Please pray for my family!

If you haven't been following it, you should. BBC News Coverage: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

My amazing brother and his beautiful family have been living in Yamagata, Japan (the red dot on the map above), for 3 years now. I miss them constantly, and every single day I wish they weren't living there (so they could come back and live here, of course!) but never quite as much as I do today. :(

It has been a terrifying morning, and I continue to obsess over my email, phone, and the news to keep me informed as the tsunami takes over Northern Japan. My brother was lucky (and unlucky) because he was on a business trip when it hit. He was on a plane at the time, pretty much the safest place to be... but the Sendai airport is under water, so his plane turned around and went back to Osaka. Now he's stuck in Osaka (safe, but worried), while his wife and kids are home in the midst of it.

He says he was able to contact Kiyomi somehow (my sister-in-law), and she told him they are all alive, but they are spending the night out in the street because the aftershocks are so strong, it isn't safe to be in the house. How terrifying! The little girls must be scared and tired and hungry... and Kiyomi must be so exhausted!

Please pray that they continue to be safe, and that they might have a home to return to when this is all over. And as for the rest of Japan... well, God help them. You can donate to the disaster relief effort here... besides prayer, I guess it's all any of us can do.

Chris & my mom with Max & Josh - Chris helped make Joshua's Pinewood Derby!

My beautiful nieces, Julia, Jasmine & Jaelyn

My nephew Jordan, who is apparently 15 now and doing the dishes. It's been way too long!