God put HIS shield of protection over our house

...this is what my 5 year old son said when he looked at all the damage that was done around our home from the storm that passed through our town on May 17, 2010. What a proud Mama I was when I heard that. Cooper knew! He knew that God had protected us. AND He had. It is so obvious to anyone who comes to our backyard to look. It is a disaster area, yet, there is only one visible dent on our roof.

We were in the house. I was about to make spaghetti for supper, and Warren was in the living room playing with the kids. All of a sudden, the wind picks up, and it sounds as if objects are being thrown against the front of our house. All we had time to do was pick up Madelyn and Cooper and run to the hall. AND pray! Warren grabbed Cooper and I grabbed Madelyn and we ran. We didn't have time to panic or go into a lengthy prayer. All I can remember saying in my head was, "God keep us safe!!!" It came and went in about three minutes. Then, Warren left us and said, "Stay here, I will be right back". That's when I realized that Cooper was frightened. He cried and said, "No, I don't want my daddy to get sucked up by the tornado!!!!" Oh, poor guy!!! I tried to reassure him that the storm was over and Daddy was just making sure it was safe for us to come out. When Warren didn't return immediately, Cooper began to fret again, crying, "It sucked Daddy up...I want my daddy!!" Oh, it broke my heart, but I knew that Daddy was OK. Finally I began to yell for Warren to come back so Cooper could see. He wouldn't believe me. Warren came in, reassured Cooper, then told me that we had some trees down. Some??? Really?? I thought Wow, that was so quick for more than one tree to be down. So, I was thinking maybe 2! When Warren didn't come back again and I started hearing vehicles head into our driveway, I decided we could come out. I looked out the front...nothing. I stepped into the carport, and well...this is what I saw!!!! (BTW, the pictures do not do this justice at all!!! But, they are pretty amazing)




































Oh, thank you, God for your shield of protection!!! We are so blessed, and as far as I can tell, so is the whole area of Gibson County. Lots of tree damage, house damage, road damage, and some vehicle damage, but no loss of life! It truly is amazing when you look out in our backyard. I've always heard people pray for a hedge of protection. I've never used that term before because I wasn't sure exactly what a hedge of protection would look like. I know exactly what it looks like now!!! Thank you, God! All praise and glory and honor be Yours!!! Thank you for protecting my precious family. Everything else is stuff I can live without!!! As far as we can tell we lost 4 or 5 trees. Maybe more. It's hard to tell because they have all fallen together. We know we lost our shed, Cooper's trampoline (he cried about that), Warren's tiller and lawn mower, everything in the shed, two outdoor family swings, our dog kennel and doghouse. But, again, it's just stuff!

Back to Cooper...Let me be a proud Mama once again. When we were outside surveying the damage, a volunteer rescue team member saw the damage, pulled up to the house, and yelled to see if we were all okay. (Can I say, I love living in a small town!!! I love that someone just was driving around checking to see if people were OK!!!) Cooper yelled, "We are all okay!!! God put a shield on our house, but our outbuilding is DEAD!!!" :) My little evangelist. Witnessing to the rescue guy! :) Our outbuilding is dead, but thank you LORD for your shield. "For Thou, Oh LORD, are a shield for me. The glory and the lifter of my head." Psalm 3:3