Looking back.....

Almost a year since the 7.1 Sep quake, that had changed our lives forever.

As I sit here writing this blog, I still struggle to come to terms with all that has happened.
On the eve of the quake, I remember crying, laughing and enjoying life and the people that God had blessed with me.

Now I sit here dazed and confused, still processing all that has happened since then. Before Sep 4th an earthquake was a misfortune we read about that happened to others.... not us.

When the ground moved that day, it seriously felt like my heart was in my ass. I had let fear steal all my sleep, and I realised how important water and torches were and how much of a blessing it is when you can drink tap water, flush a toilet and inhale fresh air instead of silt.

To this day, we still sit here wondering if its over, people say that its time to move forward that things are going to be back to normal before you know it, they also said the same words before the Feb quake that claimed over 100 lives, and the June quakes that munted all our homes and city even more.

What's the point in moving when the ground is, what ever direction we take the ground has a direction of its own.

I know that our lives are going to get better sometime, and I know that people are only trying to help with their words of encouragement and even though the people of Christchurh are known as strong resilient community, we are only human, so sometimes we just want to scream, cry or share to help us process things, sure the process part may be slow at times, but we are processing :)

So looking back this is what I have realised.....


That I was living in a box lined with fluffy pillows...lol
That the people I knew before are still the most amazing people in my life.
That we had no torches in the house, and now I got a whole heap of them
That my kids smiles make life worthwhile when things are good and that they make life worth living when things are not so good.
That I missed my mum and dad.
That I'm an emergency pack freak :)
That if its my time to go, there is nothing I can do apart from live my life the best I can til that time comes.
That laughter is the best medicine, even in an earthquake.
That its ok to be scared sometimes.
That sleep is something I took for granted, still do sometimes.

The life that was so predictable before, where every day I knew what was going because I had planned it that way, has its own plans also, and that instead of letting it get us down, we gotta pick ourselves up off the ground and keep on keepn on. That even when your neighbours are driving you up the wall because an earthquake created a natural spring in ya backyard and is now flooding the street, that just like you there is nothing they can do about it, and that this is how they are processing things, they are still the good neighbours you had before that.

And even though we are city divided up into coloured Zones, we are all still the same inside going through something that has changed the way we think, and do things forever.

God bless Christchurch.
May His hand be over all of us as we go through this recovery, may His love strengthen us every day, may He strengthen the hearts of those who have lost someone or something.

Thank You NZ.

Stand strong Christchurch...KIA KAHA.