Psalm 46:1-3 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah."

Psalm 91:1-6 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday."

Here are pictures of the fire that was started by someone burning trash on a very windy day.
Winds were 20-25 mph. We were in a drought situation.
It threatened over 100 homes, including ours.
The next day, it jumped back up again, but on the other side of the neighborhood.
As you can imagine, our volunteer firefighters were exhausted.

We had just finished a pleasant conversation with the DSS worker who said the deputy mispoke when he told us we would be investigated because of Amanda's sleepwalking. We literally put the phone down and went outside to see why the dogs were barking. We looked up and saw 40' pine trees on fire with flames 20' over them. Even though it was over 100 feet away, we could feel the heat pouring off of it. The Forest Dept said "GO!" which is just what we did.

Now, we are not strangers to fire. They like to burn the marshes off every year and sometimes we have had close calls, but all of those put together were nothing like this.

We went back through and put them in order and added a few more for you.

This is what we found right by our front door.

This is the front yard as we were are leaving.
There was a break in the winds, so the flames are not visible, but they sure were when we first walked out.

Most precious things were packed first. (Brandon is beside Bethany, out of shot.)

We had plenty of clean underwear! LOL

11 pets packed in the van including two tiny 4 week old Chihuahua puppies.

What's going on Mom?! Why'd you shove us all in the van? Chloe is frightened.

Our home is behind those trees..right where the fire is heading.
Helicopter (speck at top) is filming our house which was on the news.

Our view while waiting.

WAVY 10's Chopper 10

"WAVY 10 on our side" of the road. We were interviewed twice by Channel 10 and once by Channel 13.People tell us we were also on Fox 43.
Our house was featured in several shots and the two people running around with stuff in their arms was us!
They filmed our van filled with our 5 children, 11 of our pets, clothing, our family pictures
and our cameras-which is what we grabbed in the 5 minutes we had to leave.
Clint's film footage was used and most of the charred stuff shown on 10 the first day after was from our farm.
It was a good experience for the children to watch how reporters do their job.
We also were told we could tour the stations so we will probably do that soon.

By far, the nicest reporter we met was Sula Kim of Channel 13. She and her camera man spent time talking to us. We were people to them, not just a story.
They showed concern for our well being and we really enjoyed meeting them.

That rabbit was GLAD to see us.
If we had not been allowed home when we were, she would have met a bad end.

This barn was about on fire when we came home.
This is later when the fire reignited and we had to sit watch over it and our big barn.

This tree died from Hurricane Isabel.
Hurricane Isabel contributed to make the fires worse because there was so much dry fuel on the ground.
When we woke up the next morning, it was leaning more and appeared like it would fall on the powerlines.
We called VEPCO to have someone come cut it down before it falls.

Our home after we were allowed o return.
This fire is in our front yard but blowing away from us so it was safe to be home.

Behind the children's play area. (right of house)

Clint filming our driveway. (front yard)

Brandon hanging out with the firemen watching over our barns.
They let him help, gave him some quick training and answered his many questions.
Then they invited him to join the Jr. FD.

We had to cut down our fence and chase the goats out.
Earnestine and Little May are the only two goats we had to survive Hurricane Isabel.

Here's the left side of our big barn. Although weathered, losing it would have been very difficult for us.

Here's where Clint had to put the fire out on the right side of the big barn.
We literally put our vans in park and jumped out with them still running to put three fires out.
A few more minutes...

Here is what we saw burning when we pulled up. This is the back of our small barn.

This is the third fire we had to run to put out as soon as we got home.
We removed the poor bunny first. You can see where the rabbit's bedding caught fire.
Again, a few more minutes...

She's OK! She was pretty shaken up, but hugging her to our chest settled her fears.
She ran around in a circle for half an hour until we could get to her to calm down.

This is the end of the camper you saw in an earlier shot.
You can see how much of the undergrowth in the woods is gone now.

Our front yard. That's one of the few fruit trees (right foreground) that survived Isabel.

Closer look at front yard. If it looks familiar, it's because this was on t.v.

From the master bedroom window.

A special thank you to the Swetnam Family for coming to help us out by washing dishes, locating frightened pets, keeping track of children and keeping us company while things were hectic. Thanks also the the Middle Peninsula Home School members who prayed and offered help during this and Amanda's sleepwalking episode. Our family is never able to attend meetings due to Clint's work schedule so we have never met most of them and they still showed us concern and offered their support. To all of our friends and neighbors who called or dropped in to check on us-We love you too!

"Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" Psalms 133:1

back to the blog
back to the home page