What Did it Do for You?

It really has been awhile since I've put up a post on this particular blog. I've been busy keeping up my photography blog, and documenting my weight-loss journey which generally leaves me with not a whole lot more left to say.

And then the Japan quake hit.

My mind and my heart has been pondering and crying for the people of Japan since Friday morning. I can not even imagine and honestly pray I never have to imagine what they must be feeling today and what pain they have endured. This is a horrendous time for them, and many others as they await to find and hear from loved ones.

My husband is a quarter Japanese. We weren't impacted personally, however I can't help but feel there were long lost loved ones that will be forever lost to Josh's family. His sister Sara served her mission there a couple of years ago and has dear friends that still live there. That is about as close to personal injury as I have experienced myself. But I feel so much more this time.

When we were plagued with 9/11, then the Indonesian tsunami, and the earthquake in Haiti I was able to pray for the people and move on. None of these personally knocked me off my rocker. But this tragedy did.

Friday morning I was casually flipping through my facebook and came across a friends "praying for Japan" post. Huh. I continued to scroll down. A couple of minutes later someone else posted that they were upset that President Obama was on every channel and interrupting their TV show. I found this to be silly and became curious, so I went to MSN news.

I was HORRIFIED by what I saw. I watched all of the coverage up to that point and cried for what seemed to be surreal.

To back it up a couple of days my husband and I have been struggling with our car situation. We paid off our little car a year and a half early and were super proud of ourselves. Two days after we paid it off, our nice family car broke down on me. According to the mechanics nothing was wrong with it. After sinking some more money into it, it broke down again. Again- nothing wrong other then speculations. So we decided to trade it in. We traded it in for a 2007 Nissan Quest. Yes... a mini van. :) We have been saving up for a Dodge Caravan, but a lot of our money was put into the car so we decided to wait before buying a second car. When the dealership offered us about as much as we expected on the now unreliable car, we decided to jump on the super nice van. Now we were back to having just the one car payment like before- with a nicer vehicle. We were ecstatic.

Now how does this relate to the tragedy that happened in Japan? Nothing. Absolutely nothing... except for what the news covered.

What I saw and watched with tears streaming down my face was several mini vans on a bridge being completely wiped out by the tsunami. A wave they said that traveled as fast as 620 miles per hour.

Can you imagine the terror? Can you imagine what sort of impact a 620 mile wave hitting your mini van- filled with your most precious commodity in this World, your children?

This wave was so powerful it took out tankers.

How are little families inside of their tiny vehicles in comparison supposed to survive this?

They aren't.

Call me melodramatic. Call me a drama queen. But for the life of me I could not stop weeping for these lost families. I could not pull myself out of the situation.

Not personally touched by this disaster, I was still touched by it. If there is any one good thing that came out of this I'd have to say it is my testimony.

I'd like to share that here with you today.

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I am lucky enough to KNOW that my family will be together forever. We also believe that those parents that may have lost the chance of raising their children because of a child's passing will have the opportunity during the millennium to raise that child. To be the parent they never got to be. This can be because of a union made in the temple... the sealing. If sealed to your family, and living a righteous and worthy life you can be with this family FOREVER. Can you imagine? Being the mother to your beautiful little *babies forever? I find comfort in this.

Saturday morning, the day after the quake I was shopping with my best friend at a LDS thrift store- Deseret Industries. A small Filipino woman approached me and warned me to be prepared of the end. That if I am not prepared God will destroy my beautiful babies. I was absolutely horrified. This woman was obviously not a member of my faith. She continued to damn my children when I decided enough was enough.

Our religion believes that children/ people can not be held accountable for their "wrong" doing until the age of 8. A child that passes before 8 is considered pure and therefore has no sin.

This is what I said to the lady before me.

It quickly became apparent to me that this woman wasn't completely sound mentally and so I spoke with her politely, but continued to explain that my children will be fine... even if they were to be taken from me temporally. I also find comfort in this.

So here I am today. My heart still weeps and yearns for the destroyed lives and lost homes of Japan but instead of being devastated (as devastated as a bystander can be) I feel peace.

I thank the Lord every day for the knowledge that I have. I thank the Lord for the blessings I have... but most of all? I thank the Lord for the time I have with my children and family.

Each moment. Each argument. Each chore. Every single thing that I deal with is a gift. A gift for me to experience and savor.

And for that... I find comfort.

Love Nichole

*We believe we will have the opportunity to raise our lost children during the millennium... this means that they will have the chance to "grow up" and experience other things for themselves as well. They won't remain our babies- but my children will always be MY babies... :) I just thought I should clarify...