You can learn a lot about yourself when a tornado siren goes off and the sky is an ominous black.  Your husband calls for you to head to the basement and everyone grabs something to take with them.

We have had sirens going off for an hour now (off and on) and the first time we all sat still and checked the tv.  The second time the line of the storm was closer to us and  Honey gave the call.  What did we take downstairs?

Little: new Barbie machine
Bubba: nothing
KB: pillow and blanket
Me: slippers (’cause the basement floor is cold), Bub’s Leapster
Honey: his laptop and iPod.  So practical.

We came back up and Honey told me not to get too comfortable; he knew we would be heading back down pretty quickly.  I set into motion.  Made lunch for all the kiddos, packed leapsters into my bag, grabbed my purse and bag of books from my planning time yesterday, and headed down preemptively.

If you are going to get caught in tornado warnings our basement is THE place to be.  We have a kids picnic table and the kids ate there.  I sat in the arm chair that doesn’t fit in the tiny living room.  After the kids ate we threw the crib mattress on the floor and they laid down to play their video games.  Bubs got cold and so I grabbed a jacket off the Goodwill pile.  Good times.

oh, and we’re fine.  Places all around the city were hit pretty hard but our litttle farmhouse in  the woods is fine.

When I was a little girl my daddy went to Indonesia with five (or so) other men from our little church in North Carolina.  I remember thinking he might not come back from such a far away place.  I had heard stories of cannibals and that these people didn’t know Jesus.  Daddy and his friends went to build and move the missionaries in the village forward in their ministry of the Gospel.

I remember, as a little girl, having missionaries in our home ALL THE TIME.  I would give up my bed so they could stay with us (a great excuse to share bunk beds with my brother) and play with their children while our parents talked about God’s work and more.  I remember the Hyde’s, a family ministering in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

My daddy forwarded an email to me today.  The email was from Mr. Hyde and included a video of the Kimyal people of Papua, Indonesia receiving the New Testament in their language for the FIRST TIME.  A work begun in 1963 and completed in March of this year.  I warn you: you WILL cry if you watch it.  It is worth the ruined mascara to see these people so grateful for His word in their own language.  Am I that thankful???

After room time today I went in to get KB and found this little scene.  Don’t know if you can read the little card on the table. . . it says “puzzle”.  (It’s a label off Bubba’s puzzle bag.)  Looks like all the dolls, dogs, Tigger, and pretty ponies got together to work on a puzzle.