Tornados

Last week, Tuesday May 24, Oklahoma was hit with some severe weather. The weather man had warned us all week that tornados would be possible! I do not have an underground shelter at my home. Our 'safe spot' is the closet under our stairs. When severe weather hits you are supposed to go underground or into the lowest most inner part of your home. The weather was pretty perfect in the morning. My best friend, Jenn, was over at my house with her kids around 1:30pm. Tyler was out of town and Jenn's husband was flying. We were watching the news and saw the weather man look terrified. His face was white, his voice was shaky and he said, "folks, if you have a shelter in a bathroom or under your stairs, it is NOT going to cut it today. You need an underground shelter." Never in my 7 years of living in Oklahoma have I seen the weather man so freaked and say those words before. I got really scared. Jenn and I decided that we were going to heed the words of the weather man and head out to my in-laws home, they have an underground shelter. I packed some clothes and special items and we headed over to Jenn's house. We grabbed some things from her home, including her dog Shiloh, and headed to my in-laws. I was trying to stay calm for the kids and my parents that were hearing all the info from CA, but I was seriously scared. We got to my in-laws and were able to park our cars in their big metal barn to be protected from hail damage. The sky started turning greenish/gray and the thunder was loud. We waited for it to start sprinkling before we headed to the shelter. Then all the sudden the power flashed off and we packed up the kids and dogs and headed to the shelter. We had 5 adults (Jan, Brad, Jenn, Me and Danielle), 5 kids (Addison, Makenna, Brynlee, Ryder and Cash) and 3 dogs (GiGi, Muffin and Shiloh). We tried to make the shelter fun by singing songs. It was extremely muggy and hot down there, but at least I knew we would be safe. Jan, my mother-in-law, sang songs with the kids and tried to keep their focus off the heavy rain and thunder. I had a weather radio in my ear trying to listen to where the tornado was coming. One of the tornados did not hit far from where we were at. Luckily my in-laws home was safe and there was no damage. There was also no damage to my home or Jenn's home. The rained slowed down enough for us to jump out of the shelter and go inside. The radio made it sound like we were in the clear. We took the kids inside and made dinner. I am so thankful that my in-laws have an underground shelter and were willing to let us come get in it with them. I felt so much safer being underground and protecting my family. I am thankful for Jan for helping keep us all calm and being great with the kids! I am so glad tornados don't happen very often.