So Thankful

Today I am feeling so thankful to God for my family, my job, our home, and the fact that we are all healthy and happy. I've been looking at a lot of the blogs on the internet and there is so much pain and suffering going on right now in the world. A few of my favorite bloggers, Kim Wheeler at Endless Possibilities and Kacey at Chronicles of A Mommy had a tornado hit their towns. That's so scary. Especially considering that the storm system was here in Oklahoma the day before hitting their town. And we had no tornadoes or wind damage near us. Although when the storm moved to the east of us, it formed a tornado in Mena, Arkansas, destroying many of the buildings in town.

I've lived through many of the storms that have come through Oklahoma and it's a terrifying experience. It's probably the reason I'm fascinated and scared of storms all at the same time. My oldest was 5 months old when the Oklahoma City tornadoes hit in May of 1999. I was cooking dinner and watching our local news here in the Tulsa area around 5pm when the Oklahoma City weatherman broke into our newscast. The news crew in Oklahoma City was in a helicopter flying right outside of the tornado filming the tornado hitting all of the houses and buildings. I will never forget listening to the OKC weatherman saying, "Please God....Please people get underground!" It was the most panicked I have ever heard a weatherperson. And typically the weather people keep their cool during bad storm situations. I knew this one was different. We live about 2 1/2 hours from OKC so we had quite a while to sit and watch the weather. I was so scared, when the storm got to Tulsa and looked like it wasn't headed straight for our house, I calmed down a little. But I still held my baby in my arms in bed and cried.....all night long. It was one of the longest nights of my life. The devastation was heartbreaking.

So, the recent news about damage to all of these towns in the South is so upsetting. I'm just glad the people I read about are ok and haven't suffered any damage. Please pray for the peace and recovery of those that were hurt or lost homes in the storms. They need all of our prayers.

Also, please pray for those people in the Midwest City, Oklahoma area who lost homes to grassfires.

We have had horrible winds here in Oklahoma this Spring and it is a very scary situation when grass catches fire, either from arsons or by accident. The fires spread so quickly through the dry, dead grass. Apparently the fires in Midwest were started by three teenagers. One single act of arson that destroyed homes and people's lives.