"While the storm clouds gather" ... DRIVE FAST!!

Okay, so the title seems a little off ... but that's how we ended what was actually a very nice day. Great start -- scary end!! The day was very busy in preparation for Shara's reception. However, here are a few photos from the reception. Sandi designed this for Rachel -- we simply followed the instructions. Literally!! Rachel laid the 'map' of the table on each table -- and we followed the lead. It worked as these photos will show!

The 'stations' included -- Chocolate (white/dark) fountain table, Picnic table, Chips/Salsa table, Veggie table, Candy table, Cheese ball / Spinach dip table.

Here are a couple photos from the reception ... will try to post more later ...

Now, for the fun part of the evening (which will help to explain the photos below!)

The real excitement didn’t start until 11pm! Since the reception officially ended at 10pm, this seems a little contradictory. However, we were all in clean-up / take down mode and all was going well. Then, Allen makes an announcement – “There is a tornado in the ground in Greenfield – we have to leave NOW and go to the church. We have 20 minutes to get there before it arrives here! So, grab whatever you can and head there.” So, it was sort of crazy – all of us grabbing bags of this or a box of that and heading for the car. “Who’s going with me?” I yelled (after about 10 minutes) to whoever wanted to listen. Jimmy said, “I’m coming!” So, we headed down the road – watching the lightning which was illuminating the approaching storm. We only had about 2-3 miles to go but we were heading south and the storm was coming from the west. I was keeping the car within range of the speed limit – however, those behind us obviously had a little less time than we did. Allen told Rachel they needed to leave NOW, so she jumped in Jene’s car (with glass items in the back seat falling around) .. Allen was in the Suburban (packed to the gills), my niece, Jacinta, had Juliana with her. Jacinta asked what the speed limit was … “Probably around 50mph” Juliana answered. However, getting out of the storm was the primary thing on Allen’s mind so Allen was prodding Jacinta along with honking his horn and urging her to get moving .. and he also told Jene’, “Drive FAST!!!”

By the time Jimmy and I arrived at the church, Shara was there with the door open, urging everyone down the stairs and into the basement. Several of her friends were already there … ‘hunkered’ down in the hallway. Finally, all the cars arrived. However, my brother, Joel, and Allen decided to stay upstairs and watch the storm … Allen actually headed to their house to check the weather and see where the tornado was (or where 'they' were) .. he called the neighbors (got them out of bed) and they headed to the church, too. As the lightning illuminated the sky, Joel and Allen could see the form of the tornado headed straight towards us. By this time, the rain was pouring -- almost sideways!! And the wind was ferocious!

We did not leave the church until after 1am! Talk about tired – all the time thinking about what still needed to be cleaned up! Wondering when we would do it since Rachel, Allen and Shara needed to leave at 7:45am for the church to practice for graduation (in Indy!)

Every time we thought we could leave, we would hear another tornado siren or listen to an update on the radio in the basement of the church. The tornado did come pretty close and we’ve seen quite a bit of damage. Just a few miles east on I-70, a semi (driving) was blown over. That also happened closer to Indy on I-70. Billboard signs along the interstate were twisted and we saw barns demolished. Evidently there was quite a bit of damage just west of here in Knightstown and major damage on the northeast side of Indy. We were fortunate here – although there was a lot of rain in the front yard. We waded through a creek to bring things in from the vehicles.

Power stayed on until about 1:30am!! Then it went off … with several extra people staying overnight, it became interesting trying to find your way around the house without running into someone. Of course, it became very humorous also when the lights came on – and lots of lights came on!! So, it was turn off the lights and try to get some sleep before we started a new day – which actually had already begun in the basement of the church!

While it was a wild and crazy night, we had a nice graduation day for Shara -- Rachel and I went back and cleaned up within a couple hours! So, another one is over -- and Rachel will actually probably have two college graduations before the next high school graduation. I'll have my first graduation for a grandchild next year (Kasi) ... I'm surely not that old yet!!

Thanks to Sandi for walking us through what we needed to do at the reception by phone!!