Joe sent me this picture today. He took it after he left Vermeer, the manufacturing plant in Pella where he spends the majority of his days as they are an account of his for work. He was actually home when he sent the picture to me and I got it as he was walking in the door. We had no idea until his sister called to see if he was okay that a tornado had actually hit Vermeer. We were watching the weather here as there were storm warnings out for our area. She had seen that Vermeer had been hit on the news.
I do belive God was watching over everyone at Vermeer when this hit. There were seven people injured and sent to the hospital and they were all released by evening. There were a handful of people treated on site and released. There were no fatalities. It was Customer Appreciation Day which means there were over 400 extra people, dealers and customers, from all over the world visiting and over 2,000 employees on site when the tornado hit and yet no one was severly injured. I’ve seen reports of people being thankful for Vermeer for preparing them all for a situation like this with drills that were practiced and designated places to go during a tornado. And stories just like Joe’s of people who just felt they needed to leave and go home before the tornado hit.
There are I think seven plants across the Vermeer Mile. These are just a handful of the multiple pictures flying around Facebook showing some of the damage. We are so very thankful – Joe worked for Vermeer at one time and as I said, he spends the majority of his time there for his work now and he has many dear friends who work there. I’m not always a fan of Facebook but today it was wonderful to be able to get on and see that our friends were okay. Some were there when it hit and others had already gone home.
Tornados also went through the towns of Marshalltown and Bondurant in our area of the state and left extensive damage. Our nice and nephew and their kids live in Bondurant and they were also lucky – houses were destroyed less than two blocks away from their house. Seth could see the tail of the tornado from his house. The damage a tornado can do is beyond comprehension. Vermeer is shut down until further notice. At least one of the seven plants was totally destoryed. Others suffered extensive damage. But the fact that all that were there walked away from this is a miracle. I know I said an extra prayer before I went to bed last night thanking God for keeping Joe, our extended family and everyone at Vermeer safe.
(Before the blood, sweat and tears)
(After – looking so much better!)
Nothing much went on throughout the week. A nice quiet week for once. I got my hair cut on Thursday – the first haircut I’ve had in over a year. Joe likes it long but it was just getting to be too much for me and it was time to shorten it up. I worked at the school on Friday and yesterday we met Joe’s brother and sister-in-law for supper in Des Moines. Something we’ve talked about doing and finally did. It was a nice evening. We decided we needed to try and do that more often. Hopefully we will make it happen.
We went for an afternoon visit today to see Uncle Jerry and Aunt Konnie. I was thankful I wasn’t driving – I don’t do well in these conditions! It snowed all the way to their place and it was so pretty. I just love the snow! Here’s the highway leading to Rubio, the little tiny almost non-existent town they live just outside of.
And I love gravel roads covered in snow (although this isn’t a whole lot of snow). That bend in the road – it takes you to one of the prettiest places in Iowa! I shared pictures of Uncle Jerry and Aunt Konnie’s place last summer and it’s just as pretty in the winter. The only difference is it was so cold out and I didn’t wear my boots so I only took a few pictures from the truck as we were moving so I didn’t get the best pictures.
Off to the right, a few of Uncle Jerry’s horses with their backs to the wind. Uncle Jerry has always had horses and at one time he raised mules. On past these horses there were goats and llamas. I didn’t get any pictures – next time maybe. Uncle Jerry said he had just bought some new goats yesterday and they were due to give birth at any time. If it had been a warmer day and I had been dressed more appropriately I would have gone out with him to check on the mamas. Baby goats – how sweet. When I was growing up we would have been getting ready for lambing season. I loved the baby lambs!
And to the left I the old farmhouse and barn. Up the road and around the bend and you’re there. The house on the left and the most beautiful view to the right. A big old farmhouse and room to roam. Lots of memories here and they’re all good. My older kids always enjoyed visiting and now Drew does too. It’s almost like time slows down when I’m visiting Uncle Jerry and Aunt Konnie.
Another plan for this year is to find more “projects” to do with Drew. He calls them projects and has so much fun doing them. This was a fun one and so in expensive. We dug out some jars and made a wheat paste out of flour and water. Then we brushed the paste onto the jars to look like icicles, sprinkled salt on the paste and let it dry. Poured some salt in the jars and added tea lights. Pretty wintery candle holders. Drew loved being able to tell Daddy he made the centerpiece on the table. We also brushed some of the paste onto pinecones from our yard and dipped them in salt. A fun, easy craft and the best part is the paste will wash right off with soap and water so we can reuse the jars for future projects! I got the instructions from sewhistorically.com.
I had to turn my air on. I am NOT happy about that. We’ve been having some 90 degree weather and no rain. Not fun fall weather for sure. So I’m burning my Snicker and Snare candle and dug out by buckeyes and am working on some fall stitching and dreaming of cooler weather!