How Blessed We Are

I'll post about our amazing Bohol weekend when I get home and download all of the pictures. But something big has happened here in the Pacific and I feel the need to write about it.

Friday afternoon Michelle was packing for her trip home and had posted on facebook, as we all do these days, about what she should do in Tokyo during her layover the next morning. We then learned, by comments, that the airports in Japan were closed following a 8.9 earthquake. Many of the airports were dealing with damage, while some were completely submerged following the tsunami (or "salami" as Kaitlyn calls it). Her flight was cancelled until Sunday night, instead of Friday as planned.

A little crazy, Keven Todd and Michelle were trying to decide what day she should fly out, Thursday night, or Friday night. They chose Friday. Had they gone with Thursday, Michelle would have been inside the airport when the earthquake hit. I am so grateful that they listened to the quiet promptings of the Spirit.

But, even more stressful than the cancelled flight, was the next danger facing us. The news reports informed us that the entire Pacific was under a tsunami warning. The earthquake had ticked off the whole ocean and the Philippines were suspected to be hit in the next 2 to 4 hours. Cebu is somewhat land locked for an island. We are shielded from the sea by several other islands. But we honestly didn't know how safe we were from the killer waves. The news stations were rightly focused on Japan. Here in the Philippines there are no public service announcements, so all we had to turn to for information was the international news.

For several hours we stayed glued to the TV, going through every possible scenario. what would we do if we were hit by a tsunami? What if we were unable to leave our house for a few days? How would we know? Would we have any warning? Our poor family back in Utah got a horrible wake up call, and I doubt they got much sleep.

In the end we were completely untouched. Several provinces were evacuated, but there was no major damage. Around 9:00 Friday night we were released from the tsunami warning. And I went to bed with such gratitude and fear for the Japanese people. My family and I were safe and sound. But there were thousands of people suffering on an island just north of us. I am eternally grateful that we were spared from such tragedy, I am so humbled by the knowledge of what could have happened. I hope and pray that all those who are missing or injured, and the families of all involved will be able to find peace, and to rebuild.