CHAPTER 7: CAN YOU SAY FIRE NUMBER 3?
ok, let's see.
my mother-in-law would say we were just bee-boppin' along. everything is grand.
you know poor priorities can get you in bad places. i don't remember all the details at this point. but i do remember that for some reason money wasn't coming in anymore like it had been, and well, that car that the Lord had allowed us through don and brenda....we had to give it back. this is one of my greatest regrets. but the Lord has ministered a great forgiveness to us through the body of Christ....and that's all i will say about that.
during the time that we had that car, my friend meredith (you probably know meredith) had a wreck in her beautiful white nissan sentra (no fault of her own), and subsequently purchased her chevy tracker. meredith voluntarily provided my and husband and me transportation wherever we needed to go from november through march. that's just amazing! she has always said that her truck is God's truck. in march, we finally got to a place where we could purchase a vehicle from a local used car lot, and we bought a '92 nissan sentra red. gorgeous. exactly what i wanted. and it was the first car i ever had that was MY car. i think now that that was a mistake. the MY part i mean. should've learned something from the november through march example. should've been God's car from the outset.
back up a little.......the year before, jeremy peterson lived with us from december through may--may is when he married meredith. then when jeremy moved in with meredith (after their wedding), then well, jennifer, who was living with meredith at the time, moved in with us. this was kind of a fun arrangement, and i am very grateful for the relationships that i was able to build in both of those cases.
jennifer is one of my favorite people in the world. for those of you who might be thinking, "which jennifer?" jennifer bairfield, or "jen-pa"--that's the one that distinguishes her for me. 8)
ok, so jennifer moved in in may, and we've had a car since march--yeah, that sounds right...i hope no one ever tries to prove exact details from these entries. there are some specific dates that i know are correct, but others are estimations. 8)
ok...so...we're "bee-boppin'" along through life...everything is grand. 8)
i'm building a relationship with jen-pa that i have wanted to build since we took issues together (a class at my church), and since the Lord has provided us a car, we're able to provide transportation to jen to go to work, etc. i love those rides. jen would be in the back seat early in the morning, and would suddenly bust out with a veggie tales song or some other song she knew from daycare. hehe
"..... cause your his cheeseburger...his precious cheeseburger...." and that's one song i hadn't heard before, and i thought she was crazy! hehe
ok--nice little trip down memory lane, now back to the story
this part is a little hard to write--it's a whole other emotional element in my life.
but here's a date i'm sure of. it's my mom's birthday. august 20, 2004. i was at work at my desk, and my phone rang, and it was the ranch hand (for lack of a better word), wally, who worked for my land lady.
he called to tell me that my house was on fire.
you can't imagine the emotions that went through me and the thoughts that went through my mind at that moment. i didn't believe him, first of all. and i know i got pretty loud, because everyone around me was immediately looking at me trying to figure out what i had been told. i was starting to cry but holding it back and trying to be level headed.
he said he just thought i would want to know...might want to get over there.
i didn't have the car that day. i thought james was home with the car, but wally said that james had left not ten minutes ago.
where could he have gone?
how is it possible that we could have 2 house fires in 5 years?
what kind of horror story IS this?!
so like i said, i didn't have my car, so a friend/co-worker immediately offered to take me home.
when we got there, the gate was wide open , and there was a fire truck in the driveway--that familiar smoky-ness in the air.....but you couldn't see the evidence of a fire from the front., and i the fireman actually took me on a tour through my house.
it didn't seem so bad....i mean, we have something left! it even looks kind of liveable.....right?
well, i was feeling a little bit better...thinking this wasn't so bad.
but when i saw the look on my husband's face when he got home.....it still makes me cry.....all those same emotions and horrors going through his mind......
"a fire!? i was just here! how could there have been a fire???!!!!"
well, there was a man we barely knew (who did something very unwise) that allowed us to not lose everything again.....the land lady's son-in-law saw the smoke, busted in the back door with a garden hose, and lay on the floor and pointed the water toward where he thought the fire was coming from. he could've died, but i'm so thankful for that man......i'm not sure we could've taken losing everything....again..... 8)
next time......
my mother-in-law would say we were just bee-boppin' along. everything is grand.
you know poor priorities can get you in bad places. i don't remember all the details at this point. but i do remember that for some reason money wasn't coming in anymore like it had been, and well, that car that the Lord had allowed us through don and brenda....we had to give it back. this is one of my greatest regrets. but the Lord has ministered a great forgiveness to us through the body of Christ....and that's all i will say about that.
during the time that we had that car, my friend meredith (you probably know meredith) had a wreck in her beautiful white nissan sentra (no fault of her own), and subsequently purchased her chevy tracker. meredith voluntarily provided my and husband and me transportation wherever we needed to go from november through march. that's just amazing! she has always said that her truck is God's truck. in march, we finally got to a place where we could purchase a vehicle from a local used car lot, and we bought a '92 nissan sentra red. gorgeous. exactly what i wanted. and it was the first car i ever had that was MY car. i think now that that was a mistake. the MY part i mean. should've learned something from the november through march example. should've been God's car from the outset.
back up a little.......the year before, jeremy peterson lived with us from december through may--may is when he married meredith. then when jeremy moved in with meredith (after their wedding), then well, jennifer, who was living with meredith at the time, moved in with us. this was kind of a fun arrangement, and i am very grateful for the relationships that i was able to build in both of those cases.
jennifer is one of my favorite people in the world. for those of you who might be thinking, "which jennifer?" jennifer bairfield, or "jen-pa"--that's the one that distinguishes her for me. 8)
ok, so jennifer moved in in may, and we've had a car since march--yeah, that sounds right...i hope no one ever tries to prove exact details from these entries. there are some specific dates that i know are correct, but others are estimations. 8)
ok...so...we're "bee-boppin'" along through life...everything is grand. 8)
i'm building a relationship with jen-pa that i have wanted to build since we took issues together (a class at my church), and since the Lord has provided us a car, we're able to provide transportation to jen to go to work, etc. i love those rides. jen would be in the back seat early in the morning, and would suddenly bust out with a veggie tales song or some other song she knew from daycare. hehe
"..... cause your his cheeseburger...his precious cheeseburger...." and that's one song i hadn't heard before, and i thought she was crazy! hehe
ok--nice little trip down memory lane, now back to the story
this part is a little hard to write--it's a whole other emotional element in my life.
but here's a date i'm sure of. it's my mom's birthday. august 20, 2004. i was at work at my desk, and my phone rang, and it was the ranch hand (for lack of a better word), wally, who worked for my land lady.
he called to tell me that my house was on fire.
you can't imagine the emotions that went through me and the thoughts that went through my mind at that moment. i didn't believe him, first of all. and i know i got pretty loud, because everyone around me was immediately looking at me trying to figure out what i had been told. i was starting to cry but holding it back and trying to be level headed.
he said he just thought i would want to know...might want to get over there.
i didn't have the car that day. i thought james was home with the car, but wally said that james had left not ten minutes ago.
where could he have gone?
how is it possible that we could have 2 house fires in 5 years?
what kind of horror story IS this?!
please God! not again!
so like i said, i didn't have my car, so a friend/co-worker immediately offered to take me home.
when we got there, the gate was wide open , and there was a fire truck in the driveway--that familiar smoky-ness in the air.....but you couldn't see the evidence of a fire from the front., and i the fireman actually took me on a tour through my house.
it didn't seem so bad....i mean, we have something left! it even looks kind of liveable.....right?
well, i was feeling a little bit better...thinking this wasn't so bad.
but when i saw the look on my husband's face when he got home.....it still makes me cry.....all those same emotions and horrors going through his mind......
"a fire!? i was just here! how could there have been a fire???!!!!"
well, there was a man we barely knew (who did something very unwise) that allowed us to not lose everything again.....the land lady's son-in-law saw the smoke, busted in the back door with a garden hose, and lay on the floor and pointed the water toward where he thought the fire was coming from. he could've died, but i'm so thankful for that man......i'm not sure we could've taken losing everything....again..... 8)
next time......
wowzer... this is very emotional stuff... and a cliffhanger....
ReplyDeletebeth - you've been through "the fire" a lot!
ReplyDeleteLord, purify our hearts and make us whole.
Hey, keep on writing. It's a good community we have here, and it's a good way to get to know one another, isn't it? Oh, I've made another entry in my blog too...
Love and hugs...
time for you to write more!!!
ReplyDeletebe patient. be patient.
ReplyDelete8)
i kind of did leave y'all hangin', didn't i? hehe
Hi Beth!
ReplyDeleteI'm back around & finding a little bit of time to write. : )
Ooo, this last fire was pretty recent then.. what year was it in? So you lived in a house.. then moved into the apts. near Jere & Mere? When did you move into the apts?
Hee hee, yes, unknown to you.. I've been waiting too for the next part : ) I read this post sometime last week?? not sure when.. & wanted to comment, yet didn't have my hands free.. was feeding Keith.. and could only use the mouse & scroll through the blogs that I read. : )
So, whenever you have time.. don't feel rushed. I'm glad you are so open with your stories.
Well, I need a new pic, now don't I!!?
ReplyDeleteWill work on that soon : )
shannon,
ReplyDeletethe fire in this story took place on August 20, 2004. but you will have to wait and read the rest of the story for the answers to the rest of your questions. 8)