TORNADO!!!! On April 4th we had quite a frightful experience when a tornado appeared out of nowhere just after I picked up Hannah from ballet. We just happened to have gone in Blockbuster before going home when the siren sounded and the trees started to bend with the wind and rain. We decided to stay in the storage room of Blockbuster until it was over and the girls did not like this at all. Hannah was particularly scared and we said several prayers that we would be safe while her legs were shaking the entire time. I was able to entertain Hailey by asking her to count all of the drinks that were in the crates on the floor. When all was finally clear we emerged to find trees and power lines down everywhere. It actually took us more than 20 minutes to make what is usually a 3 minute drive home. We had to take several back roads and do some backtracking after we discovered how bad the damage was and how many trees and powerlines had the roads blocked. I became more and more nervous as we approached our house, scared of what I would find after seeing so many houses with trees on top of them. We were very blessed and fortunate that we only had a few limbs knocked down and our trampoline had been blown all the way to the back of the yard with only the fence to keep it from going farther. About 10 minutes after we got home Hannah was looking out the window and said “Mommy look at our car”. What I found totally freaked me out. The window that she had been sitting near had completely shattered. There was nothing laying on the ground or in the car that suggested it had been hit by something but instead that it had been the wind pressure. There had been several cars with the winds shattered in the parking lot of Blockbuster and I was so thankful that one of them had not been mine. After this happened I knew that our prayers had been answered and we had been kept safe. The window could have so easily shattered while we were driving home with Hannah sitting right next to it. There was glass all in her carseat and what was left in the window looked like sharp daggers. The night of the tornado while I was laying with Hannah she asked me why the tornado did not take us to Munchkin Land like it did Dorothy. I tried to explain that our tornado was not quite as big as the one that Dorothy was in. Looking back I wonder if she thought we were in the air spinning around and such while we were in Blockbuster during the tornado. We were very fortunate that we did not have more damage. Although we were without power for 5 days, we were able to go and stay with my sister which was such a relief. And of course the girls did not mind a bit. They had TV, air conditioning, and their cousins to play with. It turned out to be a very nice visit. Now, almost 2 weeks later, our cable still goes off and on and we still do not have our phone working or internet service, but with so many other people not even able to go into their homes I really can’t complain