It had been about 3 weeks since I had gone to Bible study.  So I decided that it was time for me to get a move on and go!  Michael and I got up and got ready to go, and of course, we were running late!  We left our house around 9:20 AM, and headed to the Bible study.  The topic was "Stop smelling the smoke and start putting out the fire"!!! How crazy is that??????? 

So we get home and Michael was ready for lunch.  I made him a cheese sandwich and a yogurt. He went into the living room and was sitting on the floor eating his lunch and playing with his toys.  I was in the kitchen sitting at the table working on the laptop.  When I looked out the front door, it looked very foggy out there. So I waited a few seconds or so, and I looked again, and it was still foggy.  I was thinking, humm, I dont remember it being that foggy outside.  So I got up to go look outside to see what it was, and that's when I looked to my left and saw the fire. 

I ran back inside and got Michael and ran across the street and dialed 911 at 12:46 PM. I gave my neighbor Michael to bring into her house.  And I sat there in the front yard and watched my house burn until the fires trucks got there.  It seemed like forever!   I dont know how long it took them to get there, but they said that when they got there that the fire was coming out of my kids' bedroom window upstairs.  It was the most horrible feeling that I have ever experienced in my last 30 years.  And I hope that in my next 30 years I will never have to experience that again.

My husband Mark finally got home about 25 minutes later and was shocked.  He never imagined that it was going to be that bad.  However, my son who was home with me at the time, was ok.  He was playing with his friend, Jake & Payton (our neighbors). I have no idea what he was thinking the whole time, he kept saying to me:  " fire mommys house", " water" and " firetruck".  Im sure that he thought the whole thing was pretty cool.

The house was on fire for at least 1 hour, before it was completely out.  The next day it was still smoking in spots.  We lost pretty much everything upstairs:  Our bedroom and bathroom, the bedroom of Mikayla and Michael, the attic and 4 storage rooms that were packed full of our stuff. 

But everything is replaceable and I just thank God everyday that we didn't go upstairs to take our afternoon nap yet.  Our toy poodle made it out ok too!
When it came time to pick up the girls from a friends house nearby, Mark & I went over to get them and told them the horrible news.  They were both in tears immediately.  They both ended up going over to the house.  We let them see the downstairs of the hosue, but the upstairs is too dangerous for anyone.  

I didn't call anyone but 911 and my husband.  I dont know how long we were at the house by ourself before we were comforted by our friends and neighbors from all over Rock Hill and the surrounding areas.  The fire fighters worked as fast as they could.  I am so thankful that we have such an awesome community!  I know that there were probably at least 30, maybe 40 people at our house that night helping us salvage whatever we possibly could.  I dont know how everyone found out about it so quickly.   They got everything out that they could and loaded it up at our friends barn!!!  Its so amazing to know that we have all of these friends that love us and care about us so deeply.  

So, we have been looking at a few apartments and have found one at Galleria Point by the mall.   It is very close to our home.   We are just praying that God will be glorified thru this all.   We will hopefully be moving into our new (temporary) home on Wednesday!!!  Praise God!!!!!!!!  Im pretty sure that our insurance will be helping us out with our furniture and house !!!!!! Its getting a little bit stressful in the hotel with three kids running around. We are definitely becoming much closer as a family!

Oh, on another note, when the fire happened, I had not had my wedding bands or my anniversary ring on.   They were on my dresser in my bedroom, so I was pretty sure that they were both gone.  One of my friends, Kim, prayed so hard that she would find my rings and she went to the house and dug through all of the debris in my bedroom.  She was on her hands and knees digging, and got cut from all the glass up there.  But she found my anniversary ring!!!!  

And another awesome story is that we lost our home computer and our camcorder and cameras, and so I thought that we didn't have any pictures for us.   And my wonderful husband went up to our bedroom and dug debris from away from our bed, and opened up the cabinets on our bed and there sat a big box full of our camcorder tapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Mark's Bible, that was on our headboard, was in a black leather cover.  When we found it, it was charred on the outside, but when we opened it up, it was perfect on the inside!  

Well, I will keep you all updated as quick as I can.  This has been a big challenge in our life but I just want to thank all of the wonderful people that responded to a family in need. We will know a lot more by the end of the week!!!  And we will hopefully be able to move into the apartment on Wednesday.  And we may need someone to help watch the kids so we can get everything done and moved in!!!