Fire!

Early Thursday morning (about 2:50am) Grant jumped into bed with us and landed curled up next to Mitch. Mitch couldn't go back to sleep, so as he was looking around, he notices flashes of light out the windows. He hopped out of bed to look out the front windows and saw Dori's old house on fire!



It was a beautiful house that had just been painted a few months ago. It is on an excellent lot and was recently purchased by a couple from Texas. They were still living in Texas, but someone was living in the house and moving nice furniture in and painting the walls. (I'm not snoopy. Really!) I presume that the man and a blond woman (who was wearing sweats yesterday morning . . . I'm observant) are relatives of the new owner.

Anyway, two fire trucks, a slew of firemen, some other fire vehicles and cars and a HUGE bright light were set up on the scene. The fire was put out in a few hours and they were really pretty quiet. The boys slept right through it. Mitch met practically our whole street out front. I think I was the only one missing (I went back to bed).

Check out this link for photos of the fire:
http://www.wimerphoto.smugmug.com/Fire%20!!

A bunch of pictures, including #20, 38, 48 and 49 are taken from our front yard. Mitch appears in #39, 40 and 41.

As a mom, I debated about what to do about Grant. Should I wake him up and show him the fire? It would sure be a memory, but it might scare him. Or, he might understand what happened when he saw the devastation in the morning. There were positives and negatives to either scenario. I prayed about it and fell asleep. I guess that was God's answer.

Grant still asks, "What happened, mom?" and he tells me, "It got fired!" and he asks about Dori's new house. We had to drive by Dori's new house just to make sure it didn't burn down, too. Still, Grant is pretty convinced that the house next door to Dori's old house is the next to go.

What I certainly haven't mentioned to Grant is that my house burned down when I was in elementary school. The cat knocked over the hot iron into a basket of clothes. Thankfully, we were shopping for school supplies, so the whole family was out of the house. The house was completely totaled, along with almost everything in it. My mom was soaking a quilt in the kitchen sink, so that was saved. They also saved their wedding pictures and some family pictures, although they hold evidence of the fire on their bubbled and charred edges.

It was rough as a kid, but my parents handled it very well (from my vantage point), so I don't remember feeling very scarred by the whole event. It taught me that material possessions don't really matter and they are just temporary. (Of course, that doesn't stop me from getting "the wants" every once in a while.) It also showed me that no matter what you go through as a couple, you can get through it with God's help. I have always had complete confidence in my parents' marriage, and that is a wonderful, secure feeling. I learned later that many couples get divorced after such a devastating event. (Not to mention, the death of a child . . . which also happened to my parents.) I believe that God uses all kind of things for his glory. He is not the cause of the suffering (Satan is), but he can use the suffering for his purpose. God used my parents' suffering to teach me many life lessons, and for that I am truly grateful.