Storms were to hit our area this morning, nothing too severe except for some heavy rain, lightning and strong winds. Swim lessons were canceled so I used the opportunity to continue working while Asher played and Leah slept in. 

Soon the skies got black and we were officially in a thunderstorm warning. Once the winds picked up I woke Leah up and took the little ones downstairs. Tim and Nathan were over in Sumner doing chores and Skye was at drivers Ed. I love storms but not when I’m alone and not when they do damage. The wind and rain were so strong that I could not see out the basement window. And the lightning was remarkable with streaks that looked to be in our yard shooting straight down to the ground.

Once it had calmed down I went to check things out, not really expecting anything, and minus some branches in the front yard, that was all I noticed, until I looked out the kitchen window…   

I immediately called Tim to fill him in on the big tree branch that was blocking our driveway, not to mention it was resting on the fence where our cows are. He would not be able to get home until about 10:30am. I prayed the fence would hold so that I would not have to figure out how to keep cows from running on to the highway!

Thankfully Tim and the kids got home, fence was fine and with all of us working together, we were able to get it cleaned up pretty fast!  

  

  

  

 

Asher did his best to help…

And then the real fun began when dad got out the chain to pull the rest of the branch down…  

  

   
  

Skyler being Skye…Job well done…until we noticed more trees on the other building and down back in the pastures…but those can wait another day!   

   

  

We are very thankful that the big tree branch did not fall on our house or that the damage was worse! 

Yesterday in church, one of the points that stuck out to me was…”when you protect the unity, you preserve the joy.” Doesn’t matter what happens, as long as we stick together.

So, while it was a minor inconvenience to our day, it was really cool to see the kids jump in and help out so much without complaining and turning the hard work in to fun! It was almost like God was reminding us that Tim and I need to keep charging forward together and in doing so, no matter what we are faced with, our kids today showed us that we are hopefully influencing them to do the same! I love how God works…well could’ve went without trees down but what a blessing it was to have our family pull together after such a rough start to the summer!