Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord...

So this is just a quick note to remind everyone (because so many people have discovered my blog) just how fragile life is...

Last Friday Diana went into work early, and consequently left work early to pick up the boys. I got pulled into a proposal and ended up working until about 10pm that night. I talked to Diana when she got off work, let her know what was going on,told her to take the boys to get dinner and I would either catch up with them or see her at home later.

As Diana wasn't feeling up to a night on the town with the boys, they went home and ordered pizza. I got home around 11 that night, neither of us thinking much about how events had unfolded (other than that work had gotten in the way of some much cherished/needed/appreciated family time).

The next day I received a call from a member of our ward. She asked about us and how we had survived the storm from the night before (we had received some rain but that was it). Come to find out a tornado had touched down not too far from where we live that Friday night.

A home that was damaged by the tornado (about 5 minutes from our house)

Upon first inspection one might think we were simply lucky... I would say that we were protected.

The miracle of the whole thing is that had Diana not been scheduled to go into work early, had I not had to work late, had she not decided to stay in with the boys and have a picnic on the living room floor, we (or they) would have been coming home from dinner at the same time the tornado hit, and we (or they) would have been driving through the exact area that was damaged.

One of the grocery stores we frequent had one of its air conditioning units pulled off the roof

I know that the Lord protected our little family Friday night.

It's great to know that he loves us enough to, at times, make us go into work early, or leave late, make us stay in with the kids, or do things that may not seem ideal.

At times we tell our children to do things they don't like, and against which they sometimes fight. It's nice to know that Heavenly Father is not only omniscient, but as Elder Maxwell puts it, he is also omni-loving, and gives us some of the same experiences that we give our children...