Stormy Weather

Andrew took this panorama of the dark clouds gathering outside our house this past weekend.

Soon after that picture was taken, the skies exploded and rain came pouring down. After a little while, a strong wind accompanied the rain and it started coming down horizontally and completely drenched our balcony.

It rained through the day and into the night.

i'm okay with storms, i marvel at how powerful it is, i love listening to the sound of rain hitting our tin roof.
but i have to admit, the thunder that night was the loudest i've ever heard and there was one crack that made me jump out of my skin. and losing power while i was sitting alone at my desk was a little eerie.

in the morning, the storm had passed, and i thought the worst part was over.

Though it was rainy earlier in the day and the sun broke through the clouds. We had some gorgeous sunlight for a couple hours.

Then, the sky darkened rapidly.

Just as Andrew and i were talking about making dinner, it started to hail. I was a little excited at first, because those almost-tennis-ball-sized hail was the largest I've ever seen. I was tempted to open the door and take a better picture outside, but the thought of being pelted by one of those ice balls stopped me.

That excitement soon dissolved as I realized how scary it was for Caleb (and Nathan, too) so I moved them from where they were sitting in the play room and sat them on my computer chair as I watched the storm outside.

Then next thing you know, PLING!... PLING!PLING!PLING!

As soon as I heard that sound, I knew the hail broke some glass.

The sheer loudness of the storm outside was incredible and I had to shout to Andrew who was standing beside me to tell him that the window in the boys' playroom where they were sitting just minutes earlier had been smashed. Luckily, the shades were pulled down so it contained most of the glass and hail.

The next couple minutes were a blur. We rushed around, checking the rest of the windows in the house, comforting the boys and when the storm finally calmed, cleaning up the mess.

By the time I got around to photographing these ice balls, they had melted down significantly. They were huge.

Despite the Bureau of Meteorology reporting that the storm has headed north, I went along with my mama bear instincts and moved the boys to our bedroom for the night.

Nathan's bed is directly under a large window and even though the storm had passed and his window is on the other side of the house from the broken window, I didn't want him to be there just in case another freak storm rolled through and shattered more glass. 

Plus, both of the boys were pretty shaken from the storm and broken glass so I think it'll help them feel more safe and secure.

The boys were thrilled with the new sleeping arrangements.

We're so thankful that none of us got hurt, and that even though we have a broken window, Andrew has boarded it up, we've closed the door to that room and carry on as usual.