Miss Me?

Sunday morning I woke up to a tornado going overhead. After a few scary moments, it was over. We briefly surveyed the houses, shed, and barn. Other than a near miss on my parents house (a fallen tree was touching their bedroom window) things looked alright from a glance. Sunday was a VERY busy day, so we didn't get to check the whole property. Off we went to church, a fundraiser, and the church's evening children's program. It wasn't until later on Monday that we discovered the true extent of the damage. There are nearly 10 trees down, and another 10 that will have to come down because they are too damaged to be safe.
Although the tornado never touched ground, it did loads of damage. The pictures don't do it justice. There is debris everywhere. That little tiny freak weather event did more damage to us than Katrina did. And, Katrina did quite a bit. Thankfully my garden was unscathed...I know. I'm selfish, but that was the second thing I checked (the first being family). I was terrified that I would find all my plants uprooted or a tree on them, but it only knocked a few unripe plums off the trees.
We are very blessed though. Some friends are coming over Saturday to help clean up, and others have offered to come by next week to lend a hand. There is certainly a lot to be thankful for.
Don't go thinking a little, tiny tornado would keep me away from here. There's still more to the story. The Wednesday before the storm, Levi came down with what I thought was just seasonal allergy crud. Then late Monday night, he woke up screaming and burning up. I gave him some Tylenol, and the fever went down. He had a mild fever the next day, but I figured the worst was over. One of these days I will learn not to think that. Midday, his fever began to flirt with 104 and he became listless. This was after a dose of Tylenol had already been administered. We took him to the doctor. When his fever still wasn't going down we gave him more Tylenol, and the nurse brought some cool, wet rags for him. It took some time, but the fever finally went to the 102 range. After running a strep test that came up negative, the doc diagnosed him with Hand, Hoof, and Mouth disease (a.k.a. Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease). It's apparently really freakin' painful, and just has to be lived through. So, we've been living through it. His fever has finally gone down, seemingly for good. Although, I should probably know better than to say that out loud. I'm praying that he really is on the mend.
Hopefully, I'll be back with more regularity soon. How have y'all been?