Earthquake Update

This is an article from our newsletter we put out last week. If you did not receive it and would like us put you on our email list, please let us know. (The picture is just a random picture of zoo day at Xavier's preschool)

As we were writing this newsletter we were interrupted by a significant earthquake. It happened around 2:45 pm northeast of Tokyo. Christy, Terence and Xavier were at home at the time. Willem and Tai were still at school. It was the strongest earthquake we have ever felt. Xavier was a little worried. Truthfully, Terence and I were too. As the boys would soon be coming home from school we decided to go to the train station and head to their school to meet them. On our way to the station Willem called to let us know that they were OK. Even though the trains were stopped and cell phone lines were busy causing difficulty getting through, people were very calm and orderly.

Because the trains were still not running that night, the boys (and many other kids) ended up spending the night at their school with teachers. Terence managed to get out to the school the next day and pick them up. Christy and Xavier went to one of the preschool graduations. I was a little surprised it wasn' t canceled but is was a blessings to see all the hopeful faces of the graduates after so many images of destruction.

Sunday it seemed that everything was back to normal with another graduation, then to church and teacher' s after graduation party. Here we were touched by the quiet strength exhibited in the Japanese people in reaction to the earthquake, but also as the teachers tearfully said goodbye to students and some coworkers. On Sunday night we found out that the boys school would be closed for several days and there would be scheduled blackouts and train service disruptions to help conserve energy. By Monday a new crisis was beginning troubles at the nuclear plant getting greater and causing much worry. Also, we began to see shortages of some items in the stores.

It is now Monday night for us. The boys will not go back to school until April 4. Their school has implemented online schooling. We are all safe. We are doing some teaching when the classes are not cancelled. We have not experienced any power outages, although we have prepared for them. We are trying to keep perspective on the situation at the nuclear plants by reading a variety of news sources. We are more than 170 miles from any at risk areas at this point. We know there are a lot of ifs out there, but we also know that we are in God' s hands.