Our Fire

Wow, has this month been a whirlwind! About 4 weeks ago I was hanging out downstairs with Peter and Elsie and went upstairs to make a bottle. After making the bottle and getting ready to head back downstairs, I paused a moment and smelled. Hmmm, I thought, could that be a gas leak? I proceeded to check out our oven, making sure everything was turned off. Hmmm, this was surely an odd smell to be smelling, I thought. Just then I heard a "Pop" from the garage, and my mind reverted back (was it 4 years ago?) to when our neighbor's garage caught on fire, and that very sound was what I first heard from their home. The realization dawned on me, that there was a huge possibility the smell was a fire in our garage. I went to our garage door, 15 feet away, and opened it, only to see black smoke billowing into the house. I closed the doore and quickly ran downstairs. I told Peter that we needed to leave the house, because there was a fire in the garage. He went into a panick mode and bolted for the stairs, only to stop half way up to burst into tears. I quickly grabbed the phone and called... 911? No, my husband, and told him we had a garage fire and that HE needed to call 911. He was a bit hesitant, not knowing what was really happening. I hung up and ran to my neighbor's home, with my 3-year-old in one arm, and my 1-year-old in the other. I found a neighbor that was home (and how relieved was I about that!) and asked if I could use her phone. I quite calmly told her I needed to call 911 because our house was on fire. Wow, this is harder to write than I had expected. All the emmotions come flooding back to me.
Anyhow, she took my children, and I ran back out to meet the police and firemen, who came within minutes. Within 6 minutes they had the fire put out. We had 20 gallons of gas in our garage that had miraculously been untouched. How blessed we are!! Our home was mostly untouched and still liveable. I often think, if those firement had been just 5 minutes later in coming, what a different story I may be telling. How grateful I am that everyone was safe and our home was so well protected. It's funny how an emergency such as this, has woken my senses to appreciate my blessings and God's love for me and His children.
As the days have gone on, I continue to see the miracles God continues sends. Miraculously, we put our car in the picture into reverse and drove it right out of the garage. With a few green scrub brushes and a heavy concentration of water and laundry soap, we scrubbed the soot right off the car. You would never know it had been in a fire. So many friends have had "family nights" at our home salvaging posessions and helping us clean. They have brought meals and food over and have been an unceasing strength to me.