Run for cover!

Everyone else around here has been posting about their fun experiences with our recent tornado scare, so I thought I would share ours.
It was pretty stormy all week, so it wasnt anything new when rain and clouds rolled in on Friday night. Ryan had just taken off about a half hour earlier; to go to Youth conference an hour and a half away. Thunder had rolled in just before sitting down to enjoy our frozen pizza (which is our standby whenever Dad is gone), when I heard the tornado siren go off. Since this happens pretty regularly around here, and already once during the week...I calmly walked to the window to see black clouds rolling in. I hopped on the computer to check the local weather warnings, and sure enough we were under a tornado warning for the next 45 minutes. Not only that...it was claiming to be right about in the vicinity of our neighborhood. So I suggested to the kids that we go finish our dinner in the basement...QUICKLY!
I grabbed my dead cell phone, and Ryans almost dead blackberry just in case they would actually help find us in case our bodies were buried under the rubble of our house. Zack was already freaking out from the thunder, and Brylee had been asleep peacefully in her high chair, when I snatched them both up and headed for the shelter of our cold, dark, smelly basement. With a screaming Zack in one arm, and a less than happy awakened baby in the other, I tried to tune into the radio for more info. Justifying my concerns, the tornado should be approximately on top of our house about now. At this time, the screaming was made worse by the power going out. Figuring it wasnt helping much to listen to just how in danger we were, I flipped off the radio to offer a prayer of safety and lead the kids in a round of Zacks favorite songs. If anything it helped drown out the noise of the storm.
About a half hour later, I switched the radio back on to check for updates, and heard that the tornado warning was lifted in exchange for severe thunderstorms. I ran upstairs to check if everything was clear, and then went back for the kids. We lit some candles and then decided to ease our nerves with some ice-cream. It was probably going to just melt there in the powerless freezer anyway. Then I heard a pounding at the front door. Who the heck would be out in this weather!? It was our neighbor from across the street. He had gotten a call form my panicking husband who was 70 miles away and heard that everyone in the ward had been confirmed as okay...except us. Of course, no one could get a hold of us because of the power outage and my dead cell phone. So I assured him that we were still alive and he headed back home in the pouring rain.
About 15 minutes later, we headed upstairs to hang out in my room for the night; when another pounding came from the front door. What now!? It was yet another friend who Ryan had called to try and check on us. He handed me his cell, and said something like"call Ryan...hes freaking out!" I finally got a hold of Ryan who was having his turn in a basement, to assure him we were okay, and dont risk his own life to come home right away. Our friend said just to keep the phone...and went home. After making one more call to a concerned friend, we settled in to watch a movie on the portable DVD player. Yay for charged batteries!
Another hour passed, and I got a call from the cell phone owners wife, asking if our basement had flooded yet. Uhhh...didnt check on that. I ran down to the basement again, and was relieved to find it still dry. Time for bed! Ryan finally made it home about 5 hours later at 11:30 pm., and of course the moment he climbed into bed, the power came back on.

The next day was filled with a street lined with neighbors cleaning out their soggy flooded basements, broken tree branches and high humidity. Ryan head out around 11:00pm to help with a basement that had filled to approx. 3 feet of water. Dumpsters filled about half of the driveways and we felt so bad for those who had lost so much to floodwater, and so happy that we made it through. It could have been so much worse. We are thankful for answered prayers and good friends!