Wow.

First time since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that we’ve felt a real shaker around here. This one hit about an hour ago, measured in at 5.6 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter was less than 10 miles from us.

We’re all okay though a bit shaken up (!), though I guess the local phone lines got swamped and the only way folks could reach us was via Yahoo/Skype IM! Funny how technology is.

The house, on the other hand, was not so fortunate as we:

Just kidding, of course.  Actually the above was from the famed 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Now that was a doozy, to put it lightly.

Seriously, though, kinda humbling, to have the whole world around you not be stable. You really are in no control of nothing (except, I suppose, my bodily functions, and I hear that even that’s going to go at some point down the road).

The quake effects lasted for about 10-15 seconds in our house. Some picture frames shaken, but no damage. Unless, of course, you count the psyche of our oldest, who upon realizing it was an earthquake, just lost it and started bawling. I guess I shouldn’t have shown him those photos of the Bay Bridge collapse last week when explaining earthquakes. He thought it was one of these (below photo is of the I-880 collapse in the Loma Prieta earthquake):

The first thought that came to my mind as I ran over to the other room where the kids were dancing to music? “I don’t know how big this one is, but good thing I just bought earthquake insurance last week!” Seriously!

And now? Thankful that the God who rules over land (quakes!) and sea (tsunamis!) has promised to never leave or forsake us, and is working all things for our good. And no matter the quake magnitude (this one a 5.6), nothing will separate us from His love!