Modesty Surveys

http://www.therebelution.com/modestysurvey/browse
This is a very interesting survey amongst guys ages twelve and up.  Very worth checking out!
This, also, is an interesting video on the same subject.
This is so important!
http://www.thekingsbride31.blogspot.com/

Video of Friday's Storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFxCA9ahWo

This is just the outskirts of the Storm, but still epic.  (Notice that around here people capitalize the 's' in Storm).   The people in the background are shocked that it's "So bad", but really, compared to what it was when it got to Danbury and my place, it's absolutely nothing. In the video, you see a huge mass literally moving over the town.  This was in the cities area.  By the time it got to my house, it had picked up to 80mph.  I was there, but I still can't help feeling shocked.  And this is just the beginning! 

God, you are great! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgvChz9cpyo

This one is mostly severed pine forests and fallen trees, plus a down power line.  It is just a tour of wreckage.

Inside An 80 mph Wind Storm

I guess my biggest summer news is that I almost died on July first. 

Hail Stones.  Not the largest by any means.

The barn I was in.

Side view of barn.

Explanation:  I was milking at Sheldon Nelson's, and it had been a 95 degree day, right?  So, it follows that I was hot and prayed for rain. (I was outside bringing in the cows).  So, 6 drops fell on my head.  Then nothing. 

After about 10 minutes, it started pouring.  And hailing.  I heard God tell me that, for some reason, I needed to cradle my head and neck in my hands.  So I did, and not even a second later, a golf-ball sized hailstone hit my arm covering my neck.  Ouch! 

For about half an hour or so, we milked (soaking wet).  Just the two of us were there, and I was starting to get nervous.  Because, you see, there was constant thunder rolling in the distance, the cows were acting funny, the rain had stopped, the sky was green, it was too humid, and the air smelled funny.  Not to mention it was dark as night, not black though, more of a forest green.  The power went out and came back on within a second.  This happened 3 times.  Finally, the fourth time, it stayed off.  Suddenly, the rain was back, harder than ever.  I could see nothing, and it was only seven o'clock.  I just stood there, not having any other choice.  Now, Sheldon is one laid back guy.  He NEVER panics or is upset about anything.  So when he hollered (panicked tone), "ERICKA WHERE YA AT?!?!" I freaked out.  He told me to run for the stairs, so I did, right behind him.  We tried to escape the barn, but we realized that the winds were gonna suck us out of the window.  So, he turned, and in an effort to save both of our lives, he shoved me down the staircase.  I hit my head on the railing or something, and passed out.  I rolled the rest of the way down the stairs, bumping and bruising and scraping blood vessels all the way.  I woke up with Sheldon pushing me up towards the door of the engine room, a small 6 by 8 foot room with no windows.  I was soaking wet, I couldn't hear anything over the roaring wind.  I sat against the west wall like he told me too, stuck my head between my knees, covered my spinal cord with my arms, and cried.  The reason I did this was that I could hear roaring wind, calves and calf huts and debris blowing around, and Sheldon outside yelling at cows.  Plus, I could feel the ceiling above me (the floor of the first story) starting to give, so I figured I needed to protect my head and spinal cord.

I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, and was cold and more scared then I have ever been before.  I could not feel any pain yet, I was just numb all over.  I cried and cried and cried some more.  Sheldon came back in, and I asked him if we were safe, if we would live, if we were gonna make it. 

His response?   "I hope so."  I cried quietly and he left to shove some more cows out. 

I only had peace in that dark room twice.  Once, when I stopped, calmed down, and realized, I am going to die.  I knew I was going to, and Sheldon did too.  He was acting unlike himself, actually running for safety instead of being daring and reckless, like usual.  I sat and thought for a few minutes.  If we were going to die anyway, why panic?  I'm ready, I'll just go to be with Jesus.  For a couple minutes, the fear subsided and I prayed something like this: "Jesus, I don't care that I don't get to work at camp this summer.  It means nothing.  I don't care about the petty arguments with my sister and who wins anymore.  It means nothing.  I regret all of this.  Please, Jesus, let Sheldon make it out of that stanchion room.  I know I won't live, but let him and his boys live.  Please, Jesus, let it be quick, without much pain." 

Then I wrapped my head in my arms again, and cried softly.  After awhile, the fear of dying was there, and I was panicking again.  I think Sheldon wasn't feeling great either.  Suddenly, (this whole time I had been listening to beams cracking and walls splitting) the entire barn collapsed.  I screamed, but I couldn't even hear it.  It was that loud.  I jumped up, panicked, then fell back down again, cuz I figured I had a better chance (if one at all) curled up in a ball than standing.  Then, (this was the second time I felt peace), I had a weird almost out of body experience where I suddenly (with my eyes open!) saw myself laying in a heap on the wet concrete, then suddenly I saw Jesus wrapped around me in such a way that if the roof caved, it would land on Him.  I cried softly, calmed down, and relaxed a little, knowing this was a vision, but thinking that it was sort of a comfort for death. Suddenly, death wasn't quite as scary anymore.  Almost welcome, just to escape the emotional pain I was feeling.  I felt a sudden urgency (I had felt this all the time) to pray for Sheldon's sons.  I did, then suddenly, as the barn was still collapsing, I saw the ceiling above me (the first story, I was in a basement) totally shift 6 inches off the concrete base.  Now, at least, could see.  I felt faint hope, because for one, I could see.  After half an hour of sitting in complete darkness by yourself, you cling to daylight.  For two, the wind had slowed down to a really bad thunderstorm.  That's pretty good for last night.  And three, Sheldon was yelling for me to come out.  I went out, surveyed the damage, the fallen trees, etc.   Then, he said to go back down, cause more winds came.  I went back, but first, I risked injury or death to rescue some kittens that fell out of the loft when it got ripped up.  They fell through a hole in the floor into the haystack in the basement.  I grabbed them, stuck the two of them in my shirt, and huddled back in the engine room.  Anyhoo, I ended up coming back out and looking around, then heading home. 

Those boys I was supposed to pray for?  They were about a mile down the road in a field, stacking bales in a tractor with their Grandpa.  They had a bale on the front of the tractor, and a gust of wind hit them, then the bale shredded.  That was when they decided to head for cover.  They all ran for the gas station next to the field, but it was locked.  So they ran for a bunch of bales they had stacked.  They crawled between the big bales and waited out the storm....they are thankfully all well. 

The injury around here is at 39 people, with more barns and houses down then I can count.  Our house has some shingles stripped from it, and a couple of trees down.  Also, our corn crib got shoved about 2 feet of its base.  My personal injuries are a huge scrape down my leg, headaches from hitting my head, and a very bruised backbone.  That's nothing compared to Mackenzie Clair, a girl from Hinckley, who was walking to her Grandmother's, trying to find shelter, and a tree fell on her.  She was 11 years old.

Milking. Whoo hoo.

Last week I started my second-ever summer job.  Milking for the neighbor!  Me and two of my sisters started working there, with nameless parent, and his three boys, age (11), age (10), and age (8).  I've been having a fun time, dippin tits and wiping bags and attaching milkers.  Shannah, on the other hand, loves the work, but does not have the same feelings for her co-workers.  Translation:  two out of three of them have a horrible crush on her.  I worked Tuesday, (Shannah worked Monday) and when I got there, age 8 walks into the barn and says, "Hi. *long pause* Soooo.....where's Shannah?"  I said, "She's at home."  He looked disappointed, then brightened.  "Soooo...when's she back?"  "Day after tomorrow."  He relaxed, grinned, and ran off.  So, Shannah gets there the next night, and immediately is not allowed to do anything.  Lifting buckets: "I'll do that."  Attaching milkers, "I'll do that too."  Now, if you know my sister, you'll know that she is a total spitfire, is a leader whether others want her to be or not, and says what she thinks before actually thinking about it.  This does not go well with when age 11 asked her, "So, who do you like better, me or age 8?  Which one of us is bossier?  On a scale of one to ten, which one do you like better?  Who's cuter?" 
My poor ten year old sister stepped back, and said "You're BOYS.  I don't really think you're cute!"
Hmm.  Poor boys.  They are still hitting on her a lot and running around shirtless for her benefit.
(Which, by the way, isn't really effective when you're eight).
Shannah has a history of young boys falling for her.  I have noticed that pretty much wherever she goes, someone falls for her.  It must be the freckles.  And, whenever that happens (which is frequently), she tells them off.  Once, we had some friends over, and they brought a friend with them.  This particular friend is a little girl-crazy.  Shannah finally got fed up with this boy, (we'll call him Bill) following her around and staring her.  She whipped around, cornered him, and said, "WHY are you following me around and staring at me and stalking me?!?! STOP IT NOW!!!"  Bill regained his composure and said, "You know what I do to girls that I like?  I follow them around and stare at them."  "So you like me then," she stated. "Yup." 
Now, I gotta hand it to that boy, he's got guts.  She did her Shannah thing where she twists her mouth up and nodded sarcastically.  "Hmm. Fine, but Mom is SO finding out."
He just hit on her again.  Mom finally came down on him and said, "Knock it off or leave."
My poor sis.

Maternity Hospital

Have I mentioned yet that me and my siblings (Eliza, Shannah, Wendy, Shane, Linnea) played some crazy games when we were little?  Once, my cousins were over, (Ashley, Isaac, Anna) and we decided to play maternity hospital.  Except there was once hitch.  We didn't want to just have a baby and leave.  So, we had a weird clinic where you had to come to the hospital once you found out you were pregnant, and you could leave when the baby turned two.  So, we found a nice little grassy area with trees placed in a line about 15 feet apart each.  We then placed a porch swing at the front of the line between two of the trees, and that was the receptionist's desk.  Now, what to do about rooms?  We took several snow sleds and horse blankets from the barn, and lots of sheets, blankets, and pillowcases from the house.  Then, we placed a sled at the bottom of each tree, and made the "bed" (which was the sled) with a horse blanket or two for a mattress, and blankets and sheets for....blankets and sheets.  The pillowcases were used to make a bunch of scraggly elementary school girls look pregnant.  I was the receptionist, ultrasound lady, doctor, nurse, surgeon, doula, midwife, maintenance man, laundry lady, maid, and counselor. 
Whew.  Each of the 5 girls playing (except me) were taken to their rooms, and I had a nice stack of baby dolls behind an unoccupied tree, just waiting until someone went into labor.  I bustled around, checking on women, then, alas, Ashley had a contraction!  I ran to her room, and said, "Ash, how far apart are your contractions?!"  The eight-year-old looked rather confused, and said, "Well, there's one here *points to elbow*, and one here *points to heel*. "  I heard a scream from the bed next to Ash.  Uh oh.  Shannah.  The  also eight year old looks at me and says, "HELP!  MY CONTRACTIONS ARE 3 INCHES APART!"  Panic swells the room as Anna, Wendy, and Liza all chime in about their various thumb contractions.  Shannah didn't know how to act like she was in labor, so she just sat halfway up and proceeded to have a seizure, screaming the whole time like here arms were being torn from her body.  Ahhh, drama.  They finally finished labor in about 10 minutes, so I went to distribute babies.  I looked behind me.  Uh oh.  The proud mothers all stopped, stared in shock, then started screaming.  You see, in all the laboring confusion, I did not keep an eye on the plastic dolls.  But someone else did.  The horrid sight before our eyes was Shane and Isaac, ages 6 and 4, running away with about 5 dolls tied by the feet to a stick they carried across their shoulders, yelling, "Hey, Isaac, let's go make soup!  HA HA HA!"
*Lots of screaming and yelling and laughing*.

Skating

We have never really been the skating type of family, but a couple of years ago, my sisters and I found a small frozen body of water by our house.  Huh, we thought, I've never seen this before...Oh, well, let's skate! 
Well, it wasn't long before we were sliding down that body of water that was flowing down a hill, (or so it seemed) before it froze.  We didn't really think to wonder about that, but we did wonder why the color was so bad, and why there were rock-like brown lumps frozen into it.  No matter.  We would just lick the ice until we melted all the way to a brown lump.  We did, and that was no rock.  It didn't taste like one.  We shrugged, and continued to do belly slides, getting soaked all the way, with our tongues out on the ice, licking all the way.  I was elected to go get Mom and see if she wanted to join the fun.  And we just couldn't figure out why she was angry.  You see, before the ground and "water" froze, our sewer pipe split and leaked down a hill, then froze. 
Mom had our poor 7 year old souls wash every inch of our bodies, and the garments arraying them. 
I wonder what those funny tasting brown rocks were?

Weird Things I Should Not Have Had To Say While Babysitting

1. Don't swing that croquet mallet at your brother's head!
2. Stop eating the grass!  You aren't really a horse!
3. Don't forget to get your doll out of the tree.
4. Put shoes on before you walk in the manure!
5. Hey!  Stop injecting air through a bike pump into the VCR!
6. No, we can NOT eat marshmallows for dinner.
7. I told you once, I told you a million times, do not hit your sister with a metal meter stick!
8. Hello, Mom, we have to take Wendy to the E.R. because Shane hit her with an air compressor hose. 
9. No, 6 year old boy, you may not drive the riding lawn mower around the puppy- and sister-filled yard.
10. Get your clothes back on, mister!  I have a video camera rolling!
11. No, darling 10 year old, you may NOT streak in the middle of January!
12. Alright, four and six year olds, strip down on the porch, run to the bathroom, and I will be in to turn the shower on cold in a moment.  You will also be scrubbing the floor later.  This will teach you not to swim in mud puddles. 
13. Never ever throw snowballs at 1800 pound bulls again, young lady!
14. Chickens are livestock, not toys.