Tornado

We had major thunderstorms last Wednesday. Multiple funnel clouds formed. There was a discrepancy among weather reporters about whether they actually formed into tornadoes, or not. Power went out a few times, hail the size of pennies, wind stronger than I've experienced, nervous children, Derrell gone. Needless to say, it was a memorable few hours!

We don't have a basement, so we were in our hall and bathroom during the worst of it. The next morning there was debris everywhere: a few trees have missing branches, and a telephone pole split.

Interestingly, even though there was a tornado warning for hours before it turned to a tornado watch (meaning one has formed and been sighted), the weather was calm and mild and sunny. Then the worst weather I've ever experienced, then calm and mild and sunny again. This is the third tornado in a month's time in our area. Last time it was in the city 15 miles north of us. One side of one street was especially affected. Houses were torn to pieces--one family in our stake has never found their couch. So, these twisters aren't huge, but still destructive.

One of the worst places to be during a tornado is in a car. Derrell was supposed to be home any minute, and I found myself pleading with the Lord for his safety. (The closest cell phone tower went down, so I couldn't get a signal for a couple hours. Consequently, I didn't know how or where he was.) He called sometime later and reported that he was still in DC. I am certain that the "inconvenience" of his activities lasting longer than expected was actually "protection" because it kept him away from the storm. I am grateful he is safe! I am grateful for prayer.

No, really

OK. So, I lied just a little bit. After closer inspection, it has been determined that there is no way that video could have been Derrell. He is a much better dancer! Oh, and he's about ten years younger, and MUCH better looking.

Yesterday, after an especially loud and raucous church experience, I decided we will practice being reverent Monday through Saturday. I'll ease them into it. Tonight we will sit quietly and listen to the lesson in Family Home Evening. Tomorrow we will sit quietly and watch a rather boring video on the Holy Land (I purchased it shortly after returning home from the study-abroad over there 14 years ago because it has to be good, right? I can't get rid of it even though it puts me to sleep, and I recognize the sites!). Wednesday we will sit quietly and listen to part of a talk from conference. You get the idea. Do you think it will work? If not, do you have any better ideas? More than half of the congregation at our church is children. My family isn't the only irreverent family. It makes it difficult.

Dancin' Fool

It is "tax-free" day at Best Buy today. Derrell was so excited that he just couldn't stay still. Look what they caught on their security camera! Don't be fooled by the mustache and receding hairline--this really is Derrell... hee. hee.

Spring Soccer

ED and AM just finished their soccer season. They had a lot of fun! ED ended up playing goalie most of the time. He was quite good, making saves in the midst of kicking feet. It made me nervous to watch. The last playoff game was in the rain at 9am--very windy and cold. ED had extra layers since he was in the goal, but poor AM was freezing. She had a smile on her face, though! So, here are some "after-game" photos. Be glad you can't touch or smell them... I'm sure you can imagine the sweat and dirt well enough. :-) I've decided to throw in a picture of ED grabbing a ball. You can barely see it through all the other players, but look closely. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Ambidextrous Baby

AE chose two spoons instead of just one, and I just had to record it. Shortly after I put the camera away, she abandoned one of the spoons and started scooping up the yogurt with her hand. Needless to say, the end result required a good scrubbing of the baby, highchair, floor, and wall!

Haircut Pictures

So, here are the pictures I promised to post. N.E.'s hair looked so long when it was combed straight!

Haircuts

While the boys were gone on a father/son outing last Saturday, the girls and I had one of our own. NE got her first haircut! Can you believe an almost-three-year-old has never even gotten a trim? What's more amazing is that this almost-three-year-old has never taken scissors to her own hair! I haven't wanted to cut off all those curls just in case they never came back, but the beautician showed me how to tell that it's coming out curly at the roots. (In my defense, the hair isn't that curly. I'm sure I could tell all by myself that she still has natural curl if the curls were like a perm instead of big and soft and flowy...)

The hair salon has a little animal seat that reminds me of those old rides outside of grocery & department stores: straddle it, put a quarter in, and it goes back and forth. This one doesn't move, of course, but my girls were thrilled. Much more fun to ride a panda than sit in a chair that is too big. LL hopped right up. NE took her turn next after she saw that it was safe for LL. AM wasn't too sure if she was too grown up for the kiddy chair, and tried to stifle a smile. I was going to post pictures here, too, but can't seem to locate the cord to hook up the camera to the computer. Might just be that the almost-three-year-old has walked away with it...

Derrell's Crazy Schedule

Prepare to be amazed. My husband is the hardest working person I know. He has had this dream of getting his PhD since he was in the seventh grade, and--by gum--he's going to get it! His schedule has been all over the place these past three years. Some semesters harder than others, of course. But I must say, his present schedule takes the cake.

This semester Derrell only has one class. On the surface that sounds marvelous, but here's the nitty gritty: the class is SEVEN hours long on Wednesdays. 9am-4pm! Now that wouldn't be the worst thing to deal with if he wasn't also preparing for the comprehensive exams, doing an internship, and working full-time--all 1-2 hours away from home! So, Wednesdays tend to look somewhat like this: 2am alarm goes off, work from 3:15-8:45am, school from 9am-4pm, study group from 4-7:30pm, crash into bed around 9pm. A 19-hour day? Who could survive that? Derrell Small, that's who. He still has to go in to his internship on Thursdays, so by the time he gets home Thursday afternoon, the bed is screaming out his name.

This present craziness will let up in a month when the internship ends, then more in July when the class ends. But then he'll just replace some of the class time with study time. Comprehensive exams are in August. Anything from the previous three years is fair game on these tests. They sufficiently terrify all the students by promising to kick you out if you don't pass. Derrell has been getting very good grades this whole time, so I'm not concerned one bit. He'll do well. He doesn't know how to fail. But, of course, he feels the need to study until his eyes bleed. (And, that's probably why he'll do so well!)

Needless to say, we are on a countdown to graduation. My cousin's husband just finished his doctorate. It would be nice to be at that point. But our brother-in-law just started. Glad we're not at that point! There is some fairness in the world...