For the second time in our life, we experienced an earthquake. It occurred at 8:04 Saturday, April 20. It was a 6.7. The epicenter was 70 miles from our city. Cameron and Laura Cate were playing in their room, Alan as getting William up, and I was reading in bed. I thought the kids had snuck in and were shaking my bed, but when I realized the kids were not in our room I ran into our hallway and met Alan. Thankfully, we have always had an evacuation plan of what to take and who is responsible for what. I held onto William, Alan took the big kids and we huddled inside a door frame and prayed like crazy. The building was swaying and cabinets were opening and closing. I wondered if we would be able to get out safely. It lasted what felt like FOREVER. It felt like two waves. I think it actually lasted 1.5 minutes, which really is a long time for earthquakes. The whole time I kept thinking what if our building collapses?? We live on the 7th floor on the top of a building without an elevator, so after the earthquake stopped we grabbed our evacuation bag (with money, passports, etc), shoes, some water and ran down the stairs in our pajamas. Everyone in our complex was outside. We eventually all went back home and continued to experience aftershocks. The last one was recorded at 11:30 a.m. Nothing in our apartment was damaged, but things were disheveled and pictures were crooked. There are no reports of major damage in our city, but at the epicenter at least ten people died and buildings collapsed. Please pray for them! The aftershocks were a little unnerving so we decided to go to a park and play and then out for lunch to celebrate my birthday (yesterday). I was so thankful to be with my family and be safe and unharmed. Praise the Lord.
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| Laura Cate was scared and cold |
