Have Hope Christchurch

Christchurch from the Port Hills immediately after earthquake February 22 - photographer unknown

Five days after the unthinkable happened in our lovely city - hope goes on.  There are hundreds of people who are waiting and praying that a miracle will deliver their loved ones from the rubble.  Help is arriving from all over the world - wonderful, brave men and women who put their lives on the line for strangers. Stories are emerging of amazing acts of bravery by everyday super heroes who put their lives on the line to help strangers in a time of need.
I am sittung in my warm, intact house feeling utterly helpless. I have lost my job through this sad act of nature but that is nothing because I am alive and my family is alive and we will be OK. Life goes on and we will rebuild our lives and our city - now is a time to look after one another, be kind to each other and hope for a better tomorrow. 

Cathedral Square in happier times

A Very Sad Day

Just as we had begun to believe that life was getting back to normal another earthquake levelled our beautiful city. At 12.50pm we were rocked violently yet again.  Sadly, this time,  the devastation has led to loss of life - 65 lost at this stage but who knows how many more are lying in the buildings which have collapsed. I've never known as much fear as today - my oldest son was working in the inner city where a lot of buildings have come down.  Thankfully he was able to get in touch fairly quickly and was unhurt.  My youngest son on the other hand wasn't able to get in touch so there was a frantic hour while I tried to contact him.

I was about 30 minutes away from the CBD and jumped in my car to go and find my babies.  A trip which normally would take me 30 minutes took 2 hours stuck in traffic, it seemed as though everyone in Canterbury was on the motorway trying to get to the same place. I was stuck on the motorway over pass for a long time and was rocked by aftershocks which were quite significant and felt like the car was going to be tossed over the edge.
I can't tell you how relieved I was when I finally found my family - relieved and very happy. Now the long awaited rain is falling - we have been waiting for rain but now it is going to cause difficulty to rescuers trying to get to people trapped in buildings out. It is the last thing that people who are too afraid to go home and are camping in parks need.  And also the last thing homeowners with damaged houses need.
Cantabrians are a hardy bunch and we will grow from this but it is going to take a lot of love for each other and a lot of support from the rest of the country.  Send us your prayers blogland.

Before and after photos.  Photo taken from Google - and http://www.stuff.co.nz/.

OWOH winner

Sadly the OWOH world tour has come to an end.   I have drawn my winner and it is "drum roll please"  Holly from "It's the Little Things".
I would post a photo of the Random Number generator thingy - but I can't figure out how!
I have also just found out that I won a door prize from MistyBoston - I feel so lucky.  Yay.
This has been a great few weeks - although my own blog has suffered while I visited hundred of amazing blogs!  And I look forward to going back to the blogs I have bookmarked, for a longer visit

One World One Heart - this post will stay on top until OWOH finishes

Hi and welcome to my blog,  I am CindyBee and I am a frustrated crafter living in Christchurch, New Zealand.  I love trying my hand a many different crafts - lately mixed media collage has been my craft of choice, but I also love making cards, and I am just getting started with jewellery making.  I also love to cook and bake.  I am the mother of two gorgeous teenagers and truly they are my life - love them to bits.  Sadly, as I haven't yet won Lotto, I also work full-time.  Somehow everything gets done - but honestly it is by good luck rather than good management :-)

I am giving away the following 'door prize' as part of One World One Heart Please leave a comment - let me know where I can visit you in cyber space.  I'll draw the winner on  February 17 at the conclusion of OWOH.  

The door prize is a 6" x 6" collaged canvas, A Little Book of Relaxation and some Wishing Stones.  

Did the earth move for you?

I have avoided writing too much about the earthquakes we have been experiencing in Canterbury.  Since September 4th we have experienced more than 4000 quakes (yes that is right - over 4000)  Some don't even register on our consciousness any more - we might stop for a few seconds and think "Oh a quake"  others make us consider how long it would take to get under the table or run outside.  This link gives a good visual idea of what we have been dealing with - I live in Rolleston which you can see is close to the fault line.  My house is still waiting to be assessed for damage - nearly every internal wall has at least one crack in it, the concrete floor has cracks and the exterior cladding has cracks as well.  We are luckier than at lot of people though - at least we have a roof over our head, the house is weather proof and the damage is possibly superficial (will just have to wait and see what the assessors say)
So why am I writing about it now?  Well tonight we had a 4.6 magnitude quake which was centered very close to my home - the house more than shook, it felt think it was rolling with the shock waves.  What made it worse was that all my loved ones were away from home and it took about 10 minutes to check on them all (thank goodness for cell phones) - we've had worse quakes, which produced worse damage but tonight I felt helpless not knowing if everyone was OK.  For anyone interested in seeing photos of the Canterbury damage go here and here

World travel and adventure

I am having a ball visiting all the wonderful sites that are taking part in One World One Heart - see previous post.  It is so much fun that I feel as though I am on a wonderful overseas adventure.  I am neglecting the house work, my crafting, not even watching TV!!  If you haven't already done so pop on over to OWOH and get to know some amazing, creative people.
I'll be back to my crafting soon - just as soon as I've done another flight around the world.
By the way - thank you to all the wonderful bloggers who have entered my draw - I am trying to get round everyone's blog, I keep on stopping and taking side trips though :-).  Hopefully I'll get caught up by the weekend.