first earthquake...

Just a quick post to say we're all fine here after the Virginia earthquake today. It was the largest earthquake in Virginia's history and it was unlike anything I've ever experienced! What an interesting "first" today! (and apparently it was felt from Manhattan to the Carolinas!)

It happened early this afternoon while Caroline was in "room time." (where she plays in her room for one hour a day so I can get some work of my own done) I was sitting on the floor in the living room preparing music for worship at church on Sunday when I felt the floor/house begin vibrating. I guess initially it felt like a train or a huge truck was going by my house-- you know how it makes your windows vibrate? But it was more like shaking than vibrating and more continuous than that, so I immediately got up off the floor and started walking around my house looking out the windows for anything suspicious. As it continued and I heard some dishes in my kitchen rattling & clanking, the thought that this was an earthquake popped in my head, but I somewhat dismissed it thinking I live in Virginia! There's no way! Still, there was no other explanation.

As the shaking continued, I called out to Caroline in her room. "Caroline, are you alright?"

"Mommy, why is the whole house shaking?" she asked calmly. "Mommy, stop shaking the house." (ha ha! As if I am that powerful!)

I never feared for my safety. It wasn't shaking to the point that anything was falling, so the thought to evacuate and go outside never crossed my mind. (growing up in Texas where there are tornadoes, the thought of going outside during a natural disaster seems utterly ridiculous to me!)

But the remaining seconds of the shaking were enough to rattle my nerves, because it was at that moment that I realized I'm really not in control like I pretend to think I am. The earth is just NOT supposed to shake. It's not supposed to feel like you're on a bus in your house. I gotta admit, it was a little creepy and apocalyptic in that moment. At least that's how it felt to someone who's never experienced that before! What a swift, but strong reminder of the Lord's power and sovereignty.

After the shaking stopped, I checked the news websites. Nothing. Looked at my facebook newsfeed. Nothing! Am I the only one that felt that?? I thought. A second later, the first status popped up from a RUF student-- "did anyone just feel that?" followed by "woah! was that an earthquake?" followed by the most amazing volume of facebook newsfeeds I've ever seen. It didn't take but a minute to realize what had happened as everyone chimed in.

I tried calling Marc, who was meeting a student for lunch, several times. I thought he was ignoring my calls, until the 3rd or 4th call when the phone wouldn't even ring anymore due to the mass volume of calls going out at that moment on the East Coast. When I finally got in touch with him, he hadn't felt a thing! Apparently from where he was on the 3rd floor of Liberty's campus, no one there felt a thing. (he feels ripped off now) I don't think it really registered with him until he came home and Caroline told him it felt like the "floor was bouncing."

So everything & everyone's fine, but I sure don't want it to happen again! It was a little hard to relax after something like that, as you can probably imagine, but kinda cool we made national news today, eh? :)

Would love to hear your stories & experiences-- where were you during the earthquake?