Local footage found on YouTube:
When Jordan's sister came home from volleyball, she asked if I'd heard the tornado sirens going off. Right away, I walked over to the back door and sure enough, they were sounding. I glanced over at Jordan and saw that her eyes were open wide, but I hurried to turn on the radio & tv first ... "Just a minute Jordan." Jordan caught up with me as I pulled up our local radar ... "Jordan, just a second, honey"... on the computer firing questions about taking shelter in the closet, the pets and other things ... "honey, just a second, please" ... which I don't think I heard. I kept turning up the radio volume trying to hear where the tornado was located ... "Mommy, that's really rude to turn up the radio when I'm trying to ask you a question!" ... but Jordan's voice got louder as she was now dissolving into tears.
It is difficult to prepare a child like this in advance when there is little advance warning. Had I known at the time we were not going to get hit during this tornado warning, I would have comforted her and answered all of her questions to minimize her sensory onslaught. Instead, I continued to gather more about our weather situation, however I knew from experience, that I needed to be keenly aware of Jordan's presence and how any apparent (or even the perception of my) anxiety would add to her heightened level of stress. What *did* actually help her was logging into the weather app that she has on my older iPhone. In my opinion, this gave her a sense of control and allowed her to see real-time radar which fed her hunger for immediate information.
Thank you Lord for sparing us on this tornadic afternoon & evening.
"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13 NIV
