God is good and He is good ALL the time!!

This year has not started out as we had hoped! On the morning of January 17th, we were awakened by the sound of crackling of electricity. Pete knew exactly what the sound was! We got out of the house with only the clothes on our backs and by the grace of God, we made it up the hill (I still don't know how I did it without my cane),to watch our home burn. In about fifteen minutes, 41 years of our lives, was gone. I know that material things can be replaced, but not our precious dogs(we thought they had gotten out) and the pictures and things that Jennifer had given us! We will always have memories in our hearts...but some things like her journals with her handwriting and tapes with her voice, cannot be replaced.

The love, prayers and support from friends, family and even strangers has been so wonderful. We are so grateful!! There are days when I feel really overwhelmed about having to rebuild our lives....having to replace everything...every towel, kitchen utensil, piece of clothing, lawn mower, tool etc. It seems like we remember something else every few hours. Within hours of us getting to Kimberly's after the fire, friends were there with clothing and money for us. Mandy, Missy and Linda were there soon after we got to Kimberly's. Our church family has been there from the first day with donations, clothing, love and prayer. We are so happy to have the support of such a wonderful church...they truly are our family! Kimberly, once again has been there with us from the beginning...loving us and coordinating ways to raise funds to help us! Once again, she has proven to be the best sister and friend anyone could dream of having. Lisa has collected money from my ACH family and even brought me some of the cookbooks I had lost in the fire!
Missy helped getting our medicine replaced. A friend of Barb replaced our CPAP machines. Michelle replaced our tens unit and my arm pump. Laura brought me a Bible within the first couple of days, and the donations from family, friends and strangers has been more than we ever expected! Our nephews and George have been there every weekend helping with the clean up. This just proves once again that God is good and He is good ALL the time!

We stay at Kimberly's on the weekends for church and Bible Study. Jim and Joanna invited us to stay at their lake house. We are so grateful to be able to stay there while we are working on the clean up. It is alot closer than driving to Little Rock each day. It is so quiet and peaceful there and gives us time to think and examine our options. A fire fund has been set up for us and we have already had furniture donated to us. Missy even brought me an angel, like the ones I had collected over the years...this special one holding a dog!! Oh, how we miss our sweet Jazzabelle and Emma Grace...they were like our children!

We have been through many trials in our 41 years together...but we always get through them and we always come out a little stronger and more appreciative of the little things in life! When the fire happened, my nephew, Cory, called me. He told me that if I could get through losing Jennifer, then I could get through anything. He is right. I know that God is in control and that He is good and He is good All the time. It only takes faith as small as a mustard seed to know what a GREAT God we have. I totally trust Him and His guidance as we make the decisions ahead of us.

Home is where your heart is...not what kind of building it is! Whatever kind of home we are able to have, we know that it will be a home that love built from the outpouring of love, support and donations givareen to us.

Christina Munoz aired a wonderful interview with us last night. We are ever so grateful for the time and effort that she and her photographer, Martin, put into this segment. Not only did it show the devastation of the fire, but also my battles with cancer and a wonderful tribute to Jennifer! We will never forget this! Kimberly worked very hard providing her with pictures and other information she requested! We were so happy to have been able to meet them.


Angela Scott is having a Premier Jewelry show for us on Sunday for a fund raiser and the church is having a chili supper to benefit us March 4th! We plan on having a scrapbook crop and we welcome any ideas for fund raising! We had no insurance and are having to replace everything we owned.

God is good and He is good ALL the time!!! I will keep everyone updated on our progress. Thank you to each and every one of you!