Parties and Earthquakes

The season is upon us! Lots of Air Force events, parties, and fun with our new friends/family in Japan. Last week we had Dan's Ops Group Christmas party and the Bealls won a new waterproof "Bloggie" camera. Just what we needed because I have managed to ruin 4 of our last 4 nice cameras! We were excited.

The kids are in Santa mode and can't wait to open presents. It has been hard to keep them out from underneath the tree. My mom can't stand it anymore and will be visiting most of the month of January. I CAN'T WAIT! Gah, I miss my mom, dad, and sister/brother in law soooo very much. This is a terrific experience for us four and we are loving each moment of it but being away from our precious family is tough.

What isn't tough is getting to enjoy the S-N-O-W!!!! This place continues to awe me with how it turns into a Winter Wonderland with each snow fall.

I experienced my first Japanese earthquake the night of the Christmas party. I had just gotten out of the shower, Dan and Noah were out at the Tree lighting ceremony on base, and Elly had just awakened from a marathon (typical) nap. I was literally wearing nothing but my Spanx when I got a siren alert on my phone in Japanese that had a picture of a man running..... What in the world, I thought.

Not 15 seconds later, the house began to sway and shake and groan. I kid you not, I thought I was dreaming. I threw on a t-shirt, still in my Spanx only, grabbed our 2 year old and held her tightly under the door frame of our bedroom. I just started praying and pleading the Blood of Jesus all over us, our home, my husband and son who were outside and then my mind shifted to all the thousands of people killed/affected by the earth quake in Southern Japan last year. I thought "what in the heck am I still doing inside?!" while things fell all around us.

I ran down the stairs shouting for God to protect us and straight out of the door... into the falling snow.... with all of our neighbors (high ranking officers and families) around us... with my babe in arms.... IN MY SPANX!!!! I squatted on the porch in a tshirt and Spanx and prayed that a) we'd be safe and b) that no one would see me! After about 3-4 minutes, the earthquake stopped and Elly looked at me and said "mommy, why you in your underwears?" HAHAHA!!!!!

It registered at 7.8 magnitude off of the coast (about 10 miles from our home). So what we felt registered at just under 5 magnitude in strength. No joke! We were fine but I was definitely in the throes of laughter and fright!! I also got a lot of "welcome to Japan" comments that night at the party.

It has been sad not to get a lot of Christmas cards this year - a favorite of mine during the holidays. But I know it is because people think we have a foreign mailing address. It only takes a stamp though since we are on an American military installation. I didn't know that till we moved here - I thought postage would cost a fortune!

On the other hand, I did order our Christmas cards from Shutterfly mid-November and they still aren't here!!!! I had to place a complaint and they re-sent them... haven't gotten those either. So I can't complain because ours havent gone out either :(
Love you all and miss you tremendously