Above: Our new house (the old farm house)Below: The Little House In The Woods
We had lived in a cute little rental house in the woods for 3 years, and were in the last stages of closing on our mortgage. We loved the little house, and were so much looking foward to it being "ours".
On Friday, March 9th, we got word that the final appraisal would be done the following Thursday. We called that very day and ordered a dumptruck of mulch to be delivered. A house in the woods does not have much curbside appeal at the end of winter. So, in an effort to make it look really nice for the final appraisal, we planned to get up early on Saturday morning (March 10th) to work in the yard. Our mulch would be delivered at 8am, and we would spend all day clearing the yard of winter debris (branches, fall leaves, etc), and mulching the flower beds.
So - one year ago today - DadToCherubs had worked all of the night before, so he was sound asleep in bed. The children and I got up at 6am and had a big breakfast together. Then we donned our work clothes, gathered our tools, and headed outside. It was a lovely day - clean air, warm sunshine ... a perfect "outside" day. We picked up lots of branches and raked piles of leaves .... putting it all into our compost pile. We swept the sidewalks and the concrete driveway pad. At 8am the dumptruck arrived and dumped a HUGE pile of hardwood mulch .... and the REAL work began. All of the children (except Cherub 1 who was on a campout with our church) worked all day with wagons and wheelbarrows, and Cherub 6 with his Tonka dumptruck .... we moved almost half of the mulch and spread it over our flower beds while straightening the rockwall edges of every bed. It looked lovely.
Finally, at 430pm we were completely exhausted and just could not keep going, so we headed inside. We would finish tomorrow. I put a tray of pre-made lasagna into the oven, and the children and I sat down in the living room to watch the news while we waited (half asleep from sheer exhaustion) for dinner to be ready .... we chatted about hot baths, comfy PJs, and our early-to-bed plan. And we planned to wake DadToCherubs jsut as the lasagna was ready ... in 45 minutes.
Just before 5pm a friend's daughter (Pris) came with her younger brother (Luke) to retrieve shoes he had left during a visit a few days before. While she was there, we went out to see her new car ..... and as Cherub 3 passed through the garage to see the car he saw a FLASH in the corner of our basement garage ....
The housefire sparked .... we now know that it was electrical (the chest freezer foot was on the cord when it had been installed) .... and the fire had spread from the basement garage to the attic in minutes, going up through the walls.
By midnight, everything we owned was gone ... including our cute little home in the woods. No one was hurt, which was a tremendous blessing !! However, most of us escaped without even having shoes on our feet, and everything was gone.
We spent that first night with the Birdie family next door, who owned the house we had rented and were in the process of buying. It was a longggggg night ....
Now it is March 10, 2008 .... a year later. With the help of our community and many wonderful friends, we have recovered. We are living in a lovely old farmhouse and have replaced almost everything that could be replaced. There are still those things that can never be replaced, like our family photos and personal items (quilts my grandmother made, projects made my DadToCherub's mother before her death 10 years ago, etc) ... it will take a bit more time for us to get past the loss of those things.
Today in 2007, around 5pm, our lives were forever changed. And today, with the memories of that day still so fresh, we are a bit tearful and are still very sad .... remembering what was .... remembering the house, the room, the contents, the plans, the memories ....
In the days and weeks that followed our housefire, our faith in God and prayer were our only strength .... and it was the blessing of dear friends (esp MamaLion of Shadybrook Acres and her family) who handled most everything for us (from solicitation of donations, accepting donations, figuring out what we needed and when we needed it, and so much more) that got us through those very difficult times.
To those who prayed, to those who gave, and to those who held our hands ....
we say THANK YOU.
On Friday, March 9th, we got word that the final appraisal would be done the following Thursday. We called that very day and ordered a dumptruck of mulch to be delivered. A house in the woods does not have much curbside appeal at the end of winter. So, in an effort to make it look really nice for the final appraisal, we planned to get up early on Saturday morning (March 10th) to work in the yard. Our mulch would be delivered at 8am, and we would spend all day clearing the yard of winter debris (branches, fall leaves, etc), and mulching the flower beds.
So - one year ago today - DadToCherubs had worked all of the night before, so he was sound asleep in bed. The children and I got up at 6am and had a big breakfast together. Then we donned our work clothes, gathered our tools, and headed outside. It was a lovely day - clean air, warm sunshine ... a perfect "outside" day. We picked up lots of branches and raked piles of leaves .... putting it all into our compost pile. We swept the sidewalks and the concrete driveway pad. At 8am the dumptruck arrived and dumped a HUGE pile of hardwood mulch .... and the REAL work began. All of the children (except Cherub 1 who was on a campout with our church) worked all day with wagons and wheelbarrows, and Cherub 6 with his Tonka dumptruck .... we moved almost half of the mulch and spread it over our flower beds while straightening the rockwall edges of every bed. It looked lovely.
Finally, at 430pm we were completely exhausted and just could not keep going, so we headed inside. We would finish tomorrow. I put a tray of pre-made lasagna into the oven, and the children and I sat down in the living room to watch the news while we waited (half asleep from sheer exhaustion) for dinner to be ready .... we chatted about hot baths, comfy PJs, and our early-to-bed plan. And we planned to wake DadToCherubs jsut as the lasagna was ready ... in 45 minutes.
Just before 5pm a friend's daughter (Pris) came with her younger brother (Luke) to retrieve shoes he had left during a visit a few days before. While she was there, we went out to see her new car ..... and as Cherub 3 passed through the garage to see the car he saw a FLASH in the corner of our basement garage ....
The housefire sparked .... we now know that it was electrical (the chest freezer foot was on the cord when it had been installed) .... and the fire had spread from the basement garage to the attic in minutes, going up through the walls.
By midnight, everything we owned was gone ... including our cute little home in the woods. No one was hurt, which was a tremendous blessing !! However, most of us escaped without even having shoes on our feet, and everything was gone.
We spent that first night with the Birdie family next door, who owned the house we had rented and were in the process of buying. It was a longggggg night ....
Now it is March 10, 2008 .... a year later. With the help of our community and many wonderful friends, we have recovered. We are living in a lovely old farmhouse and have replaced almost everything that could be replaced. There are still those things that can never be replaced, like our family photos and personal items (quilts my grandmother made, projects made my DadToCherub's mother before her death 10 years ago, etc) ... it will take a bit more time for us to get past the loss of those things.
Today in 2007, around 5pm, our lives were forever changed. And today, with the memories of that day still so fresh, we are a bit tearful and are still very sad .... remembering what was .... remembering the house, the room, the contents, the plans, the memories ....
In the days and weeks that followed our housefire, our faith in God and prayer were our only strength .... and it was the blessing of dear friends (esp MamaLion of Shadybrook Acres and her family) who handled most everything for us (from solicitation of donations, accepting donations, figuring out what we needed and when we needed it, and so much more) that got us through those very difficult times.
To those who prayed, to those who gave, and to those who held our hands ....
we say THANK YOU.
1 comment:
I thought it was ironic that I was on your blog around 5pm. God's blessing abound you and your family.
I am so sorry for your loss and hardship over the past year. I wish you a wonderful new life in your new little house in the woods. Your strength and closeness with God is such a inspiration.
May God continue to bless you and your family.
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