M I A.....

I've been Missing in action for a while now and for any of you that don't know we had a devastating earthquake in my city on the 22nd February. We are safe and well, as of today we still don't have a working toilet but we do have power and water.

My heart is heavy and I am finding this quake a lot harder to deal with than our one is September. We lost a lot more than buildings this time, we lost a lot of people and it is so heartbreaking. Our life right now doesn't resemble much normality but we are so very grateful that we have our life.

The children are doing well, now that the aftershocks have subsided somewhat, our biggest issue is routine. Everything we usually do is closed, for how long I don't know, so no swimming, gymnastics, kindergarten, library etc. It's been a challenge to keep them busy and engaged, let's face it I'm just not that interesting! So we have started some homeschool work until things work themselves out. The Kindergarten building may need to be demolished so they are looking for something temporary. In some ways being at home is a blessing, because traveling on the roads right now (a lot are very damaged) can be super stressful. When you are out in it, it can be overwhelming and exhausting and I really am trying to limit how much of it the children see.

The first two weeks after I was still fairly numb, just getting through each day... my mind is a lot clearer now and I know we just need to put one foot in front of the other. It's going to take a long time but I am here for the long haul. Like I've said before it might be a pile of rubble but it's our pile of rubble.

Thanks dear friends for all your messages of concern and love, I really appreciated it.
When things were in a lot of turmoil, I really felt held up by a lot of you.
Thanks so very much and God bless
Hayley