This is the boys bedroom and the room where the 4 year old boy was hiding during the fire
This is the dresser that was brought out.... the drawers were next to it, and nothing that was in them seemed to be remaining. You can see in the bottom right corner the dust and ashes that use to be remnants of what might have been inside.
We have a family that is friends of ours, whose house burned down a few weeks ago. They invited us over for family home evening to go through the house with the fire department there, to talk about fire safety, and for them to see and feel what it might be like if there was a fire in their own house. Bretty loved talking to the fireman who put out the fire. The fireman asked him if he had any questions, and and he said... "How much water did it take to put out the fire?".... The fireman told him... "Over 850 gallons....!". It was an amazing story in so many ways.... all children were safe..... including a four year old boy who was hiding in the closet upstairs because he was scared. His 9 year old brother who was playing at a friends house across the street saw that his house was on fire, and immedietly ran into the house, and upstairs to the room with the most flames, and directly to where his 4 year old brother was hiding,.... picked him up and carried him out. This takes a lot of energy and breath....... but he was able to make it outside with him to safety. An older sister had tried to go up several minutes earlier.... but because of the thickness of the smoke was gasping for air so much that she had to come back down. It was amazing to realize the bond of these brothers...... he knew exactly where to find him. I believe that it goes beyond their bond though.... I believe that there were angels guiding him right to where he would be, and giving him strenghth and courage to do what he did. By the time the firefighters arrived, they said there was no oxygen left in the room, and the floor was close to giving way. One of the things that really stuck out to me was a dresser that they brought outside. It was blackened from fire. It reminded of the account that Grandma Blower had told me of the time that they had their fire....... the dresser was brought out blackened, much as I would imagine this one was.... everything in it was burned.... but tucked inside among all that was burned was her bible.... untouched by the heat and flames. Seeing this dresser, somehow brought the miracle of that event more to light for me. I never really imagined that a fire would do the damage that was shown. It was hard to comprehend.
There was an 11 year old girl (the same age that mom would have been when she was in the fire growing up.) I wanted to get something for her, .... I had been thinking of maybe a shirt or something...., so I asked her what color she liked. She told me she liked any color. A few minutes later she came up to me quietly and tugged on my shirt softly. She looked right into my eyes and said almost in a whisper.... "I love horses..... I love horses more than anything in the whole world" It made my heart melt right there..... that was mom's love at that age too. Somehow I knew that there was something I was meant to do for her. We went and got fleece fabric and sat up till late making each of the 5 kids a large fleece blanket..... the 11 year old girls was just perfect..... it had beautiful horses all over it. For the littlest girl (Bretty's age) we took over a doll. I wanted it to be something special. I kept thinking and looking.... and then I just knew..... there was a doll that mom had given me. It was a doll that reminded me sooo much of mom when she was a little girl. Its one that I love! I knew that it was the one. We took the blankets, doll and some other items over to their home, and we all cried together. It was a neat experience in many ways, and for our children, I think it gave them a greater appreciation of the things that we have each day. Sometimes it is through trials that we build the greatest bonds with people. It brought such comfort to me to be able to help them in a small way. As I took those items over, I felt as if I were being given the chance in some small way to go back and help the little girl that I see in my mind..... that was my mother long ago.
I love the silhouette of the sun in the bachground of this picture.
This is the boys bedroom and the room where the 4 year old boy was hiding during the fire
This is the dresser that was brought out.... the drawers were next to it, and nothing that was in them seemed to be remaining. You can see in the bottom right corner the dust and ashes that use to be remnants of what might have been inside.
We had weather that was in the high sixties and the kids begged me to wear shorts to school. I set their shorts out for school in the evening..... and this is what they woke up to in the morning..... it continued to snow all day, and we ended up with over a foot of snow by days end. They were disappointed that I wouldn't still let them wear their shorts (it was COLLDD!!!) but it was a fun snowfall anyways. The weather is now back in the 70's, so they are now wearing shorts to school on as many days as they can....... although I read that we might get more snow at the end of the week.
For Bret's (daddy Bret) birthday, we went skiing at snowbird. It was a little crazy at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Sami and Bethany had a pretty good hang of it by the end, and I skiied down with Tanner between my legs, and Bret had Bretty, so we had quite the crew.
Tanner loved to eat the snow!!
The whole crew!! (notice how sunny it is!!)
Sami's too...... they were home from school for 2 days
