Protected

I am more than thankful to post that I saw God's hand of protection over my family's life last weekend.  As the sky got darker and darker we knew the storm was imminent.  However, I really didn't expect a tornado to pass through our back yard. When the power went out, we went into the safest place in our house.  The children were petrified.  I tried my best to stay calm and strong for them.  It was hard.  My middle man kept asking if we were gonna die in that bathroom.  And my poor old dog just sat in my lap and shook.  I did all I knew to do.  We talked to Jesus.  We told him we were scared.  And we asked Him to protect us.  As we finished praying, the winds calmed.  I left that bathroom feeling as if I had been in the palm of the maker's hand.  And I am for sure that is exactly where we were.  Thank you Jesus for seeing us through the storm.  I am so thankful to be safely on this side!

 This IS our backyard.

 This is from our backyard. But not our house.  Our neighbor's house.

 This is across the street. These poor people had multiple trees fall on their house.

 This is down the street and around the corner.

 Every house on this street had some type of damage.  And you can see the trees in the back ground were snapped off as it passed over.

 This is in a different neighborhood, but as the crow flies it is only about a mile from us.

This is the closest I have been to tornado action.  No, I am not counting my hurricanes.  Yes, that is plural.  Despite not ever living close to the coast, I have lived through a few hurricanes. The ONLY advantage the tornado has over the hurricane is that it is over quick.

Springtime

Have I mentioned that I am enjoying having a daughter?  She enjoys the finer things in life with her mama.  Especially pink flowers.  No these in the pictures are not pink, but we still love them!  She has even asked for pink flowers for her 3rd birthday next month.

I am pretty sure I was reprimanded by my sweet husband last week.  He asked me: "Do you know our daughter only knows one color?  She knows pink."  My response: "Is there a problem?"  =)  Is there any other color?  He is right though.  I have realized in the past couple of weeks that I have been very successful in teaching her the basics!  Pink is pretty.  And it is even prettier in the form of flowers.  Don't fret though I am working on teaching her that there are other colors.  I think she has a good base for the main color in life...so I can proceed.

When I had my camera out this afternoon taking pictures of my girl and the pretty scenery,  I also captured the following:

These babies belong to a beautiful red cardinal couple.  I tried to capture them too, but we made them so nervous that they wouldn't settle down. They live in a bush outside of my husband's grandmother's back door.  So, I won't get the privilege of watching them each day.  However, my bluebird house has a nest of 5 eggs right now.  So, I am anxiously awaiting their hatching! I do enjoy spring and all that comes with it.