Tornado Warning

About a year ago I posted a photo of the "totally awesome" tornado that we saw on our road trip outside of Peoria, IL. Today I had plenty of time to to reflect on our stupidity of stopping to take a picture of the twister (you can see our picture here). There's really not much to do while waiting out a tornado siren in the stairwell of the 10 story building I work in, so I thought about that tornado and hoped I never saw another one ever again.

Today was my first real tornado warning and it wasn't super pleasant. The entire building was crammed into the stairwell as we all tried to figure out what was happening outside in relation to us and our families. We heard reports that a tornado had touched down just blocks away from where I work and was headed straight for my home, where Alexander and Godiva were. I will admit that I started to get a little panicky as I tried to get a text out to Alexander to warn him to get the dog ready and get the tornado kit (I made the kit in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago when I was freaked out by the Alabama tornadoes).

Finally he sent a text back and told me he had just gotten Godiva on her leash when the sirens went off. Just then I heard that a tornado touched down less than 5 miles away from our house and was heading right towards them. Alexander couldn't get Godiva to get down the stairs and I was a nervous wreck trying to find out if they were okay and if the tornado was still on the ground. Needless to say, it was sort of hard to get minute by minute info while sitting in the stairwell. Luckily for everyone, the touch downs were only brief and none hit our immediate area. Nonetheless, the storm was raging over our home for awhile and the sirens continued to blare for an hour (which Godiva really didn't like). That must have been a really long hour for Alexander dealing with the crazy dog in a bare basement filled with cobwebs and yuck.

I think the neatest part of the day though was this morning before I left for work. I wasn't feeling totally up to par and was rushing out the door as usual, but Alexander pulled me over and said that we needed to have family prayer, which we usually forget to have. I felt that he was inspired that we would need a little extra comfort and help today and I am so thankful to have him as the priesthood holder in our home. :)

My prayers go out to all those in Sedalia, MO who really got hit with a tornado today and to all those in Joplin, MO still recovering from the horrible tornado they got over the weekend.