A Nice Stormy Evening....

Part of living in Kansas is tornadoes. Yep, we have them. It's a fact of life.

Yesterday (Saturday), this morning, this afternoon, and this evening, there were tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, and flood warnings in this state. Overall, it was just a stormy weekend.

Though I have lived in Kansas all of my life, I truly dislike severe weather. Marc LOVES to watch severe weather (has even storm-chased). However, Marc does NOT mess around with keeping Luke and me safe. Also, Marc does NOT mess around with keeping any guests in our house safe.

This evening, we had game night with our small group. It was here at our house. Severe weather was in the area when everybody started to arrive. But, we kept preparing food for dinner.

Before we even started to eat, my dad called to make sure we were watching the weather. He mentioned that the town we live in was "under the gun." I told my Dad, "Don't worry, Marc has the TV on and is watching." (All of the husbands were actually watching the TV for weather reports as well).

Soon after that, Marc said, "I think we should all go to the basement." So, that's what we did.

Before I show photos, let me explain something. Our house does not have a full basement. It's merely one room, underneath the laundry room and kitchen. We only use it for some storage, a storm shelter, and a mechanical room. I go down there the fewest amount of times as humanly possible.

So, I packed up some food for Luke (it was dinner time) as well as some formula and bottles (I wasn't sure how long we'd be down there). We all trotted downstairs and ultimately, I think, had a good time.

Here are some photos :)

First, here's a photo of me feeding Luke (sorry my arm is in the way of his face). Overall, I don't think Luke had one clue what was going on. He was very happy. This was his first trip to our basement (remember, I don't go down there unless I have to).



This next little "story" of the evening was funny if you were there and also if you know Marc --

Seth walked down into the basement and was briefly looking around this one room basement of ours. He immediately walked over to the sump pump and said, "Marc, are you brewing Pepsi down here?"

(Just to clarify -- Seth did know that it was a sump pump, but if you know Marc, that question isn't too far fetched).

But, just so you do know -- the Pepsi was safe from the storm. If our house had been hit by a tornado, please know we'd still have the Pepsi (and Diet Pepsi too, Debby).



Here's a photo of Johannah, Sam, Tim, & Seth, waiting for the storm to pass.



Finally, a photo of Marc -- listening to weather updates on his Ham Radio. He is a licensed ham operator, in case you didn't know. It was nice to hear weather updates.



Fortunately, our power never went out (I do remember having small group here at our home -- I think in Spring, 2006 -- during a storm when the power went out. We did a Bible Study by candlelight. Some of you fellow bloggers may remember that night).

I am glad we were in the basement. There was quite a storm that went through this town. Some of the damage even made the local news -- downed stoplights, downed power lines, etc.

After the storm, we went upstairs and ate some very yummy M F C M (see previous post). It was a hit with our small group! We also had some fruit from Johannah and a very yummy dessert that Sam made! We then played "Scattergories" -- girls against the guys, and the girls won, I must say!

Mark, Lisa, and Rick -- we missed you this evening. It was definitely a different sort of evening.

And, I hope you're not sick of reading yet. But, yesterday (Saturday), Marc was running in a race up near Lawrence. It was 100 km race (62 miles). There was a nice storm (with tornadoes) in the area. During the race, the tornado sirens went off. But, the runners, including Marc, kept going. Finally, a law enforcement officer came and told them they all had to get off of the trails. So, Marc was only able to complete 53 miles -- ONLY 9 MILES TO GO! Oh, he so would've made that one. But, sometimes, things like that happen. So, though he didn't complete the full 100 km race due to a major storm, he did complete 53 miles in 11 hours and 17 minutes.