The Adventures of the Johnson Clan: ~Spartans and Tornadoes~

I can remember the day I almost lost my 2-year old, Maddix in a train mix-up as it was pulling out of the country we were in and heading to a new one. It was the scariest day of my life; Saturday was second only to that experience.

As Travis and I set out with a group of friends to drive to Welch, MN in order to compete in a team competition, called a Spartan, excitement and enthusiasm filled the cabin of the truck. As we walked around the Spartan grounds a nervous buzz began to swirl inside us like the storm clouds swirling low above our heads. This was due to the over abundance of perfectly sculpted "spartan warriors" walking around everywhere! The comment was even made by one of our male teammates, " all these people walking around are so in shape and good looking! I'm like borderline attracted to the men!" Thankfully, all these elite athletes competed in an earlier heat and when we gathered at our starting line we found the majority of contestants were easy-go-lucky groups of friends out to have a good time, just like us.

And so we were off to climb walls, tackle mountains, crawl through barbed wire mud paths, and so much more. I must say, our group of people were the best! Funny, entertaining, competitive but team oriented... just loved each one. As we finished some burpees and headed to a boulder carry, the lightening struck too close and the race was instantly postponed; we were quickly ushered off the hill and out to our cars to await confirmation on whether the race would re-open or not. The path became so muddy that everyone slipped and fell along the way. A few of our teammates decided sliding intentionally was better than accidentally and began slip 'n' sliding down the hill. I had to join in. It was just as i went to run and do a third slide that someone yelled out, "Careful! there's a bunch of rocks here..." but it was too late. I quickly felt a rock bang into my tailbone and it hurt! I'm happy to say though that aside from a gashed and sore tailbone, I feel great.

Now that we were back at the truck, the girls and I huddled in the bed of the truck, with the tailgate dropped and the cover rolled out; it was surprisingly comfortable and fun to just laugh with the girls as we huddled in our muddy clothes, hiding from the rain. Unfortunately, after waiting as long as we could the news came back that it would be at least another 2 hours before they'd assess the possibility of re-opening the race... we had to call it. We split up and said goodbye to those not riding with us and headed into what would become our biggest challenge of the day.

As the rain pounded the windows, we pulled off to grab some food and wait out the storm, but soon received calls that made our stomachs drop. As we watched the weather report that two tornadoes had touched down around Mason City and there was flash flooding, the first of many phone calls began to pour in. I can't explain the fear (for someone terrified of tornadoes) knowing your children aren't in your care... and you're at least 2 hours away from being able to reach them. Our friends received a call that their children had been taken to the basement to wait out the storm, when they noticed the window wells were completely full of water. All of a sudden there were loud popping noises and the windows shattered, sending shards of glass throughout the room, scraping up all but two of the kids :(. I need to mention also, that this sweet friend who was watching all the kids was home alone, as her husband was rushing back from the race, but was stuck on the freeway.

Now for the comfort of the Lord, our amazing relief society president and her husband were available the moment we called them and instantly rushed over to assist with the children and the flooding. I am so grateful for that layer of calm that was provided to my friends once they knew there were others there to help our friend and the children while we tried to get home. And then another of our friends even provided dinner... I love the built in support church members provide one another.

Meanwhile, at my house Aaron had been up all night with the stomach flu and so he was extremely tired, ornery, and noncompliant as my Sweet Susan tried as hard as she could to convince Aaron to wake up and leave his bed to evacuate to her basement. She called me and as I tried to reason with him he just continued to scream that he wouldn't leave his bed and that he only wanted mommy... then he through her phone. Susan is older with a bad back and couldn't do anything without his cooperation... which he was REFUSING to give, so I called my other neighbor: a woman of fierce determination and a commanding presence! She was confused at first, but as soon as she heard Addie and Maddix were currently in Susan's basement being watched by Glenn (Susan's husband with Alzheimers) she said "I'll be there in 30 seconds." In the end, she threw Aaron like a sack of potatoes over her shoulders and hauled him through the storm to Susan's basement, kicking and screaming the whole way over. She then proceeded to bring them ice-cream sandwiches and after the storm passed she went and bought them McDonalds to help them calm down; I'm so grateful for all the nice and wonderful people who stepped in to protect our children while we were all trying to get home.

As I mentioned, the husband and his brother were stuck on the freeway trying to get home. We loaded back up in Travis's truck, but two or three times along the way home we had to pull over under overpasses and try to let the worst of the storm pass over us... and to check that we weren't actually driving into the tornado. It was pretty much the longest two hours and I'm so grateful Travis was the one driving because I trust my life in his hands when he is driving! When we reached Mason City parts of the town were under water and so many people experienced so much flooding it ruined their basements. So once I was home with the kids, Travis went back out with some other men in the ward and was gone until late helping to pump out water and rip up carpets from people's basements; once again, I feel so much gratitude to the Lord that Travis was available to go help, and that we didn't have flooding in our own basement taking up his time.

And so that was our Saturday... and to add insult to injury, they wouldn't give us our Spartan Medals or shirts for competing because we technically didn't cross the finish line, AND they ended up re-openeing the race hours later, so there is no chance of having our race credited for a future race time.

Oh well, it's really the least of our concerns, BUT.... frustrating none the less!

Play date to Abby Stephen's home

Back yard all done and cleaned up

Front yard done as well!

Maddix pitched in his game and didn't do
too bad. He also called a play and got someone
out at 2nd.

Aaron drew himself a circle to wait in!

Maddix had some great hits this game; he even hit a double

After a play day with the Cannons, the stool went out
from under his feet as he was getting off the tramp
and cut through his cheek and gums; poor kid was so sad