Saturday, April 21, 2012

Going no where fast!

Well, the small update about our home is this.....NOTHING....the one thing I do know is that it is going to be close to Christmas time before we are possibly in a home, whether it's a new built one or a reconstructed one we had already.
Either way........the lesson I am learning is patience.....I thought I had learned this lesson already, but clearly I have some more to learn. I will comply lol. In the meantime, we are learning to live in "town" with "city" sounds, like garbage trucks, street sweepers, and cars that sound like space shuttles lol.
All I know is that at the end of this adventure....the country is gonna feel soooooooooooooo good!!!!!!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

House fire pictures.



This is just a small glimpse into our Thursday last week. You can pretty much get the idea of what things looked like in just these few pics.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

God is good!!!

Now bare with me while I preach, as my usual temperament is not to preach, as I am not one who likes to be preached to as well. But this needs to be said.....God is good, and miracles DO happen!!!
I have always had the believe in a higher power. I have not always understood it, or able to explain it in a way that would make others want it like it did. I believe everything happens for a reason, and whether you believe or not is not my concern but what is my concern is that I do believe.
The reason I have decided to go on a small preaching tirade is because of the following home fire experience I have had, and the things that have happened since.
Now this may get long winded and really....I dont' care...I just need to get it out and tell the world of my personal experience. So whether you decide to read along is your choice, but for me, this will be my therapy so to speak.
Last Thursday was my one day off. I went into town around noon to get some groceries by my self. My daughter was at school, my husband at home working on his computer. That morning before I left I went and got a new kitty. It was so exciting to get this kitty cause my husband does not like cats, and I have finally wore him down enough and convinced him that a good farm needs a barn kitty. The kitty could live with our new pot belly pig and all would be well I told him. So this new kitty (which was born on my 40th bday) was only at our home for 3 hours when the fire broke out.
I had come home from shopping, and was home maybe about 10 minutes. Then our daughter came home, put her stuff in her room from school and then I told her that we needed to go outside to the pig house and see the new kitty and name her.
So as we walked around the house, I could smell a VERY different smell of burning that I have never experienced before in my life. We walked further to the back of the house, and that's when my world turned upside down!
I screamed all the way back to the house...CALL 911 CALL 911...THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE! My husband at first did not believe me...LOL....he will ALWAYS believe me now!!!!! We were able to grab all things of value and get it out of the house. My husband was climbing a ladder with a bucket and trying to throw water on the roof to keep the fire from spreading...I was yelling at him to get off the roof before he kills himself and let the fire dept deal with this when they get here. He was such a brave man trying to protect his home from fire, I was such a proud wife at that moment (even though I was thinking in my mind....what a crazed lunatic on the roof lol) The fire dept showed up in about 10 min. Now one thing I did not understand in the crazed moment is that they have to "assess" the fire. The don't just come in like they do in the movies with their hoses out and start spraying like crazy. They walk around in a calm slow pace and see what needs to be done, meanwhile I am looking at my husband and he is looking at me like "what the hell, why are the not saving our house?" LOL. What they were doing is being sure of what they needed so that they too would be protected.
It is very hard in that moment to watch your home burn, it's like a slow motion movie happening, and your thinking....what the heck, is this really happening? It's the most surreal feeling I have had in very long time. I sat on my driveway and cried. Not sobbing out of control cry, but one of those slow falling down your cheek movie style tears...tears of disbelieve....tears of wonder....but tears of happiness that my family is safe.
Not one or two, but three fire depts showed up, the police and the ambulance....I was pretty sure there was a town hall meeting happening on my yard there were so many freakin people lol.
After the fire was out and all the animals safe and people were gone, that's when it starts to really hit you. WOW...now what???
We are blessed to live in a country that has emergency services for families in need. Which we were but didn't think we were lol. We stayed in a hotel for three days and had free meals three times a day. We were lucky enough to have an insurance adjuster come the next day to assess what was needed, and the clean up crew were there Monday morning along with my husband to start the process of clean out. He packed along with three other ladies for 8 hours. Then went back today to pack for another 4 hours. This makes me think, that really, we have WAY TO MUCH SHIT....yes I said it....SHIT....calm down, God knows me best and I know he's gonna have a laugh when He reads this too LOL.
So let me back up for one moment. The last day at our motel, we had NO idea where we were gonna sleep the next night or the one after that or in fact...where we were gonna go at all for the next three months. This is when ANOTHER miracle happened. A friend from high school, who I have kept in contact over the many years, via email or the occasional visit is on FacebookChilliwack, and I am thinking to myself, what can someone way down there do for us up here? Why why why would I ever doubt God. In fact, why should I even be surprised by all of this lol. God has always taken care of me, why would this be any different!
With in about an hour, I had this long lost cousin of hers, in my work place here in 100 Mile! This long lost cousin also used to go to church youth group with my older siblings about 30 years ago, and her parents hung out with my parents!!!!!!!!!!!! INSANE...CRAZY....NO....MIRACLE!!!! Again, God is good. They gave us the keys to their townhouse to move into the next morning. They weren't living in it and did not need it and told us we could stay there as long as we needed.
My manager from my work then shows up the next day with blankets, bedding, dishes, towels etc and says to me "make me a list of things you need and I will probably have it as I have two of everything"
Again, God is good. So I now have to wait in this new townhouse for the Shaw cable dude to show up and get us hooked up with phone, Internet and cable. I have no t.v or radio, just me and the dog, husband is at the old house packing with the restoration company, kid is at school, and I am all alone now. So in this townhouse, the kind people who let us move in had a left a few things behind. I noticed in the basement a box of books. So I figured I needed something to do so why not read. The one book I pick out happens to be a book about God and how this group of people from Langley B.C decided to drive across the country telling others about God's love and how he preforms miracles all the time, and the lessons he teaches us in all different ways and circumstances. Again....ummmm...yupppp, pretty sure God is having a good ol laugh at me now, cause now I stop....put the book down, and pray. I must have prayed for a good long time, and that prayer must of worn me out, cause then I fell asleep on the couch and it felt GREAT!!
There are even MORE smaller things that I just KNOW God is putting in my path, but I have yet to see how they all play out before I write them here. Either way, I am just looking at it all now with a big ol smile and thinking in my head "okay God, you got my attention...what is that I am gonna be doing now?"LOL
So we shall see where this journey takes me or my husband or our whole family....who knows...but like my best friend Carla told my husband on the phone yesterday..."When you married Robyn, you knew there was gonna be craziness and excitement in your life"
Again, I will keep this preaching to a minimum for all of those out there who get freaked out by someone talking about God, but really....get over it...it's not like it's a disease...I can't MAKE you see the light...but it sure feels GREAT!!!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Burn burn burn, burning ring of fire!!!!

Except is wasn't a ring, it was our house. YES....we had a house fire last Thursday and it was horrible. But with every horrible situation comes blessings, blessings from places least expected.
We live in a wonderful country that has so many wonderful services. Our home was not liveable, and we were given three nights stay in a hotel with meals paid for three days as well. We are also able to keep our dog with us (she LOVES hotel life) so she too could try to come out of this drama. So what we didn't know though, is where or what we were gonna do after those first initial three days. Well....this is where miracles happen I tell ya.
A old high school friend who I have known since I was 15, and kept in contact over the years even though we do not live in the same town anymore, messaged me on facebook to ask if there was anything we needed. I told her we are searching for a place to rent for few months cause we have no idea where we are going in 24 hours.
At this point it's been two days at the hotel, and we had been asking around, going to realtors to see if they knew of any short term rental places etc but no one knew of anything. So here is my friend, who is in Chilliwack, and we are here in 100 Mile House (4 hours away from her) and she tells us about this cousin she has but has not seen in a while her self, who she thinks lives here somewhere and might know someone who might help us out.
We as it turns out, the cousin is someone my siblings grew up with in our old farming days in a place called Yarrow. I remember as a little girl going with my Mom and Dad for Friday night coffee's with this ladies parents. CRAZY...the last time I say this lady was probably 30 years ago.
Well she showed up with her husband last night at my work and told me they had a townhouse we could use as long as we needed and gave us the keys and said you can move in there tomorrow.
I broke down and cried like a baby. How do you thank someone for such a wonderful gift like that!!! The relief alone was astounding, and gratefulness that ones feels is unexplainable!
I am truly so very blessed by the friends and connections I have made in my life and the friends that I truly can call a friend. Darlene...Debbie...friends and neighbors.....there are not enough thank you's I can give to make up for your kindness to my family....but THANK YOU!!!
I will post pics of the disaster at a later date.
As for now.....on to the next adventure!!!