“The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”

Psalm 93:4 (KJV)

My sister Kristy, her husband and baby and all of her husbands family were vacationing in Thailand when the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamies hit the coasts of Asia.  Here in the states we heard the news but could not reach them to know if they were dead or alive. Miraculously, God allowed us to find out within three or four hours of hearing about the event that they were safe. A text message sent from a Swedish woman to her husband in Sweden, who e-mailed our friend in North Carolina, who called us here in Tennessee saying simply “The Halls are OK” was just enough to ease our minds and keep us praying for their safe journey home. I wanted to set up this page to simply collect the e-mails from the Hall family that came in after the tragedy.  If they send me any pictures I will try to include them as well, but for now this is just text. We are so grateful that they are alive, unhurt and home safe.

This was the first e-mail we received. This came to my sister Becky on December 27th. Timothy’s (Kristy’s husband) brother Jeremy sent this out:

Hey man! Yeah my Christmas was pretty exciting (to say the least of leasts) My family and I went to Thailand for the holiday. Christmas day was awesome, then the next day we had a HUGE surprise! A wave hit the island that we were staying at which flooded practically the whole side where we were. Many people were injured and most were in a state of disbelief. It happened around 11 in the morning, but before that, there was an earthquake in Indonesia at 8 a.m. that measured a 9 on the ricter scale. And this caused a  tsunami to hit us. At first I heard water outside and people shouting like they were playing or something. Then I looked out the window and saw water just flooding everywhere! All my family was accounted for (including our stuff). The rest of yesterday, we spent taking care of people and staying in the highlands. God really took care of all of us! A lot of people weren't as fortunate and my heart and prayers go out to them! Total casualties estimated around 11 to 13 thousand. It was incredible. We had to be evacuated out of where we were which was in Koh Lanta. I really hated to leave the local people who were hurt but I had to.

We stayed the whole night outside so we got to have a campfire and stuff which was pretty cool, and we got to know other foreigners really well too because that's all we had at the time. We all made it out pretty good! Praise God for that!

Keep praying for the people here in Thailand that God would restore their homes and heal the wounded hearts! God bless you! Tell everyone I said hello and that I'm alright!
Jeremy

Then this one came from Timothy on the 28th.

Some of you may not know that we're in Thailand...in the middle of the tsunamies.  We checked out one article on Foxnews.com that gave a pretty clear picture of what we're seeing.  All of us are in perfect physical condition, but our emotions are still being worked on now and then. We were at the low end of the tidal wave (maybe 10 feet when it hit us on Koh Lanta Island), therefore at lower risk than most places hit, but we still realize how close we came to injury or worse.  I'll give details of where we were at (being > chased by the wave, being homeless and our evacuation), etc. and some of the stories of other people we met when we get back to Slovenia.  Needless to say, I can't wait to get home!

If you see someone is missing from the "to" list feel free to forward his.

MEGA hugs to all,
Timothy & Kristy

Later the same day...we heard from Kristy. The following was sent to my sister Becky:

Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. Thai time

How's Mary doing?  I might be able to check the netzero mail one more time before leaving Thailand.  We're waiting for our taxi to take us to inland Pukhet right now. Even 2/10 of a mile off the beach things here are fairly normal other than the mass exodus going on.  We drove by the hospital here in Krabi yesterday and there were throngs of people surrounding the building and grounds.

So far we're sticking to our schedule of leaving on the 29th.  It's taken us 2 days to make a 4 hour trip, but I think from here on out we're going to be okay, provided our flights don't get bumped.

On the news stations here there is a lot more footage; and a lot more graphic footage! Seeing it makes it more and more real what we just went through. I'm constantly on the verge of crying, but I'm trying to wait until I get home to my own bed:)

Okay, I'm tempted to write story after story and I don't want to do that right now.  I'll call you as soon as I can when we get home.

Love you,
Kristy

The next day, I received this little note:

We're home!!!! I cried most of the flight from Vienna to here; just so happy!

This e-mail came on the 30th:

Um... We're home. Miraculously, without a scratch on any of us. I cried most of the flight from Vienna to Ljubljana. Actually, I've been walking around all week with tears in my eyes. I need to sit down and write out the entire experience and all the little miracles that I know saved us from possible death and the overwhelming grace of our Father. The thing is, I can tell you what I saw, but I can't show you the look in people's eyes when there were searching for their loved ones. I keep wondering about the young mother being led around by two other people, stunned and unable to move b/c she didn't know where her kids were? Did she find them? Were they okay? Who was the man who rode the scooter up the hill and yelled frantically for Veronica? Did he find her? Who were the dead faces on the bulletin boards with no one to claim them? What about those two children I saw being led into the embassy offices by volunteers? To say the least, I'm disturbed. I'm so thankful that my family is in one piece, and at the same time so bothered by what I saw. This is going to take me awhile.

I am so blessed beyond what I deserve and each family member, friend and even the ladies at the grocery store who I can't talk to, but just smile at, are so much more precious to me.

Kristy

On the 30th, I got a phone call from Kristy and she talked for about 30 minutes or more about their experiences and the emotions that went with them.  I couldn’t relay all of that here and I won’t try.  It was good to hear her voice and good to know that God was taking care of so many details.

This next e-mail came from Kristy. She sets up the bulk of the e-mail in the first paragraph. The rest of it is from Timothy’s mother Karen describing their entire trip and some of the details of their experience.

Thank you all for your prayers, emails, long distance hugs, etc. We've needed it! Timothy just asked me to answer each individual email. I like to write, but that's a lot of emails. Please just know that each one has been read and appreciated and if you don't get a personal answer then please be understanding. The following was written by my mother-in-law, Karen. Since we weren't together for the first part of the tsunami I thought I would send it to begin with. I'm still in the process of writing things from my point of view and I'm hoping Christina will also have something to say.

Kristy