We had just gotten home last Saturday night around 8 p.m. and by 8:30 p.m., our two massive trees had blown over, barely missing our house. It was a whirlwind, to say the least (see what I did there?). I had just put our youngest to sleep in his room upstairs, which is on the front side of the house. The older two were watching TV in our living room, also on the front side of the house. As I was coming down the stairs from putting Wade to bed, Knox started screaming “Mom! Mom! Mom!” in a scared, shaky voice. I ran downstairs to make sure they were safe and saw this huge tree in front of our windows and porch. My husband was just outside so my fear was that the boys watched their dad get smashed by a 75 foot evergreen. Grant came running inside certain that the trees had fallen on the house and hurt us. Thankfully, we were all safe, but we proceeded to our storm cellar to wait out the massive gusts of wind that followed.

That next morning, Knox gets up, gets dressed and gets his wagon from the shop. He has his work gloves on and starts picking up sticks and branches and throws them in the wagon. Otis starts picking up pinecones, and Wade toddles behind. These boys that were so scared and frightened the night before, decide to lace up their boots and help us get to work. They saw something that needed to be fixed, and then went for it. To say my heart was a puddle is an understatement.

What happened next still continues to amaze me. People showed up to our house with chainsaws, tractors, trailers, rakes, work boots and gloves. We didn’t expect anyone, and instead we got everyone. Our yard was a disaster and something that would have taken us several days to complete on our own was done in a matter of hours. Another dear friend offered to go pick up lunches for everyone and once the work was done we spent the afternoon sharing some laughs over Subway sandwiches and Coors Light.

Those of you who live in town also got to experience this feeling last week. Time and time again I have seen this community come together to help one another. I should never be shocked by it because Haxtun is full of amazing people, but every time something like this happens I am in awe. Matthew 22:39 reads “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and I can see and feel that when our community comes together to help each other. I am so thankful that I get to raise my children in a community that steps up for one another and that for at least 18 years of their lives they will be surrounded by people who are willing to go above and beyond for others when times get hard.

Thank you to all the people who stopped by to help us, all the people who helped with cleanup in town and other properties in the area, the Town of Haxtun Crew, HEA and all the other various crews that came to restore our community last week.

Your tireless work is appreciated!

Editor’s note: A portion of this column is a paid advertisement.