Friday, April 08, 2011

Shikata Ga Nai

Michael got home at 10:30 last night - full day of chapel ministry, planning disaster relief etc. I had been thinking a lot yesterday about the fact that I was "supposed to be in TX" and had chosen to cancel the ticket as I didn't feel right leaving the children.

Around 11:00 p.m. I signed off Facebook and we headed to bed....

Then the earth shook! And I mean rolled a while, then SHOOK up and down, and rolled some more.  Umm....I was on the toilet this time....and I could hear things rattling and crashing...and Mike yelling to the kids, "Stay put, don't go downstairs".....I decided if the house was going to fall apart I did not want to be on the throne when it happened. The power went out...I staggered to the recliner at the top of our stairs and waited it out while watching the rest of the family in doorways....the phones went out...we covered the fridge and freezer....checked our home for damage...checked homes in the neighborhood, calmed children,  and went to sleep.

It was a 7.4 earthquake. We went out to get in the car to hear the AFN news....and could see lots of folks heading for the base and the loudspeakers warning of a tsunami. Michael finds it quite funny that he KNEW for the briefest of seconds I was considering heading down to the beach. In fact, I was near the car when he came back from checking the neighborhood and he said, "Absolutely not..."..... I innocently said, "Whhhhhaaaattt?"

We awoke this a.m. still without power. I took Jared in to the chapel for an event. I spent a couple of hours trying to make phone calls to the states.

We settled in for another round of camping at home...but the power is now back on.  We live within 50 miles of a reactor. It was NOT damaged in the "great earthquake," but when these hit, they shut down the reactors and then slowly bring them back online. When they shut it down, we have no power.

Not much else to share...I had just quit the vertigo thing  I seem to have when the earth is moving under my feet every few hours. The last few days had been quiet. Some think we may have another big one in a couple days as that is the pattern of March 11th....I thought it quite funny to go to the EFAC (where they provide phones) and see the long lines in the Cafe that adjoins it....seems when an earthquake hits Misawa we head for coffee and pizza.

Which reminds me, Mike has just called to say he's bringing pizza and company home for dinner. I'm off.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...