Happy Birthday, Dad

We celebrated my Dad's 80th birthday last weekend. I loved having us all together. It may have been a party for him, but I think we all got a present of memories.

All of his children and grandchildren were there except for the three young men on missions. So we had them represented in cardboard form.

One big happy family!!

I can now breathe!

As you have probably heard, on Tuesday, September 29, a magnitude 8.3 quake struck off Samoa at 6:48 a.m. local time. The islands felt the earthquake and about 15 minutes later the islands were engulfed by four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet high that reached up to a mile inland. It appears that American Samoa was hit hard as was the south side of Upolu.

My son, Andrew, is an LDS missionary in Pago Pago on American Samoa. The stories I have been hearing from some of the other missionary moms have been scary. Elders climbing trees to avoid the water, homes moved off of the foundation with missionaries inside, cars washed around like pin balls with missionaries inside, and missionaries on a ferry in the ocean during the earthquake/ tsunami. It is truly miraculous that every single missionary is safe.

Andrew called home to assure us of his safety and emailed us details today. He said that having never experienced an earthquake--he watched Elder Pepe jump over the bed and under the table and just sit there. After watching him under the table for about 30 seconds, Elder Pepe said "come under the table lest you get hit by a falling ceiling..." (translated exactly) So Andrew moved under the table.

I am so grateful for the safety of all the missionaries.