I am aware that I have not blogged in a while, but the last few weeks have been very busy. Easter Sunday came (April 4Th) and we were really looking forward to it. I love it when Easter and my church's General Conference fall on the same day/weekend. It was so nice. The kids got up and saw what the Easter Bunny had brought them, we made some orange and cinnamon rolls (two different types of rolls, not one) and watched conference. The kids did pretty good at staying awake and not fighting. It was nice. So, 3:30 comes along and James leaves for work. I am sitting on the couch in the living room and the kids are in my room watching some movie on t.v. All of a sudden I feel an earthquake. At first it felt like it was just going to be around a 4.o (yes, I can tell you how big or small an earthquake was almost to the point. That means that we have them too often, wouldn't you agree?). So, I say to the kids 'We are having an earthquake, come on'. We head to our designated earthquake area (right in front of our bedroom door under a small alcove). I shut the door and took down the Family Home Evening plaque hanging on the wall (don't want to get bonked in the head). So, the kids are huddled around me when all of a sudden I am aware that this is not going to be one of our regular earthquakes. All of a sudden the shaking intensified. We heard loud crashes, glass breaking, watched the tv fall on the ground. My bedroom door flew open (which caused my dog to run through it to outside on the patio). I quickly shut the door again and we heard this loud 'gugugugugugugugugugugugugugu'. It sounded like an extremely loud machine gun. It was the sound our building made as it was shaking back and forth. I still have nightmares about the sound and feel. My kids were screaming and I kept saying (calmly, I might add) 'It is going to be okay' but in my head I was screaming 'Oh my word! Stop shaking When will this nightmare end?!'. Part of the way through the shaking I heard my friend and neighbor Yvette screaming my name from our doorway with quite a bit of panic in it. I quickly let her know we were okay and I quickly rushed the kids outside. I then turned around, ran inside and got my dog. (it was still shaking) When James found out he was so mad at me. He told me not to put my life at risk for a dog, he would find a place to hide. The earthquake lasted for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. It certainly felt much longer. It was the worst and most frightening experience I had ever had and unfortunately it was not over yet. As we stood out in the courtyard neighbors began spilling out of their apartments completely terrified. Some women were crying. Everyone was shaking and the aftershocks just kept coming. I kept trying to get through to James and I could not reach him. I was so afraid that something had happened to him. I called my mom and finally got through to her to let all of my family know what had just happened. I then got a call from James so I got off the phone with my mom to talk to him. He was fine and checked to make sure we were okay. I had not yet gone in to our apt so I was not aware really of all of the damage. We both thought it would be okay for him to stay at work. I then went in to the apartment to get some items that we (Yvette and I) thought were necessary, i.e. birth certificates, immunization records etc. Every time I ran in to get something we would have another earthquake and so I would go running outside. I came out one time and saw my next door neighbor standing in her walkway bawling her head off as a river over water flowed out of her door over her feet. It was a terrible sight. I ran in to Parker's bedroom and saw water everywhere! I could not believe it! My friend Adam (Yvette's husband) tried to turn off the water outside but it did not stop it. Turns out it was the pipes to our fire system that had busted and was just flowing in to one of the lady's bedrooms, which happened to be right next to Parker's. The water just kept flowing and before long it was seeping through our walls. Not just underneath, but through them. The kids rooms filled up quickly with water and it moved in to our bathrooms, hall, living room and started on the dinning room and our master bedroom. So, now Yvette and I were scrambling to get some clothes and shoes for the kids and me and James. We had no idea when we would be able to get back in or what would happen. I kept trying to get a hold of James and when I finally did he was so calm saying that it would be fine and he didn't need to come home. I have to say I kind of yelled at him that he needed to get home because our place was flooding and I didn't know what to do. He called his supervisor and came home immediately. It is a good thing he did. I am not sure what we would have done without him. He called to city to have them come and turn the water off (they got here 10 minutes after he called them). Now, don't ask me why we didn't think to call them. The earthquake was so terrifying, every body's kids were scared, my girls were crying, adults were crying. I think we had all lost our minds, I certainly did. All I kept thinking was 'We don't have any water. We don't have any water. What are we going to do?'. I was on the phone with my mom (again) and she said that my brother Chris looked it up and said it was a 5.0 and I said 'no way'. He looked again and said 'oh no, it was a 6.0'. I said that there was not way that is what it was. It turns out it was a hard (who knew that came in small, hard, etc.) 7.2. Whoa! James was finally able to get a hold of our apt managers. As soon as the first earthquake ended they left. Nice. He told them about the apartment flooding and that we needed a place to stay. There was an apartment right by ours that they said we could use. We moved a few things in there and another neighbor gave us a blowup mattress for James and I to use. That night the kids were so afraid to go to sleep. We put them in the living room and us in the master. Part way through the night Kylee came in crying because she was afraid. I had her sleep with us for a bit and then I moved her back in with the kids. A few minutes later I heard her talking in her sleep saying 'There's an earthquake, there's an earthquake'. Poor girl. We had several more large aftershocks that night. James and I ended up moving our bed in with the kids to help them and me.
The next day we were trying to get things cleaned out of our apartment so that they could start cleaning up the mess that was our home. We had to throw away a bunch of books, games, some dressers etc, but we were trying to save as much as possible. With the help of our friends, Adam and Yvette, we got most of the furniture and clothes moved out and another neighbor came to help with moving out of all of the rest of the stuff in the kids rooms. I am not sure what we would have done without all of them helping us. They were truly a blessing to us. The carpet guys came to inspect the carpet and the walls and informed us that it would be several weeks before we could move in. We had a friend take our kids to a movie while we were cleaning and James and I ran to wash all of our wet stuff so that it didn't get all mildewy (is that a word?). We did not have water yet or electricity because of the flooding, so we headed to a laundromat. While we were there I received a phone call from our apt manager who informed me that we were not supposed to have 'moved' into the other apartment. They thought we were just using it for the bathroom, which made no sense seeing as how there was no water there either, and we needed to move out. I quickly told her she would need to speak to my husband. I am not really sure what he said (I moved away) but he got off the phone after a minute, she called him right back and informed him that we could stay there. When we got back to the apts our neighbors (who also had been flooded) told us that the managers told her that we would be moving back in to our apt the next day and they could move in to where we were staying. Now, do you remember me saying that our place would not be done for a couple of weeks and they wanted us to move in to the wet, mucky mess? Well, James marched over to the office (which was closed early), pounded on the door until they opened and informed them that we would not be moving back in to our apt until it was finished and we had a health inspector in to make sure it was safe and they were not to try and make us move or touch our stuff until that time.
So, before the horrible quake, we had plans to take the kids to Disneyland, etc on the Tuesday following Easter. Everything was already paid for (hotel, etc.) and we were sure we would not be able to go. I could not believe the timing. However, we were out of our apt with nothing to do but wait for it to dry and get cleaned. The kids and I were terrified of being in El Centro (the quakes just kept rolling on in) and James had the time off of work. We decided to get the heck out of Dodge. We had just had so much trauma and craziness that we thought it might be good for all of us to get away. So, on Tuesday afternoon we left. We had strict rules about mentioning the earthquake. That was not allowed. Kylee would burst in to tears at the mention of the word and the girls are still all terrified to go in to any room without me or James and the twins make sure that they stay together. We were gone for 5 days and it was extremely beneficial for the kids and us. On our way back in to town I looked at James, started to cry (the kids were asleep) and said that I did not want to come back home, I was afraid to be there and I didn't want him to leave me to go to work. I totally felt like one of the kids.
While we were gone we found out our insurance doesn't cover earthquakes and because the flood was caused by the earthquake none of that was covered. :( We also come home to having to try to clean more things up. It has been 12 days since the earthquake and we are still not all in. We are finally able to sleep in our apt but nothing is really put away because we can't bring our furniture in because they have not finished working on the walls. So, we are between two apartments living in a gigantic mess. I hate messes. I am really hoping that by mid week next week we are back and put away, but really, at this point, who knows what will happen. There has also been some damage in El Centro and Calexico. Our library is still closed, we have many other building still closed. Our church was closed on Sunday because of damage. All of downtown Calexico is closed and many building condemned, bowling alley closed, movie theaters closed. Homes have had roofs cave in , etc. The kids are having earthquake drills daily (Kylee's class twice a day, which she hates because it scares her to death). Here is what I do know. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the safety and protection of my family and friends. It could have all been so much worse and I am truly grateful it wasn't. I am also grateful for the help of my friends that live by us and the love, support and prayers of family and friends back home. Thanks to all of you who have called, written on Facebook, prayed for us and helped in anyway. It truly was felt and appreciated.
Here are some pictures of some of the damage. The top ones were actually as they were cleaning up, but I can't figure out how to get them to move to the bottom.
This is as they were trying to clean up the carpets.
This was the nasty culprit! It shot water on to the bed for over an hour.
This is one of the walls where the water not only came in under the wall but through it as well.
This is some of the damage along our dining room window.
This is above our hall.
After much of the water had drained, we took some pictures in Parker's room. You can see the water at James feet, but in front of them by the Operation game is a huge water carpet bubble. They were all over our floors.
Our poor bathroom.
The water moving in to our room. Can you see the water coming from under the closet wall?
This white spot was actually a water bubble. Carpet was all bubbled up from the water underneath it.
You can see some of the water under the drawers.
You can see the water starting to move in. Eventually it filled the whole room, moved in to the dinning room and our bedroom.
This is what Parker's bedroom looked like from the door. I am so glad he wasn't in there!
This is the girls room. You can see the water has started moving in to the room.
The water moved pretty quickly in to our living room.
