My Torando Testimony

A week ago tomorrow, Thursday, February 20, 2014 started out as a typical day for us. Lane had just woke from his afternoon nap and we were plopped on the couch reading his books when I noticed from the living room window the sky growing really dark and a strange shade of greenish. I went to the playroom window to gain a better view and what I saw looked a bit strange. It appeared to be a funnel cloud but with the neighbors house in the way, my view from that angle was obstructed so I went to the front door and stepped out on the porch to get a better look. And there IT was- right smack dab in front of me. The wind was calm and there wasn't a specific sound that I remember. (No sounds like a high speed train coming through or anything). At this point the town storm siren was not yet sounding  which I found to be quite odd. I happened to have my cell phone right in my pocket so I took it out and quickly (very quickly) took two pictures-then boogied it back inside (this is when I heard the sounds of the storm siren blaring) and headed to the basement with the boys (at the time it was only Lane and Avery home with me). The boys were very ho-hum about it all and of course they would be as they had no idea the magnitude of the situation.  Thankfully, we had some toys in the corner room of the basement so I got them preoccupied with playing and then I frantically called Jason to tell him to head to a safe place at the bank. He seemed bewildered by my urgency and shaky voice and I explained to him that I saw a tornado in the field right in front of our house. I told him him that I was worried sick for Grant and all the kids at the school as it was heading in that exact direction. I literally felt sick with fear...hands shaking and head and heart pounding. I told him that I had taken a picture and I would text it to him so he could try to understand why I was acting so worried and distraught.  I also posted the picture I took of the tornado on my Facebook page at this time.  Then I heard someone come in the back door to our house...and heard someone calling my name. I assumed one of the daycare parents were there to pick up their child early so I hollered back at whomever it was that we were in the basement...when I saw who it was I realized it was my sister-in-law, Jenna. By the look on her face and the sound of her voice I could tell instantly that she had seen the same thing I saw. It was such a blessing to have her safe and out of harms way and also a blessing to have her there to calm my nerves a bit. It's always nice to have someone to be afraid with (kids don't really count).  We stayed in the basement for some time as we didn't know when it was safe to go back up and we didn't hear an "all clear" siren. The entire time we were down there, I was so worried about all the Triopia school kids. It was right at the time of dismissal and I am sure they were beginning to back up and head out to the buses when the sirens sounded. I prayed that they were all safe-I prayed that God would be with Grant and calm his fears and anxieties. I just wanted to see him and all of the daycare kids to know that they were fine. Then I heard it-the beautiful sound of the stampede of little feet upstairs and lots of loud muffled talking. I took Lane and Avery upstairs with me to find that they were all home and safe. They were very wound up and clearly rattled from what they had experienced. They spent the rest of the afternoon telling me all about how they had to get in the hallway with their heads down. The oldest of my little daycare kiddos told me that they were in the hallway for probably no more than ten or fifteen minutes then they were dismissed like normal.  They drew pictures of tornadoes to take home with them and the more I tried to distract them from the subject the more I failed. I attempted several times to tell them that we needed to discuss something else for a while but they were too shook up I think and I guess it was healthy for them to talk about their thoughts and fears instead of ignoring them. When the last child left with their parent I was exhausted. What an experience!!! So surreal. And if that wasn't surreal enough -it got even more crazy. I received a phone call from Jason's cousin, Andy informing me that he had posted the picture I had posted to Facebook to his Twitter account earlier and since then he had gotten an overwhelming amount of reporters and people calling him. He told him that he gave them my name and number and told them that I was actually the one who took the picture and to prepare for some possible phone calls. I didn't think much of it at first but then the phone started ringing off the hook. Reporters from CBS, NBC, Channel 2 News out of Chicago, and two St. Louis stations...I lost track after a while. I had people on Facebook messaging me (KHQA and individuals I am friends with) asking permission to use my photo. It was completely crazy that they all wanted to use the picture I had snapped earlier.  I didn't mind one bit..and then I got another call from Andy to tell me that there was a mix up and some reporters were giving him credit for the photo I took. He said that it was aired on the Weather Channel under his name and he apologized for the mix up. I told him that I didn't care one bit about the credit for the photo. Why on earth would I? He seemed concerned but I absolutely wasn't. I didn't care-it was cool to see the picture on the news and the Weather Channel regardless of the credit.  It was completely crazy. And I thought it was over (the publicity and all) and then a whole new wave of it came flooding in the next day. The picture I had taken was featured on the front page of the Jacksonville Journal Courier, MSN.COM, NBCNEWS.COM and several other news source pages. I was told (although I didn't see for myself) that it was shown on the TODAY SHOW as well.  I had to giggle every time I would get a call or text informing me of where my picture was featured next. Jason and I got a huge kick out of it but Grant really enjoyed it and even started calling it "our tornado." Oh my! Things have calmed down significantly since then -which is a wonderful thing. Although, I enjoyed seeing the picture go viral I also NEVER- EVER- EVER want to see another tornado in all my life. It was a totally terrifying experience.  What has me nervous is this happened in FEBRUARY- we haven't even gotten into the real tornado season yet. I am fearful I am going to freak out each time our area is under any kind of warning or watch this spring.  Ugh. Not fun. 

This was the picture I took on my phone that went viral

This is the other picture I took that I didn't post- nearly the same but a bit different.

This was the same night -I appreciated our bedtime routine some much more that night. Grant even felt the need to over-cuddle his brother which was the sweetest thing I had seen all day.

This is what I woke up to the next morning-when I got on-line. Crazy that my picture made the front page of MSN

This is the same picture but with Istagram features. I thought it looked really neat.

More news pages put in on as their feature story.

The WEATHER CHANNEL picture

And then NBC NEWS had it featured too. My sister kept track of all of the smaller  (less known) sites it was on. I didn't. I was kinda getting "so over it" by mid-afternoon.