Sick of the Storms!

So this is my blog right!? And I'm not being graded and theoretically not being judged for the thoughts I post-right?  Well here goes...yesterday was Dad's visitation, yes Dad passed away, on Father's Day of all days. He is no longer suffering, and our suffering on a nearly 17 year long roller coaster ride has come to an end. Or has it? In the midst of the 6 hour long visitation, Jonny and I snuck outside for a brief break from the crowds. When I say crowds I mean crowds, my uncle & cousin estimated that throughout the day we had nearly 500 people in attendance!!! Insane!  It was an amazing show of support for our family and my father's amazing legacy! Regardless though you can understand why I needed some air, so as I said we were standing outside, when suddenly in the midst of the peaceful moment, sirens started blaring. Storm sirens. And they just kept coming! So we headed in to the funeral director's office and he confirmed that it was in fact a tornado warning. We joked with him privately about the fact that in leu of no basement we would just take cover in the casket room...just snuggle in to a casket and shut the lid for cover. He was a great guy that has really kept us sane this week with his humor or I guess acceptance of our strange coping humor.  We spread the word to family keeping it private from my mom, not long after Kenny-the funeral director came out and assured me that the warnings were called off. Our close family and friends joked about the irony of all of it and went on visiting. But just as the night was coming to an end and I was sitting with a close friend, exhausted, wishing we could just all go home and rest, Kenny came back in and sweetly yet very seriously said, it's worse! He told me actual tornado's had touched down and that the storm would hit is in about 15 minutes. Close friends and family waited in the hallway while we, My mother, brother & myself, said goodbye and prayed over my father's casket. And then we headed home to my Mom's house. We spend the next couple of hours in the cluttered basement, with gathered up chairs and old handicapped shower seats of dad's-we used what was available.  We tried to keep my 3 1/2 year old nephew entertained, but as you can imagine he was crazy restless after they day we'd just had. My best friend was with us with her 8 month old son, and yes she's pregnant again and was trying to pretend not to be exhausted and ready to get to the house/bed she would actually be sleeping in.  A close friend of Eric & Daphne's (my brother & sister-in-law) watched the internet feed of a local tv weatherman wondering when it would be safe to drive back to her home in Lexington, where her dog was waiting for her.  Did I mention my sister-in-law just gave birth 12 days ago! Yes, she was holding my newest nephew and also exhausted and I'm sure hiding physical pain because of a C-section just 12 days ago! And then there was my Mom, snuggled up in an old recliner we covered with a sheet to keep her away from the cobwebs and dust the basement is covered in.  All of this after a day of standing near the casket of our deceased father, husband, grandfather, friend.  By the end of the night, I just wanted the storms to end, both LITERALLY and figuratively. I couldn't help but ask, "God, why does everything have to be so complicated!"  Haven't we had enough!?
The storms passed, we found our beds, that is afer Jonny & I had to chase down our dog who refused to come in for the night-again-complicated!
Today we have the day off, Dad's body will return to ashes, tomorrow we will commit those ashes to the earth. And tomorrow evening we celebrate a risen Lord and the life of an amazing servant that now lives in heavenly worship of our Lord. I pray now that tomorrow really will feel like resurrection day...and that the storms really will be calmed by our amazing Savior.
Thanks for reading friends.

ps. This may sound like a selfish prayer request but Jonny & I actually had plans to get away for a vacation this Saturday to a condo in Maine. It's already paid for and now if someone else doesn't rent it we will lose all the money!  We could try and still go after the weekend, we have it for a week, but driving from here it would be nearly 20 hours! We have our dog and jeep so we have to drive back to NJ regardless. This would have been the first vacation time my husband has taken that didn't involve the stresses of my family illnesses in the 2 years we've lived in NJ!  We don't know what to do! If you know anyone who wants a last minute vacation here's the beautiful website.