grateful

We had a wild night. It all started around Midnight when lightening hit so loud Nick and I both jumped 3 feet. We settled back in and thought nothing much more of it and drifted back to sleep. About an hour later we heard the dogs barking and knocking on our door, then the doorbell ringing. As soon as I got to the hall I smelled smoke. My god was our house on fire? Just so you know this has always been my biggest fear. It was our neighbor Chrissy as soon I saw her I glanced over her shoulder and saw a huge orange glow. It was the strip mall that lies directly behind our homes. I'm talking the neighbors directly across the street are separated by nothing more than a wooden privacy fence and about 100 yards. She told us we should consider leaving because there were hot embers drifting through the air and the wind was blowing everything right this way. After we got our heads straight we piled the dogs, cats and baby safely into our two vehicles and stood in shock at the end of our driveway just starring.

Some neighbors were hosing down their roofs. Everyone on our tiny, quiet cul-de-sac was outside including lot's of stunned and frightened children. It was horrible. You know how everything always seems worse at night too? Well factor that in as well. After almost 2 hours the situation was looking like it was improving so we came back in to free the dogs and cats back into the house.

At this point it wasn't raining and that was the last thing on my mind. I flipped on the TV and there it was another vicious band charging straight for us and just as Nick descended down the stair after tucking in Lucy the tornado sirens went off. At that point tears started to sting the corners of my eyes. I glanced down and realized my hands and feet were stained with the black soot that had been flying through the air. We waited out the next line of storms and made it through safely but with that weather the firefighters were forced to back off and the flames reignited in the strong winds. It was 5 am before I finally grabbed and hour of sleep. We are all ok. Our homes are ok and I thank god he was watching over all of us.

These happy photos were taken just a couple of weeks ago at our favorite mexican joint we all loved to walk over to. You can see that privacy fence I mentioned.

Silhouettes of backyard trees and roof lines frame the fire just beyond our yards.

The restaurant along with all the other businesses were a total loss, I pray for all the owners and their families.

The Hallmark store Lucy and I just walked to to get our Fathers Day cards is gone, so is the dry cleaners where my sweet neighbor the same one that had woken us up to warn us had just dropped off her wedding dress to be preserved.

You can see the reflection of a couple of our homes in the window and that fence again. The fence which was also just rebuilt after being leveled by a funnel cloud last year.

This is what I saw as stood in Sarah M's backyard. The fire set off her smoke detectors. We still have our families our homes and our memories though and for that I'm forever thankful. God bless the firefighters...