A Morning in the Life of The Lindners...Amidst an Earthquake.

The following takes place between 7:00 am and 8:00 am CST (Read with Jack Bauer's voice). The times are all approximate because nobody was looking at the clock. Events are portrayed from Jenna's perspective.

7:00 Matthew wakes up at his usual time, slapping his bare feet as he runs down the hall. He does this every single morning.

7:30 I finally dose back to sleep.

7:45 Mom announces"we are having an earthquake". I am startled awake and immediately say no we're not only to find that my bed is indeed swaying and my heart is racing.

7:45:15 Dad yells from the living room that we are having an earthquake, his warning more startling than the first.

7:45:30 Mad race begins to get a family of 8 (including the dog) down 16 flights of stairs and outside.

Viewer/Reader discretion now partially advised.

7:46 Frantically in search of pants and boulder holders (there are 4 women in our home) so I can go get the baby (Zachary, our foster boy) up. Also mentally preparing myself for the very messy diaper he presents us with every morning.

7:48 Mom is getting a bottle prepared as Dad gets Matthew dressed and grabs the Passports. Emma gets the leash on the dog and Abby grabs umbrellas (we noticed is was pouring outside).

7:49 I was successful in changing Zachary's diaper and getting him dressed. Now begins our descent.

7:51 Made it down 16 flights of stairs with 3 adults, 2 teenagers, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, stroller, umbrellas, passports, a diaper bag and are now amongst quite a few people huddled under the overhang above the apartment building entrance (I am not a morning person and don't think well that early and without my coffee so I was unable to capture a picture during the huddle, my apologies).

7:51:30 Matthew, huge smile on face, announces "Look! Everybody is here"

7:53 We have 3 baby bottles and 3 covers, 1 of which Zachary refuses to drink from...we grabbed that 1. Cranky, hungry baby...check.

7:55 Matthew comes back to the shelter of the overhang after enjoying some jumps in the puddles. He was a happy camper.

7:56 Dad comes back from the front store with news of the location of the earthquake. Gansu province, about 300 miles NW of us.

7:57 Really wishing we had time to brush our teeth, morning breath started to overtake us.

We headed back up after about 25 minutes knowing we were in no imminent danger. Pretty proud of our 4 minute evacuation considering a majority of us were awoken mid-sleep. As I began typing this post, our earthquake warner (lights above our kitchen table) started to sway. We thought it was maybe an aftershock. We had things packed and ready for descent number 2, but decided we were ok after the swaying duration lasted for only 15 seconds.

Thankful for God's protection and praying for the areas affected more severely from this earthquake.

Also thankful for my Mom's preparedness amidst the the chaos as she started handing out cheese crackers to our fellow huddle mates.