Enfolded in the arms of our community

As the firemen started streaming onto my street and fighting the fire, the floodgates opened and my friends and neighbors poured out of their homes to comfort and support us.

Someone brought me a chair to sit on and a blanket to keep warm.   A jacket for Ed.  Water bottles.  Offers of bathrooms to use and places to stay.  A phone charger and place to charge Ed's phone (I left my phone on the arm of the couch when we ran out of the house).   People holding Taco and keeping him calm and safe (and offering him a place to stay too!).

The whole neighborhood seemed to be there with hugs and reassurances and offers of assistance. 

A couple of my friends went to Walmart to get us some necessities for us including toothbrushes and a leash for Taco.

Ed called my parents to let them know what was going on (he was worried that someone would post something on facebook and they would be frightened for our safety). 

Here is a picture of my phone after we dug it out of the rubble the next day (the people at the Verizon Wireless store laughed when they saw it and said "What did you do????" "I set it on fire.". 

We very quickly had a place to stay for the night with an amazing and generous family.  This was so comforting as we would not have to go to a hotel and be alone.

A group of friends stayed with us until the fire was out in the wee hours of the morning and helped keep our spirits up (and brought us swedish fish, M&Ms and Diet Dr. Pepper which helped too!)

Once the fire was mostly out the fireman did something that was interesting to me - they walked very slowly around the whole yard and my next-door neighbor's yards to visually inspect and ensure that no embers had flown off from the fire that could start up another fire.  If you think about it this makes sense .... in a small campfire, the wood pops and sometimes a little ember flies off a few feet from the fire .... Now magnify the fire to be the size of a house ... the embers could be much bigger and fly much farther. 

The back of the house (the next day):

The fire investigator was not able to finish his investigation in the dark so he told us he would return in the morning to finish up (he actually came back for the following two days).

A policeman arrived to let us know that he would be posted outside our house for the rest of the night to keep our remaining property safe and protected from any miscreants coming in and re-starting the fire (I guess that is something that happens ....).

There was nothing else we could do, so we went to my friends house to get some sleep.  As Ed and I climbed into bed that night in my friend's guest room, we could not get to sleep.  Our minds were racing with thoughts "We're homeless."  "What will happen now?" "Is anything salvageable?" "I have no clean clothes for tomorrow."   "How did the fire start?"  And over and over with gratitude the thought came  ... "We are so blessed."

Things can be replaced ... People can't.  Scrapbooks can burn but our memories will remain. Our family was safe from harm and we will continue to be extremely grateful for that blessing.