What's That Sound?

Last week's ho-hum existence ended with a "pop" -- literally!!!

All of last week was pretty calm and easy.  One of those few "boring" weeks that come along, that we are so very thankful for, and yet, just seem to forget.  And then there was Saturday...

Sir Nottaguy-Imadad had left around 9 a.m. to go help his mom with a to-do list.  I had planned on staying home and working on straightening and organizing my sewing room. (It is such a big mess, that I'm ashamed to even open the door when anyone else is around!)

I decided to get the dishes done and straighten the kitchen first. Then I got online to check out a couple of organizing website that had some ideas that I wanted to use.  I was just getting into a good work rhythm when my phone rang.

Daniel was calling to tell me that their house was on fire and that Abby and Hunter were there alone. 

Nothing, NOTHING!, can send a grandmother to prayer faster than that declaration!!!!

I asked what he needed me to do, he didn't know.  He was heading home to assess the situation and would let me know.

Less than 5 minutes later, Carolyn called to give me the same frantic information and ask that I go pick up the kids.  I told her I was waiting for Daniel to call me back to find out where I needed to be.  By the time he called everyone was at their "safe" spot and he asked me to come pick up the three kids while he and Carolyn dealt with the fire, fire personnel, and decisions.

I got the kids, got them back to our house and got them settled down to watch a couple of movies.  Then I started making calls and sending texts to our church family to get help for Daniel and Carolyn.

The Fire Chief had to come to our house to interview Abby because I refused to take her back to the scene of the fire.  (She was devastated enough! He could talk to her just fine in my living room!)  As she was telling him exactly what happened she said the first thing she heard was a loud "pop", and then about 5 minutes later she saw smoke coming up the basement stairs.  She immediately got her brother and friend out the door and called her mom while a neighbor called 911.  She did exactly the right things in the right order.  The Fire Chief told Abby that she had made his day.  He said he doesn't normally get to have conversations with kids who escape a house fire because most of the time they are in the hospital.  Because their family had a plan, and Abby and Hunter did what they were told to do, he didn't have to go to a hospital to visit anyone!

In my talk with him afterwards, the Chief said that the popping sound Abby heard was the dryer door blowing out because the fire had started in the dryer that Abby had put bedding in to dry.

The basement and kitchen are pretty well destroyed, but the rest of the house only has smoke damage. (That's bad enough, but can be cleaned!)  The insurance adjuster will be meeting with Daniel and Carolyn this week to get the process started to get back in their home.  It may be a month or more off, but it can all be fixed or replaced.

I'm just so incredibly thankful that everyone was safe and even the dogs are fine.  Everything else is replaceable.  God has been very, very good!