Welcome to the Midwest

In the Midwest thunderstorms and tornadoes tend to become a regular part of life. For those of us who have lived here most of our lives, we become a little callous to the realities of that. Sure, occasionally you here of a tornado that devastates a town, you might even go help with the cleanup, but then you move on. We find ourselves having little parties in the basement two or three times every summer, often Mommies and babies are down there listening to the radio while Daddy is out on the porch watching the storm go by. But then this happens.
This is where Kevin's brother, Todd lives. That mess in the middle was a great big machine shed. That cement slab across the front of the photo used to have another grain bin on it.

See the grain bin now? That's it in pieces, all across the field. That mess stretches for about a half mile.

That's the neighbor's machine shed. Oh, don't you see it? It's in pieces scattered amongst the overturned machines.

That's the neighbor's grain bins. The one smashed to the ground was in Todd and Michelle's front yard Saturday night. Right in front of the door.

Thankfully, the house is fine, except for a few broken windows in the attic and the front storm door. The trees on the other hand, did not make it. But we are all convinced that God had his hand on the house. All the trees on the north side of the house are snapped. The big maple in the back snapped at the ground and we've already seen the buildings that were demolished on the south side of the house.

The storm came on so fast that there was no warning at all. Shelly said she and the kids were on the landing to the basement when she heard a loud crash that was either the shed coming down or the grain bin landing in the yard. If the tornado had hit the house, they wouldn't have made it downstairs in time.

We are all so thankful for God's protection over them. The cleanup will be tough, but it'll get done. Todd had lots of brothers and friends cutting up trees yesterday. I'm sure there will be more days like that in the near future. Abby, my niece, is still a little shaken up by the whole thing. She told me yesterday that she's afraid to sleep at her house. I'm not certain how last night went for her, so please pray for her and her family to have a return to normal quickly.