Now and Then.

THEN .........
(one year ago)



NOW...........
(this morning)


Avery is BEYOND upset about her jacket. It's ALL she talks about. Everywhere we go she tells someone about the fire that broke her jacket. She cries every time she sees it. And she keeps telling us to fix it. It breaks my heart that her little heart is broken!

We have slept here a few nights without the power, and it was actually fun. We lit candles, geared everyone with a flashlight, and huddled by the fire place on our mattress that we dragged out to the family room. We would read books by candle light, and the kids LOVED it.

Last night we came home and there was power to most of the house, (they are still fixing a lot of the wires though) and Avery was SO SO SO excited. She started jumping up and down and clapping and squealing "house all better now. Fire's all gone!" She kept laughing and checking out each light switch, and if it worked she would clap and jump. She was so excited and overwhelmed that she started to cry. Then she ran to the "ruined" pile, picked up her jacket and said, "It's still broke."

I feel so bad that she is so young and having her little world rocked. We were so blessed to only lose a few possessions and to be able to contain the fire to one part of the house, but the kids don't see that. They see ALL of their coats burnt and melted together. They saw a dark, non-powered house for a few nights, they see ashes and melted carpet all over the floor, they see walls with holes in them, they see walls that are burnt. I wonder if I should have kept them away until the whole house was complete again, I just thought it would have been easier on them to sleep in their own beds, and see that the house is okay, just a bit worn out.

I know they will be okay, they are strong kids. And little by little, day by day, they see the house coming together, they see that we ARE fine. They get LOTS of hugs, and extra love, and this weekend, we are going to buy new jackets. Ava needs a new coat!