Weekend Storms....

This past weekend, the midwest was hit with quite a few severe thunderstorms -- which also involved a few tornadoes in the area. Our little town was hit with a thunderstorm or two, but nothing was too severe. BUT, last night (Sunday), a storm moved into our town. It was a bit windy, but I was in the kitchen doing something (obviously, I don't remember what). All of a sudden, I heard a little thud, and Marc loudly said, "Oh." I looked at our sliding door, and I noticed a few branches near the door. I thought to myself, "O.K., we'll pick them up." Then, Marc said, "No, look at that." Yep, a MAJOR branch had broken off of a large tree next to our house and fallen on the main electric line running into our house. Oopppsss.....We both looked at each other -- kind of wondering what to do next. I called Westar Energy (our electric company). I enjoy electricity, and I'm grateful for Westar. But, admittedly, I'm not a fan of their automated reporting system. But, after some brief discussions with Marc, I left a message where I thought was best appropriate. Marc also reported it online. Then, we decided to call our neighbor across the street for some advice. Fortunately, he was home and was able to quickly come over and look. He made a few suggestions and then headed home. As he was doing so, we suddenly noticed the electricity guys on our street -- ALREADY QUICKLY responding to our call. Oh my -- I was an excited woman! The two guys came back and looked....In this pic, they are behind the branches on our deck. The extremely NICE guys safely removed the branches off of the electric wire and double-checked the wire. Amazingly, we never lost power in the ordeal. They then told us we'd need to call professional tree trimmers to safely take care of the rest of the branches. The FUNNY thing is that just this weekend, Marc was seriously thinking he needed to call a professional tree trimmer to work on this tree. We don't want it taken down, but it needs some trimming. Marc has been concerned that a few branches were dangerously close to Kate's window. He was concerned about a storm causing a branch to go through her window. The branches that ultimately fell this weekend were NOT the branches he was concerned about -- Ha! Tonight, I took this pic of our deck -- another view of the lovely branches. We're thankful that nothing was seriously damaged, and we're certainly thankful nobody was hurt. Wichita, about 25 miles to the south of us, definitely had more storm damage than us. A tornado was on the south side of Wichita. Several sections of the city had significant hail damage -- YUCK! In fact, an apartment complex I lived in for a couple of years in my single days had around 150 windows damaged from hail. Fortunately, I'm not living there anymore :) Today, the weather here was BEAUTIFUL. The humidity was down. The temperature was just right. This morning, we spent time at a park with friends for a play date. This evening, Marc mowed the lawn (with Luke outside). It had grown quite a bit over the weekend thanks to the wonderful rain. Apparently, Luke's mower needed fixed tonight. Kate spent time in her beloved swing as Luke explained every part of his lawnmower to me -- Ha! Then, I decided I'd get the wagon out to see how Kate did. Kate did FABULOUS! She sat in it without tumbling over. She seemed to like it. Luke wore his "e-phones" in case somebody was out mowing (this is according to Luke).... So, I walked them around the neighborhood for a bit....Kate did great! Luke did great too until the very end when I stopped to talk to a neighbor. He repeatedly interrupted me as I was talking (something we've really been working on)....SO now, he has to pay a consequence -- Sigh.... I texted a friend this evening saying I kind of felt guilty about so very much enjoying our weather this evening. You see, Moore, OK, is only about 2 1/2 to 3 hours south of us. You've probably seen in the news by now (if you haven't, turn on the news) that this city was hit by a LARGE tornado this afternoon. As of right now, 51 have already been reported dead. The tornado hit two elementary schools. I grew up in a town which was devastated by a tornado in 1991 -- the end of my freshman year in high school. My family did not lose our home, but we knew quite a few families who did. I remember that evening vividly. I completely empathize with those in the area of Moore, OK. Tornadoes really are devastating and definitely shouldn't be used for entertainment purposes (which I see all too often each and every time storms come). BUT, tornadoes remind me of one thing -- God's power and sovereignty. Recently, a friend of mine's father commented on a post of mine (on Facebook). I don't really remember exactly how he worded it (and I'm not going to try and find it). Basically, he said, "Griping about the weather is griping about God's sovereignty." (Again -- something to that extent). For some reason, that hit me hard. I realize how much I do gripe and have griped about the weather. I realized how many complaints I read from others' posts on Facebook about the weather. Marc & I really talked about that comment and have realized just how much that is true. So, though we haven't perfected it yet, we've really tried to stop complaining too much about the weather. This past weekend, when it was SO humid and obviously going to storm (knew it by how it felt), I strived to simply be grateful for the moisture which we so badly needed. I don't know what God's purpose was in allowing the tornado to hit such a populated area in the middle of the day (referring back to today's Moore, OK, tornado). It truly is a sad event. But, it also clearly states in the Bible, that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). So, I know, without a doubt, God will make something good out of this tragedy. In the meantime, I will pray for those in Moore, OK. I will cry a compassionate cry when I see the devastation on the TV (Romans 12:15). Hopefully, I will find a reputable charity to give money to for Moore, OK. In the process, I will still praise God -- simply for who He is and His sovereignty. And, I will continue to do my best to NOT complain about the weather!