What's Important...

Recently, you may have heard that life has just got a little more complicated for me and my family. Just when I started thinking that with the new year, that my curse, my family curse was going to be gone with the change, it happens...

Where do I begin? Right now, I am sick of it. I am sick of hearing and telling the story over and over to everyone, who asks what happened. So I figure I will write about it, so that in the future, I will have this to come back to, and be thankful it was not worse.

Late Saturday night, Jason went to go pick up Erick from the Stake dance. I was downstairs playing video games alone, when all of the sudden, a flipping bat, (yes a bat!) flew wildly around Erick's room. It scared the crap out of me. I thought Jason was just going batty, when he said it happened to him one night, in the summer. But we never found it, and we could not imagine how it got in there. So I got a hoody on, and a broom and went back to see what I could do. It swooped down at me, back and forth, until it landed on the wall, and it stuck it's self there. Then I decided to just wait for Jason to come home but as I was standing there, I got a frantic phone call from my dad. It just a few words, he yelled out that the house was on fire! I asked him, "are you kidding?" He said no. Then told me to call my mom and then he was cut off. Suddenly the bat did not seem so scary.

Their home was a nice double wide trailer. It had 2000 sq. feet. What had happened, according to the fire chief, was that the cat must had knocked down the Christmas tree and it set on fire. It was a Scotch Pine, and it was loaded with lights. My dad even made the comment before, that is was the fullest and most beautiful tree they have had for a while. My dad does not remember getting out. He does not know how or who helped. When he heard the alarms go off all at once when he was in his bedroom, he said the cat came running, he saw the glow through the black smoke, he grabbed the cat and tucked it under his shirt. Then he ran to the back door, which was seized by the heat and banged on it. The neighbor who was in the shower, heard his calls for help, and her husband saw it was on fire. Several neighbors came and they all tell a different story, but none of them say who helped him out. One says he was on the ground. They all say he was already out when they came. My poor dad, my mean old crazy dad, is totally traumatized. He has been having nightmares, and he says the flames were right up to him. He last remembers kicking on the door and seeing the flames above his head and thinking he was going to die.

He got out of the hospital late Monday night. He did get some burns, and he had damage to his lungs and throat. The doctor says it can be months before it's healed inside. But they released him because he can breathe on his own now. I am doing what ever I can, I even cleared out Clark's room and bought a bed for them. Their ward members have been awesome! Dria's basketball team, and the varsity gave her tons of bags of stuff and a card full of money. I think she will be okay, but she has been in shock for two days, acting as if nothing happened. But yesterday, it has hit her, and she isn't the same.

Tragedy happens to everyone in some form. I hope we never experience anything worse. I do know what is is like to lose everything in a fire. My family was in a wreak with our moving trailer while on the way to Alaska when I was ten years old. Everything we had was in a stupid trailer meant for hay. When it was destroyed, all of the stuff was burnt in a giant bon fire, set by my dad and his friends. We had no insurance on the things and so we didn't have anything for a while after we moved. In fact, we went on to Fairbanks, and we lived in a tent! (well I slept in the front seat of the pick-up) Life went on, and we made do with what we had, each other. So with this, it will be another story to tell, a lesson learned, and a chance to start fresh for my parents. Most importantly, I do believe everything happens for a reason, even if it has the outcome we do not like, but Heavenly Father has a plan, whether we live die now or die later. I really believe that. Thank you for all of your support and love, but we will be okay and we will survive.