The Day our World "SHOOOK"

It was January 12, 2010, a very busy day for us. Brandon had bible college until noon and I had a ladies' bible study to go to with missionary ladies. That Sunday night we had discussed our grocery shopping for the week as we usually do it on Tuesday morning while Bailee is doing school with her teacher Kerline. However, I knew our schedule was super busy and would not get to the store until after supper on Tuesday evening. We discussed it and decided to have supper early on Monday evening and go then. I really didn't like the idea because it is usually very unstocked from the busy weekend but I decided to let my husband make that call and went with it. To take you back just a little bit, we had only been back in Haiti for six months after being home on furlough, and the birth of our baby boy for a year. We had been struggling with the next step in our ministry as the church we had been working in had been given over to the national pastor who was doing a wonderful job. We had been praying so hard for a clear leading, and the start of January had felt like a start for us as we had assurance of where and who we should begin our ministry. We had also been discussing the need of a bigger house. That Tuesday morning, I sat with Brandon and said, "I want you to know that I want our ministry to come first, and house second. I love my home and, even though it is a tad too small, and we have no yard, I am happy and content to stay for another year so we can find a rental building to start our work." To make it official, we took out paint and started painting Kofee's room! I was soo excited. I don't know if it was age or knowing I was done having kids or just God giving me that perfect peace in my heart; I was so content and happy to be in Haiti and in God's perfect will! I went to Bible study and had a wonderful time with all the ladies, some of whom was the last time I saw them before the earthquake separated us to different parts of the states. I returned home and started painting with Brandon and then headed downstairs to fix supper. We all enjoyed supper together and I washed all the dishes and we were headed back up to try to finish Kofee's room, but got sidetracked by playing with the kids and having a good time. I started hearing a noise like our big iron gate was opening, and then the ground underneath our feet started hopping, it was like someone was jacking up our house and dropping it straight down. Glass was shattering all around us and we could hear things crumbling outside our walls. It was the most terrifying 45 seconds of my entire life. It is hard to type this for tears that cloud my eyes. It took a little while to even think what it could be and head for outside, but because our wall has been moved in, it is right up against our house and the only way out was next to the car. Brandon stopped before any one of us could exit and told us we would have to stay indoors. Our car was hopping all around and he didn't want us to be trapped by our car. I remember hovering over my precious children and praying that God would protect us. After the longest 45 seconds of my life, I layed out flat on the floor and just screamed and screamed and screamed. I can remember looking up from the floor with Brandon and the girls standing over me with the expression of "what in the world are you doing??" I quickly recovered and jumped up. This part of the quake was over but we had yet to see what awaited us outside of our walls.