Fire!!

On July 1, while we were all in California, my dad got a call from his secretary saying, "I don't want to panic you, but your house is on fire."  We have since decided there is absolutely no good way to say that sentence.  As I mentioned in a previous post, our family was at Six Flags when my brother called and told me what was going on.  Bryan immediately called his dad who headed over there and sent us the following pictures:

It turns out, one of the neighbors across the alley, was outside helping another neighbor when he smelled the smoke.  Even though he couldn't see the fire or smoke yet, he went ahead and called 911. They asked him to go back outside and check again.  When he did, he saw flames shoot out of a vent in the roof.  The firemen arrived shortly thereafter and got to work.  They did a great job containing the fire to the attic, but unfortunately, the weight of the water caused 9 ceilings to collapse.  Mom and Dad flew home the next day to start with the clean up.

In addition to the stress of the fire, was the stress that both the cats "disappeared."  Comet was found two days after the fire, but Moonbeam has been missing for much longer.  Today is 8 days since the fire, and I had not planned on going back over to help today.  However, midmorning mom called needing support.  I took the girls to be with Bryan at the office and headed to the house.  I prayed the whole way over there.  I prayed for strength, and for God's guidance, and very specifically for Moonbeam to be found today.  As I was praying, I had the radio on KLOVE, and I suddenly noticed the lyrics to the song that was playing,

"Everybody falls sometimes

Gotta find the strength to rise

From the ashes and make a new beginning

Anyone can feel the ache

You think it's more than you can take

But you are stronger, stronger than you know

Don't you give up now

The sun will soon be shining

You gotta face the clouds

To find the silver lining

I've seen dreams that move the mountains

Hope that doesn't ever end

Even when the sky is falling

And I've seen miracles just happen

Silent prayers get answered

Broken hearts become brand new

That's what faith can do"

This is the song "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless.  As it was playing, I could feel God speaking to my heart saying, "You have faith... Well, I've got this."  Immediately after that song finished, "All the People Said Amen" played.  It was like the exclamation point to the previous statement.  That song was immediately followed by "Hold Me."  This is the second verse and chorus:

"Well Ya, took my day and You flipped it around

Calmed the tidal wave and put my feet on the ground

Forever in my heart, always on my mind

It's crazy how I think about You all of the time

And just when I think I'm bout to figure You out

You make me wanna sing and shout

Oo, I love the way You hold me, by my side You'll always be

You take each and everyday, make it special in some way

I love the way You hold me, in Your arms i'll always be

You take each and everyday, make it special in some way

I love You more than the words in my brain can express

I can't imagine even loving You less

Lord, I love the way You hold me"

Talk about feeling God's presence and comfort.  As soon as I got to the house, I looked up what songs had just played and took a picture on my phone so I wouldn't forget.

I spent the rest of the morning helping mom out around the house as needed.  The clean up crew was finishing up what they needed to do for the time being, and they packed up and left around noon.  Shortly thereafter, I heard a meow.  It was Moonbeam standing on the steps of the basement.  When we started to approach her, she quickly ran back down the steps to hide.  Mom, however, was able to coax her back out and get her in the carrier.  Our God is an Awesome God!!!  I don't think I have ever "heard" God speak to me like that, in fact I probably doubted it happened much anymore.  But, I definitely felt God like never before.  There is still much to do with dealing with the aftermath of this fire, but God is still and will always be in control.  He will get us through this.

California Part 3- Redding

The third and final portion of our vacation was at my cousin's house in Redding, CA.  Their house is located on the Sacramento River.  It is absolutely beautiful, both the house and the view.  We had such a good time visiting and spending time together.

Wednesday PM: We drove to Redding.  After dinner, we headed to the beautiful Sundial Bridge.  We were there at sunset and were able to watch it light up while the girls put their feet in the water.

Thursday: After spending the night in a very nice camping trailer in the driveway, Bryan and some of the other guys went early to play 9 holes of golf.  After they returned, we headed back up the river to go rafting.  That was a lot of fun!  The water was COLD, but Bryan, Bryan, and Newton jumped in anyways.  We also dropped the girls in with a firm grip on their life jackets.  They loved it!  I wish I had pictures, but I didn't want to risk getting a camera wet.  We spent the rest of the day napping and visiting.  The girls are thoroughly enjoying playing with Katie and Madeline's old Barbie dolls in a room where they can shut the door to get a break from the dogs.

Friday:  Happy 4th of July!  Today we took the girls to Kids Kingdom, an amazing fort like playground with a splash pad complete with erupting water volcano.  So much fun!  Daddy stayed with the girls while Karen, Madeline, and I got pedicures.  We had the ranch meeting in the afternoon, with mom and dad on the phone as they were back home dealing with the aftermath of the fire.  We then ate a delicious meal Jennifer prepared.  We decided to stay up extra late tonight and go watch the city's fireworks.  They were amazing, especially with the reflections on the river.  With the very slow traffic heading back, we didn't get in until 11:00pm.  Good thing I had already packed up during the afternoon.

Emma:

Ella:

Beautiful sunset while eating smores:

Saturday:  Long day of traveling home.  We drove back to Sacramento, returned our rental car, then flew home in 2 legs.  Our girls have been such troopers!  They were so very well behaved the entire trip.  It was a great time with family!

Our sweet girls reading in the airport while waiting on our plane.

California Part 2- Six Flags Discovery Kingdom & Jelly Belly (and a Fire)

Part 2 of our California vacation is the detour we took between my aunt's house in Fresno and my cousin's house in Redding  

Tuesday: Today, we got up early to head to Vallejo, CA.  Since we already have season tickets to Six Flags theme parks for this year, we decided to visit Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.  This is a very different Six Flags from what we are used to.  It is part theme park (roller coasters), part zoo (lions, elephants, birds, and other animals in habitats to look at), and part Sea World type park (dolphin and sea lion shows).  While we had wished there were more rides we could have ridden as a family, there were lots of great rides for the girls and many big roller coasters for Bryan and I.  We finally found a roller coaster we could have ridden as a family, but by the time we got to it, the park was closing and that ride had closed. We really enjoyed both shows we watched: Drench! (a dolphin show) and Cirque Dreams Splashtastic (a cirque show with a little dolphin involvement).  The only negative we experienced at the park was extremely poor, slow service at lunch with lukewarm, overpriced food.  We also made the mistake of Daddy and the girls riding the water raft ride too late in the afternoon.  As the sun started setting, the temperature really started dropping, so the girls got cold!  We searched every gift shop we passed for sweatshirts for them, but could not find any in their size.  Overall, we did have a great time!

Taking a nap on the way there:

Emma:

Ella:

Drench!

Bugs Bunny Play Area:

Cirque Dreams: Splashtastic!

Freezing girls sharing daddy's shirt:

Tuesday Addendum: While we were in a gift shop at Discovery Kingdom during the middle of the afternoon, I noticed a missed call and text message from my brother.  When I called him back, he told me something I never would have imagined- our parents' house was on fire.  I immediately stepped out of the gift shop to be able to hear better.  At this point we didn't know much: firefighters were on scene and the fire appeared to be contained to the north end of the house.  Bryan called his parents, who quickly headed over to send us a few pictures and try to find out more information.  So, while our girls were playing in the Bugs Bunny area, I was looking at pictures of my childhood home with firemen sitting on the roof.  My parents flew home on Wednesday, while we continued with our trip.  I'll post pictures and more about this in a later post.

Wednesday: This morning we tried to find a place to put our feet in the bay without driving too far in the wrong direction before heading away from the water, but all we ended up doing was finding a run down industrial district that had us making sure the car doors were locked.  So, we went on to the Jelly Belly factory for a tour.  An interesting tour with free samples, Yeah!  We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, planning on letting the girls burn off some energy in the play area before driving on to Redding, but unfortunately the play area was closed for repairs.  So, we asked some local people where a nice park was nearby and went there after lunch instead.  It was a great park, with lots of fun equipment.  I think our favorite was an angled, spinning pole that we all took turns playing on.  After the park, we drove on to Redding.