The Day Our House Burned Down and What Happened After (Part 4)

Saturday morning dawned. I hadn't slept again that night; Mom and Dad have a second bedroom with a double bed that for the first few nights that my oldest two boys slept in, and a pack and play for the baby in the same room. They also have a FROG (finished room over the garage), but there is only a double bed in there. Shawn slept up there for the first couple of nights while I slept on the couch in the living room. We wouldn't fit comfortably together in that small bed, and he needed his sleep more than I did; he was doing heavy work, after all.

Shawn and I woke up very early (if I really slept at all) and went to Home Depot to get respirators and gloves for people to use while in the house. When we got back at around 8am, there was already a car in front of our house. It was our pastor, ready to work. We hadn't even had breakfast, so we told him to come over to Mom and Dad's and eat with us.

When we were done (he'd already had breakfast, but came with us anyway) there were more people there. Honestly, I don't even know how many people came; I know of one special lady in particular that wrote this status that afternoon after she'd come to help for a bit:

"Okay folks: I just left the Johnson's home. The immediate need is for LOTS of people to come move EVERYTHING out of the house TODAY. Look at your own home and imagine if every single thing needed to be packed up and moved out by Monday morning. Also, they need boxes for packing. I suggest you wear work boots. I know it is a busy weekend with graduation, Annie's funeral and Father's Day...but just one hour would help tremendously."

Someone brought food that day (people actually brought food for a couple of weeks after; we had so much!) and there was so much, Mom and I took it down to the house, set up the picnic table outside and fed everyone that was there.

My best friend and her family came. I cannot tell you how much I love this lady. She sat with me, cried with me, and just loved me. This is what she had to say when she got home that evening:

"Just came from my friend, Tina Johnson's house...Sean helped with pulling stuff out of the house, I hung out with the kidlets and the momma's. I had a good look at what fire contained in a hallway can do to an entire house. So so so grateful that I still have my friends and their sweet little boys. It is nothing short of a miracle that this is so. God is good and stuff is just stuff."

My husband's brand new chair

The first pile of furnishings that had to be thrown out

My in-laws came that day, too. My father-in-law went down to the house and looked at it; I've never seen him cry, but Shawn said he did. That evening, they took us to the store and bought us shoes, clothes, underwear, everything. Some of the ladies that had come to help clean took clothes that had been in the dressers home with them to wash them. One lady in particular still makes me giggle; she sent me a text that night saying "you have a very impressive sock collection!"  I wrote back: "you should have seen it before Shawn made me pare it down to just TWO drawers instead of three!!" 

The next morning, my in-laws left, taking my oldest two boys home with them for the week. I needed to keep the baby; he kept me grounded. I had to have something/someone to take care of. It was Father's Day. We went to church that morning, put the baby in the nursery, and went in to worship. I remember just sobbing during the praise and worship time. It was a welcome release. After church, Shawn and I ran away. We just needed alone time, together.

Monday was coming, and the hardest work was about to begin.

Part 5 coming soon!