Holy Smoke

Last Thursday was a regular, busy day. In the morning I met Jodi and the kids at a local consignment sale. I like to keep a few sets of seasonal play clothes at my house for the kids when they come over, so we went to get some. They were each excited to get a new toy to take home, too. Then, the rest of the day, as the Tea Party members protested the tax situation, we went on about our business. For both Jodi and me that meant, among other things, packing for a weekend retreat with our friends. We enjoy an annual getaway weekend of quilting, in my case, and scrapbooking, in hers. After dinner, she made a cute video out her kitchen window of the kids riding their scooters in the driveway while she cleaned up dinner. She said how she enjoyed that time of day now that the weather was getting nice and the kids could play outside while she cleaned up the kitchen. You can check it out on her blog: http://www.jodiyork.com/

Twenty-four hours later, the spot where she was standing to take that video looked like this. I got to the retreat about 10:30 Friday morning and was getting settled in along with others. By early afternoon I was expecting Jodi to show up at any minute. Her babysitter was coming around lunch time. Then, when I called her, I found out that she had been gone from home about 30 minutes when she got a call from the sitter to come back home. The house was on fire.

Christin, the sitter, did everything right and got everyone safely out of the house and for that we are eternally grateful. There are so many things -- large and small -- that we can find to thank God for. The fire gutted the kitchen as you can see. But the majority of the rest of the house, as well as all their belongings, were lost to smoke damage. This picture was taken of Emery's bathroom...upstairs.

So as we are coming up to a week later (tomorrow is Thursday again), things are still busy. But this week Jodi is busy with making phone calls, decisions, arrangements, etc. Jeremy is busy -- not with the fishing tournament he had planned on, but with getting bids, talking to insurance companies and all those particulars. Life does go on even when it can be drastically altered in a matter of minutes or less.

One of the things I noticed in the house when I first went through it just an hour or so after the firemen left was this plaque on the wall. Jerry and I bought it for the kids as a house warming gift when they moved in about 5 years ago. This granite-looking center had been matted and framed. The mat and frame had burned off from around it, but the engraving was still as clear as it had been when it was new. And it pretty much says it all.