Semi-Traumatic

On Thursday March 13th, Mike was watching the Southern Eastern Conference , NCAA Basketball Tournament game that was being played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. As many of you know, (because it was reported on national television the next day) a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta causing damage to the Georgia Dome during the game. The games are televised live and Mike and I watched with great concern that someone may be hurt. Atlanta is a little over two hours away from where we live but, we had been receiving a lot of gale force winds and strong thunderstorms. Watching the game, (I had been reading blogs but, took interest in the T.V. screen when Mike told me what was going on) first being delayed, and then, finally cancelled, because more storms were coming, sparked a lot of conversation between us about, what we would do if we had been in the Georgia Dome at the time, and what we would do if a tornado hit where we live. (The announcer at the Georgia Dome kept assuring everyone there that they were in the safest place possible during a storm like that. I told Mike I wouldn't have wanted to leave the Georgia Dome, but I would have preferred to go out into the hallway because the scoreboard and lighting systems over the basketball court were swaying back and forth and in my mind, looked ready to snap off of their wires and come down).

Two days later, on Saturday March 15th, 2008 Mike was outside working in the garden, Evan and Adam were outside playing basketball and I was doing something glamorous like laundry or dishes. Brian came in complaining that, "Brothers never let me have the ball!" and asked if he could watch cartoons. I decided to give Evan and Adam a break and keep Brian inside with me so, I turned on something for him to watch. Immediately upon flipping on the T.V., the whole screen went red and began to beep with the message written in LARGE white letters, "Tornado WARNING" in your area. Please turn to channel 6 for further details". I immediately flipped over and learned from the map shown that our exact location was in danger of being hit. I called out to Mike and told him and he called back asking, "Was it a WARNING or a WATCH?" I told him it was, in fact, a WARNING and that I had never seen a red screen like that before. Almost instantaneously, the sky began to darken into the strangest pea green color and rain began to fall. I am so grateful that Mike is always so calm. He came in and asked me to help him get our mattress off of our bed and drag it into the hallway. The hallway is the center of our home and the only part without any outside walls or windows. Upon seeing this, the boys got very concerned and began asking all manner of questions. Mike and I calmly explained that our area had been issued a tornado warning and that we may need to huddle under the mattress. The sky really opened up at this point and we knew the storm was close because the thunder and lightening were almost simultaneous. Our electricity began to flicker but did not go off...at one point Mike went out under the carport to watch the storm. Brian and Evan had gone out to look with him and came running and screaming back into the house after a particularly LOUD BOOM of thunder.

My sweet Adam came to me with his big brown eyes brimming with tears and said, "I want Heavenly Father to stop the tornado! He can stop it and make it go away, can't he?!!?" I took Adam in my arms and told him gently, "Yes, Heavenly Father can stop the storm but, sometimes He allows things to happen. Being here on earth is a time to learn things and sometimes scary things just happen." I forget his wording, but he let me know in no uncertain terms that he really didn't want Heavenly Father to teach him about tornadoes. The ever calm Mike called us all together and we had a family prayer and practiced getting under the mattress. Being under the mattress caused Brian to cry, (I guess it was just a little too real for him at that point) so we sat in the family room and talked about the storm as it raged outside. Mike asked the boys as they huddled close to us on the couch, "Why do you think Heavenly Father allows things like tornadoes to happen?" No one answered, and 2 out of 3 children were crying pretty steadily at this point, so Mike re-phrased his question and asked, "What do people do when scary things like this happen?" (Mike was trying to get the boys to realize that things like this sometimes happen and people usually turn to their Heavenly Father in times of trial or fright) but, Evan answered his question with, People, "run and scream in terror?" I burst out laughing but, Mike calmly pointed out that many people will pray, just like our family did, and even though Heavenly Father didn't send the storm to scare us, He allowed it to happen, and sometimes good things happen when people are scared because they turn to Him. (I later asked Evan if he was trying to be funny (because, he often tries to be hilarious) when he answered his Dad's question and he said, "No, I was actually being serious."

The storm let up and left quite quickly, and the whole ordeal was over in a 30 minute span. In some ways I wished that I hadn't even seen the tornado warning because I regretted that the boys got so scared. But, I guess it is good that I did see it in case a tornado came our way. The next morning I saw on the news that 8 small tornadoes had touched down right in our area. Most were in Aiken about 30 miles from here, but some were as close as 18 miles from our home. We were very blessed not to have any damage and we didn't even experience the loss of power.

Shortly after the storm had cleared, I said to Mike, "Well, it is back to business as usual, it is still Saturday night and I have to go to the grocery store so we have something to eat tomorrow." As I left the house, Brian called out to me, "MOM, HURRY AND SHUT THE DOOR SO YOU DON'T GET ANY TORNADO ON US!!!!!" I got a kick out of that, I guess he was worried that tornadoes could whip in at any second. Perhaps, I should remind him of the threat of tornadoes because he is notorious for leaving the door open when he runs out to play.

Adam told me cheerily the next morning, "Mom, you should write in my journal (I try to keep a journal of the things my kids say...the key word here is try) that I almost threw up, I was so scared!!!!"

The next day in Sacrament Meeting, my kids' artwork reflected their experience from the day before.


Above is one of Evan's drawings. He being the continual comedian of the family also drew this one...

and, because he can sometimes have a bit of a sick sense of humor (I, of course, have no idea where it comes from) he also drew this...


Please notice the "Pearly Gates" at the top....*sigh*...

Adam, clearly the most traumatized, drew these...

And Brian, who takes takes a lot of his social, and apparently artistic cues from Evan, drew this......

You really haven't lived until you have had a classroom full of Sunbeams (children ages 3 and 4) tell you about their experiences with a tornado warning being issued just one day before class. One little boy accidentally sprayed bits of Goldfish Crackers all over himself as he described how, "LOUUUUD!" the big, "BOOOOMS!" were. Another little boy informed me flatly that, "If there is a tornado you have to go to HIS bathroom." I said, "Yes! A bathroom is an excellent place to go in case of a tornado." He then said with great emphasis, "NOT just the bathroom, MY bathroom." So, I hope everyone will take note. In the event of another tornado...please proceed calmly, in single file manner, to Andrew H.'s bathroom. (his mother later explained to me that "HIS" bathroom is the one with no outside wall or windows.)

I just have to close by saying that getting to teach the Sunbeams, is the greatest calling in the WORLD...if not the UNIVERSE!

March 2008 (Evan 10 years and 8 years old, Adam 7 years and 8 years old, Brian 4 years and 10 months old)