Wed night

Lucy said the cutest thing tonight... we were on the couch having just read a book called "Three days without light" about 3 Nephi 11, and she said "I really love Jesus, he is my very best great guy. I want to be like Jesus. He can fly and he has POWERS!" Waa ha ha ha! Now if that isn't a great reason to be Christ-like I don't know what is :)

My run around the park today was great. There was one part of Hagley Park that was blocked off (opposite the Arts Centre - not sure what damage has been done there, but let's face it, that is an old building and all made of stone. If you ask me it will only add to the Harry Potterishness if it is semi-fallen down) but we went thru the gardens a bit and popped back out near the Antigua Boat Sheds. Anyway it was great to be doing something normal! And it was 13C so it was the perfect temperature and Sebas was with friends so I only had to supervise 2 kids on scooters. Bliss! This is only the second run I've had this week, and I did go to yoga, so lack of exercise is partly responsible for my emotional state. (Mostly it is wishing I could play with Colt, but the other part is Cabin Fever)

The pictures I took today of Dad's house say it all. Both sides are being proped up by sheets of wood and bracing. The houses on either side have still got red stickers on them, but once Dad's house is more stable they can come back and live iin them again. The gap in his spare bedroom is bigger, and we've had light rain all day but the tarps seem to be keeping off most of the bad weather. When I went by today they had the slow cooker in the front room cooking some kind of chicken dish! Yes, you read that right, the front room! It's not that the kitchen is falling down or anything. I guess it just seemed like the right place to cook a chicken dinner? It just goes to show that everything here is backwards at the moment.

We really only had a couple of aftershocks (that we could feel) today. Phew. The ground feels like it is shivering however, so I don't know if it is somehow girding it's loins for another Big One or if it is just settling. The good news is that we can now drink the tap water again. Lucy and Seb keep coming and asking me if I can boil them drink, or if we have safe water in the fridge - and I keep replying, "it's okay, you can drink out of the nap now" and each time they both yell "YAHOO!" and do a happy dance but then ask 5 more times if I am sure it is okay. I am not sure when it will sink in that it is okay now, and in half an hour and after lunch and tomorrow... the water is safe again. It is touching to see how happy they are about water. Anyone that knows my kids knows that they drink water (their mother only let's them have milk on cereal and we never ever buy fizzy drinks or juice, but they can have it at a party) but their love of it was never as obvious before. Personally, I am loving having a dishwasher again. Steralizing the sink, heating the water, working out the washing/rinsing in one sink... it was a pain.

The kids are not looking forward to going back to school. They are not upset at all by the earthquake, they just love being at home :) Seb has had the best time out on the street with his various wheeled things playing with Kadin and Connor (identical twins that live next door) and Lucy has been with Laura (my "favourite daughter", from the house next to Kadin and Connor) and of course Megane and Grace have been inseperable. The good news is that the official school holidays start in two weeks. Bring it on!