going off all around him. He calls and tells me to get the kids in the car because we are going to someones basement. I load the kids and when he gets home he can see the tornado coming our way and he says it is too late we have to stay here. My kids came back inside and they were all starting to be scared by now. John immediately uses the priesthood to bless our home and to ask for safety on us. The kids are fine and we talk about the fun adventure we will have in the laundry room with our blankets, a movie, and flashlights! The kids get settled while we turn on the TV. John is still wondering whether we should stay or if we should go. There are several tornados coming. He decides that we could leave and be to our friends house in a different town before it hits their home. While we are deciding what to do the news lists our street and says that the tornado will hit in 15 min. Well that made up our mind..when you hear your street it makes the decision a little easier. We load the kids again and head to our friends basement in the next town. While we are driving there I talk to my friend and neighbor on the phone and she is telling me that the Henryville High School (our neighborhood goes there and it is where Zak is assigned to go) was completely destroyed and that a lady I visit teach lives right behind the school. Of course then I begin to worry about what is happening to her little home if a High School can be destroyed. We make to our shelter and the kids watch a movie while the adults follow the news and start checking on families. When the coast is clear we head back home to find that everything was just fine and that we didn't get hit. Good news for us...but not for the rest of our area. John drops us off at home and changes his clothes to go out checking on people that we couldn't get a hold of. He was gone the rest of the evening. He ended up having to hike into a couples house for about a mile because of downed power lines and trees. Luckily he found the couple safe, no damage, but no power. This family has their own story about not knowing about the weather either. They are an older couple and they don't watch tv or listen to the radio either. Luckily, a service truck had been on their property minutes before the storm hit. The man went outside to see what he was there for. While he was talking to him he got radioed to go back to base immediately because of storms. The worker told Brother McCullough you better get in your basement because they don't call us in unless it is going to be bad. He went in and turned on the TV only to learn that they were going to get hit head on. They immediately blessed their home and said a prayer. After the storm they looked out and all of their neighbors in every direction had been taken out. The stories are the same for several members of our branch. These words are spoken a lot "I don't know why we were spared because every other house around us was gone." Talk about miracles. Some of my YW were on their way home from school with their mom. She saw the tornado coming and pulled off the road and they ran into someones home and went to the basement. The home they went into was across the street from the High School that got destroyed as well as the other homes...but this home was spared huge damage. Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and he is mindful of his children. I heard someone say that some will say that these horrible things are acts of God, but he said the outpouring of love after the storm is what are really the acts of God.
Several areas in our branch have been destroyed. Our Stake has been hard at work serving those in our branch over the last several days and boxes from the Bishops storehouse were among the first to arrive at the shelters. How grateful I am to be a member of this church. What an inspired program VT and HT is to check on and account for families.
So just several days ago we were enjoying 70 degree weather then tornados and today we just got several inches of snow. Our biggest storm of the season just in time for those who don't have roofs or homes. This place is crazy!!
Lessons learned.....take tornado and other warnings more seriously in the future. Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.

I am so grateful for the priesthood in my home to bless our family and provide peace. We are feeling very blessed. This weekend when we were cleaning our home for Sunday my kids didn't complain at all. Usually they complain about something...but this week we were just glad to have a home to clean.