This week I am very thankful for God's protection on our lives!

Of course, we all know that there are countless times we aren't even aware of that He sends His angel to encamp around us!  But then there are those times when we get a glimpse of His tender loving care....and sometimes we don't find out until the next few days just how close we came!!!

A week ago, early in the morning, I heard thunderstorms coming closer.  It was about 2 a.m. and I got up to unplug the computer.  In the process, I stepped in a mess our dear little shih-tzu, Pooh, left, and cleaned it up.     

I noticed the wind had picked up, so I went to the door.   I saw it raining--horizontally!!!!  At times, the houses across the street were blurry as if I were looking through a wall of water!  The trees were whipping around...I considered getting dh up and maybe the dc.....

I did hear the sound of a train, but we live 1/4 mile from the tracks!   However, in hindsight (or hindhearing!), I didn't hear the whistle.   Things slowed down a bit, so I headed for bed, and before I got the kitchen light shut off, the electric went out!   For almost 4 hours!

I slept fitfully after that, with the storms coming and going and everything so quiet (and dark!).

The next day, we headed for a town 20 miles away when we saw a huge chicken house just 2 miles from us had about 1/3 of it gone!  It was all over the field across the road!!!  Just 1/2 mile farther, some friends' barn was...well, it wasn't!  Just half the loft and part of a wall was left!  (This is the third time their barn has been hit!).   A little farther, and we saw 3 huge pine trees snapped in half.   Yet a little farther and a tree was uprooted in someone's front yard!

They aren't calling it a tornado.....but we firmly believe it was!  goatgirl was awakened and heard the "train" sound, too--but she lives 5 miles from us, so they hear the whistle from time to time, but not the rumble!  We both heard it at the same time!  It basically went right down the middle of the 5 mile stretch between us!

So we are VERY thankful to the Lord for His protection!  We didn't even know weather that severe was a possibility! 

And to show you that God cares about the tiniest details and all of His creatures...our friends whose barn disappeard had a dog who had just had 8 puppies the week before in that barn.   She was fine as well as all the pups!

Not only that....but there were kittens in the loft--the half that was still there!  And they were fine, too!

Praise Him for His bountiful protection--we hardly even had any limbs down! 

What are you thankful for today?  (Hopefully nothing as dramatic as a major storm going through 2 1/2 miles from your house!   )