Some of you may be wondering whether we are safe or not, following the recent spate of earthquakes in the Kumamoto area of Japan. We are grateful to say that we are all alive and well. A few items fell off shelves and shook us up a bit, but that’s the extent of it.

We felt a longer, violent shake around 9:30 p.m. (Thurs. night – Apr. 14). That’s when the stuff fell down. Norman, Chloe, and I had experienced a similar tremor back in language school 13 years ago. But this time around, the aftershocks kept coming and kept coming. Our family stayed up until 11:30 p.m., waiting for the tremors to stop, but we finally went to bed. Our sleep was interrupted a lot. It seemed like every 15-30 minutes another tremor would occur, rattling the windows and doors of our old Japanese house.

Melodie particularly didn’t care for the noise and uncertainty of things. She would grip the arm of whomever was closest! Our intern, Amanda, had a new adventure in Japan! It was an unforgettable night. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts.