Tsunami #2

Another scare. Another evacuation. Another sleepless night. Another practice. Another grateful heart, or two, or three, or few hundred thousand...

We are very grateful that we received no damage on our side of the island. There were a couple of Hawaiian islands that received minimal damage, but we came away unscathed.

The TV is showing a live view of the water as it had retracted- those rocks and the coral you see are ALWAYS under water. So that is interesting to see how far back the ocean receded. And there is that idiot walking around. Wasn't it like the 9th wave that did all the damage in Japan? Something like that. Just goes to show you don't want to be THAT idiot caught in a later wave when the first few seem perfectly safe!

This is where we stayed for the night. We had this one room in a vacation rental up the road from us. There were two women and their niece staying there on holiday from Canada. Our friends live in the bottom portion of the house and these women offered for anyone to come stay if needed! It was very generous of them. Of course, they were a little freaked out by what was going on- so having my crazy kids run around all night was actually fun for them and they were able to relax :)
My kids didn't last long in this room. They were way too wired. But as you can see, Ryan took full advantage of the nice, comfy bed!
This is about 6:30 am after we were awake ALL night! We pulled our kids out of bed around 1:30 am to head up the road.

finally

Our dear friend, Bethany and her daughter, Eliza up bright and early! Thanks again Taylor and Bethany!
Of course we brought David and Danielle along (David is Ryan's bro.) They have been living practically on the beach so they HAD to leave as well.
Our car is the white SUV out there in the grass. And the ocean is about a quarter mile out from there. So we felt pretty safe :)
This is back at our home later that morning. Of course, I'm stuck being awake if River is awake. BUT once he was asleep for a nap- I passed out too!
Kolea is our poster child for this event. She was fresh out of the shower and obviously SO exhausted she fell right to sleep on our bathroom floor!!

It was another tiring yet educational event. We learn more each time. I've been into preparedness lately and I was actually glad to have another trial run. Although we are extremely fortunate that we had so many hours of preparation. It took us about 4-5 hours to do everything we wanted to do.

However, we need to be able to grab the essentials in a matter of minutes if needed. And that is another post for another day. If I were computer savvy I would post pictures from Japan's Tsunami. My pictures are equivalent to marshmallows, cupcakes, and cotton candy compared to the raw nature of what they went through and continue to suffer today. Please remember them in your prayers. Find ways to help and contribute to ease their suffering. And say a prayer of thanks that you are not suffering in the same capacity.

What did I lose that day? A few hours of "precious" sleep. What did they lose??? Everything. Including THOUSANDS and thousands of lives.

Are you prepared?