2 weeks since the tornado went through our front yard...

That's right!!! It has been two weeks since an F3 tornado blazed it's way down our street and zigged and zagged it's way inbetween houses. It tore down fences, removed roofing, carried away swingsets (we're talking Rainbow Playsystems here, not those cheap Wal-Mart aluminum things, although it moved those too!!), tore apart metal buildings and redistributed it all over our yard and the rest of the neighborhood, all in a matter of 20-30 seconds. The other jolio and I were bunkered down here in the laundry room. Thankfully, the kids were across town at my parents house and were in no danger. So, here is the story.....

We were out on our date night (after church on Sunday mornings, the kids go home with my parents and spend the night, so we get a date night every week. We are so blessed!!) and had just seen a movie. We had not had dinner yet, so we drove around trying to decide where we wanted to go. It was about 9:30PM, so we decided just to drive through Arby's and take it home. I think God had his had in this decision. If we had been out driving around when the tornado came through, there is not telling what would have happened to us. Because, the tornado hit at about 10:10, after we had been home only about half an hour!! Anyway, we get home and turn on the TV and the weatherman was on tracking a tornado coming out of Oklahoma and heading towards the Siloam Springs/Gentry area, which is about 30-45 minutes from us depending on the route. We knew it was really windy and going to storm out, but that is usual around here, so we didn't think anything of it. As we are watching the storm tracker thing ( I don't know what they call theirs..They all have fancy names like Super Doppler 20 or Tracker2000 or whatever :)) we notice that it is starting to head our direction. Then the weather guy says it is going to hit Bella Vista in about 13 minutes. Well, that was close enough for me!! I called my parents and asked them if they were in a safe place. Mom said she was going to wake up the kids and put them in the closet with them. After that, I got the jolio and told her we were going to the laundry room. I grabbed a chair from the dining room table to sit on and we both grabbed our pillows and the dog and went in. Looking back, I wondered why I didn't grab anything else. The rest of the house could have been destroyed, blown away, and all I took was my pillow!! I guess at the time I made sure what mattered the most was protected--my family and my dog. I should have probably grabbed a flashlight, some water maybe, my laptop computer, my guitar. But, no, I just grabbed the living creatures and headed in there. That was a little off topic, so back to the story...After we had been in there about 5 minutes, the power went out. About 2 minutes after that, we started hearing "thuds" against the garage door and house. I assumed it was hail. The news had been talking about large baseball size hail being reported from this storm. I'll admit I was scared and was doing a lot of praying. Anyway, my truck does not fit in the garage (mostly because my side is not cleaned out) so it was out in the storm. I just knew when I went outside that it was going to be in ruins. The "thuds" we heard was actually debris from an F3 tornado hitting our house and my truck and the tornado itself ripping off part of our roof and siding and taking out one of our large bushes. It also made a small dent in my hood, with quite a few scratches, but that was about it. We were the fortunate ones. Almost all of our neighbors lost parts of their fencing, as well as the majority of shingles and paper from their roof. Some had blown windows and missing sheds, but, thankfully, no one was injured or killed that we know of. This same storm kept going past our neighborhood and gained strength. It took out an entire neighborhood just a half mile from here, leveling houses!! It then proceeded to the small community of Little Flock and uprooted 100 year-old trees and destroying homes and property. The town of Centerton was hit hard before it made it to us, as well as the brand new state-of-the-art $13 million football stadium that Bentonville had used only one season. It took down 4 of the large light poles leaving one on across the bleachers and peeled back a roof from a building.

So, to boil it all down for you, we ended up with about $5000 worth of damage, but we have our lives and a God who always has His hand on us. I can't explain why the tornado skipped our house and chose the path it did, but I do know that I give God all glory and praise for keeping us safe and not allowing our damage to be any worse than it was.

God continues to amaze me on a daily basis!! He is great and if you don't have a personal relationship with Him you can and you should!!! He rocks!!

Until the wind blows our way again........