Earthquake Damage

Photo's are of my godparent's street and house in Christchurch.

The area they live in was one of the worst hit by last Saturday's earthquake.

My beautiful godmamma sitting on a park bench in her area!

Their toilets!

Cleaning up the mud!

The mud is actually half way up the legs of these chairs! Hard to believe that there was lawn and garden here!

Their driveway!

Such a miracle that no lives were lost in the Christchurch earthquake.

Take Care

Rachaelxo

Sing, sing a song, make it simple...

Are you a singer?

I am not a good singer and apparently neither is the creator of Wordtoons

He can however sing, and so can you!

Watch this short clip to see how you can sing and teach your children to sing!

The Princess loves doing Wordtoons, I can't wait to show her this one!

Trust me its fun and clever!

Earthquake Update

Christchurch is still having terrible after shocks and many people are still without power and water. The suburb where my godparents live is one of the worst hit. They are fortunate to have a natural spring in their backyard that is uncontaminated and they are supplying their street with fresh water. Toilet are portaloo's out on the street. Their street are pooling resources and communally barbecuing meals. My godparents have lived in that street for over 20 years and are only just meeting some of their neighbours. The upside of a natural disaster!

Thanks so much for the nice messages of concern, our blogging world is such a caring one! I am in Auckland many, many miles away from Christchurch so quite removed from the reality of the earthquake, tucked up safe and sound in my castle!

I am in the middle of writing a particularly horrid essay so must get back to it!

Take Care

Rachaelxo

Earthquake in New Zealand

Christchurch, one of the major cities in our little country was hit by an earthquake of 7.4 magnitude at 4.35am this morning.

Homes have been destroyed, buildings collapsed, roads and railway tracks destroyed, power and water supplies cut off.

The city has been declared a state of emergency.

People have been hurt but miraculously only 2 have been hospitalised for serious injury.

We are a little country that is very blessed as this earthquake has been likened to the one that hit Haiti in January of this year.

As we are such a small country in size and population, many people have family or friends in Christchurch. It is such a relief to know they are ok.

Full credit to Civil Defense, emergency services, volunteers, insurance companies, banks, businesses and people pledging donations, and our Prime Minister who has spent the day in Christchurch and on behalf of the government has promised massive amounts of money and resources.

It's times like this when it hits home just how lucky and blessed we are, not only to live in this country but just for life on a daily basis.

Flooded carpets, windows that won't close, rats on rubbish bins and much else that I have whinged about this week is completely insignificant compared to what the people of Christchurch were shockingly woken up by this morning.

Puts it all into perspective really!

Take Care

Rachaelxo