I want to begin this article with a disclaimer: Mommy and Daddy have mostly written it and I helped a little and proofread it, which is the job I like to do the most.
We have had a very scary occurrence happen here since our last article. As most of you know, we have been in a drought and there were several wildfires in the area. One of them occurred on the back side of the ridge we live on. The fire made it to the top of the ridge from the other side and begin to burn down our side toward our house. It was one of those things that help you realize just how little control you have over your life. We decided the best thing to do was say a prayer and let God handle it. And He did.
Though the weather was very dry, there was little to no wind, so the fire moved more slowly on this side, making it a little easier for the firefighters to contain. And speaking of firefighters, we have a tremendous amount of gratitude for those who answered the call and fought the fire. To all the volunteer fire departments, the Forestry Service and the fire departments from other counties who came and helped, thank you! They were here all afternoon and night cutting fire lines and battling the blaze, as necessary. Some stayed on the scene the next several days, observing in case the fire flared up again. So, thank you so much for helping to protect us and our neighbors.
It is also during these times that you discover what a wonderful community we live in. We saw firsthand how others are there to help in times of crisis. Thank you to all who prayed for us, our neighbors, the firefighters, and for Isabella. She struggled with the whole situation and was distraught that everything in her house was not as it should be. Thank you also to the friends and neighbors who offered us a place to stay in the event we were evacuated, which thankfully we were not. Thank you to those who offered to help us pack things up and offered places to store them. Thank you to everyone who took food and drinks to the firefighters. We had so much more to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
One last thing, as a piece of practical advice that we found out in the heat of the moment. You might want to make a list of necessities you would want to take with you in the case you need to evacuate your residence. There are many things that we found are irreplaceable and we found ourselves “walking in circles” trying to decide what we needed, such as clothes, prescriptions and so on, and what we wanted to save, such as photographs, your child’s artwork, heirlooms, etc.
Hopefully, this will never happen again, but if it does, know there are those who will be there to help you in times of crisis, and that a little pre-planning can go a long way.
In closing, we hope that each of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.