Joel took off on Thursday for a much-needed camping trip with guys from his Bible study group. He works so hard, I thought it was just what he needed. No phones, no computer, no work. Just his buddies and some fishing.
I thought a good way to pass the time while he was gone to take the kids to the North Idaho Fair. So Friday came and I came down with a cold. Not one to be detered by the sniffles, I took the kids to the fair anyway. The kids had a great time (we even got a parking space right next to the door and woman that gave us 2 free entry tickets as we were about to walk in the gates!), but by the end, I was feeling much, much worse. So we went home, I got the kiddos in bed, and went to take some Nyquil before bed. Nyquil is great when I have a cold. It dries me up and knocks me out. No Nyquil... but I had Dayquil so I took that instead. Same thing without the sleepness, right? WRONG! Turns out, Dayquil is the "daytime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, stuffhead, fever so you CAN'T sleep medicine," because I tossed and turned the whole night through. Miserable.
My well-rested kids were up at their usual 6 a.m. as I was just settling in to sleep for the night. I called my mother-in-law to ask if she was going into town and if so, would she buy me some Nyquil? She did me one better. Despite just having had houseguests that morning, she took all four of my brood to her house for the afternoon until bedtime so that I could rest. And she bought me Nyquil. Isn't she wonderful? Last night I slept much better, although Luke was up three times.
This morning I asked Rebekah to make everyone their morning dose of warm milk and I was able to stay in bed until 8:30. I got up then, made eggs, bacon & toast for breakfast and after everyone had eaten and had been dressed for the day, I went to lay down again. For about 15 minutes. That's when the power went out and all the fun began. We found out their was a 20-acre fire just at the end of our road, about 1/2 a mile from our house. So I decided to be prepared and started packing up the Suburban. Computers, camera, scrapbooks, pictures, important papers, all the important things first. The kids got in on it too and each of the older two packed a backpack full of toys and clothes. I just wanted to be ready if we got the word to evacuate with the fire so close and still spreading and it being so windy. Finally at 2 p.m. our power came back on and we got the word that the fire was 90% contained. And it looks like all the wind has blown in some clouds. It now looks like it's going to rain. Yeah!
I checked out some of the local news websites. They had a write-up on the fire, along with video.
Oh, and did I mention that my husband is completely unreachable where he is? Still doesn't even know what's been going on this weekend. Oh, and I still can't leave because their are about 4 fire trucks blocking the end of my road making sure the fire stays out? Oh yes, and I'm still feeling pretty rotten.
But very blessed. My friend's brother came home from a camping trip just a few weeks ago to find his house completely burned to the ground. At least we were here so I could pack a few essentials and irreplaceables. Thank you God for sparing my home. It definitely makes you take stock of what's important and realize how quickly it could all be gone.
Joel will be home tomorrow. With everything we've gone through, I really hope he had a good time this weekend. :)
