The Erskine Fire

Last Thursday, about 30 minutes from our home, a wildfire began in the mountains near Lake Isabella.  We can easily see the smoke above the mountains, and we smell it different times of the day, depending on where the wind is blowing.

After 4 days, the fire has damaged over 36,000 acres, with 150+ structures and homes burned to the ground, only 10% contained as of this morning.  1700 firemen and personnel have been battling it.

One thing about tragedy is that it opens people's hearts.  The day after the fire started, we went around the house and gathered a few supplies to take to a drop-off location--water bottles, hygiene items, clothes, a few gently used blankets, and unused pillows.  It was a token donation, and I hope we'll be able to do more.

The response from our little Ridgecrest community to help Lake Isabella (and other) residents has been astounding.  An account was set up at a local bank, volunteers have loaded several trailers of donations and driven up to the area on their own time and money, people have delivered chili and donuts to the fire personnel, animals have been relocated here in town and at the fairgrounds.  I spoke to a friend this morning who said she had family staying at a local hotel, and there were goats there!  Livestock and other animals have also been rescued from the wildfire.  These are just a few of the stories I've seen.

In the face of so much destruction, it has been very inspiring to see people gather together to help and make a difference!

The other miracle was this:  our good friend Howard Collins has a sister Cindy who lives up where the wildfire is going on, in Mt Mesa.  She works with firefighters and other personnel for her job, so when the fire started, she grabbed a few belongings from her home and spent the next two days working on the fire situation.  We were concerned for her and her home!  Yesterday Sandi sent me a text that Cindy had been able to check her home--"Cindy's house did not burn....thank you for the prayers.  She is busy working and helping others."

For an idea of the devastation, here are a few pictures that have been all over Facebook this weekend:

LIFT

I have watched this Mormon Messages video about sixty million times since my mom mentioned it to me a few weeks ago.  I love it, I love it, I love it, and I tell everyone about it!

A very special service project!

On February 16th, we drove down to Loma Linda and did a service project at the Ronald McDonald House with some wonderful Ridgecrest friends who also stayed there while their children were at the children's hospital.  Thank you, thank you, to the Kimbler family for organizing it!  We had a great time with them and the Rossers!

It had been 14 years since we'd been back to the Ronald McDonald House, about 6 months for the Kimblers, and 2 months for the Rossers.  I was happy I held it together and didn't get emotional. :)  We were just so happy to be there, providing lunch and talking to the families who were guests there at that time.  One of the men noticed Benjamin's BYU shirt and asked us about that--come to find out, that family was LDS and members of the Victorville stake. Good times!

Rhiannon with Jackie Rosser--I admire Jackie so much!

These kids were a little too young to be in the kitchen, per the guidelines there, but they loved the 25-cent soda machine, the free snow cones, and the play area out back.  I sure was glad the Kimbler kids could come so that Wade wasn't bored!

Rhiannon never stayed here, but her parents and Grandma Donna did!  What memories! Our girl was staying in the Loma Linda NICU--a crazy beginning, but look at her now!  Love this girl--we are blessed!

A very happy day!!!

A kind service

We had some youth visitors drop in on us last night.  They were doing service for their Mutual church activity and asked what they could do around the house, so we had them vacuum, do dishes, and dust!  Thank you, Rhiannon, Lettie, Trini, Rachel, Kayla, Seth, and Josh, and to their chaperones Tara and Lee.  My baseboards, window ledges, and door trim haven't been that sparkly since we moved in 4 years ago! :)

Future babysitter?

This morning Jason and Rhiannon are off on an all-day daddy-daughter date to Bakersfield.  Jason had some things he needed to get done on the other side of the mountain, and Rhiannon wanted to buy some Converse shoes, so she joined him.  I hope they're having fun and not getting too much rain over there!

Meanwhile, Wade helped me do a little service this morning and watch my friend's 3 kids for a couple hours, ages ~ 6, 3, and 1.  This sweet family just found out a couple weeks ago that they got the go-ahead and funding to go to Georgia for a year for school, so they've had less than a month to pack up and get ready.  I keep thinking back to how much glorious time we had to dejunk, pack, and clean before we went to D.C.--it was so nice!  So I really felt for my friend having to pull it all together in such a hurry.

I think Wade was a little worried about these little kids coming over.  He's not a big fan of kids coming into his room and trashing it, which I understand, but I promised him that it would be just fine and we'd have a good time with them.

We had a plan of attack--don't laugh--3 full hours of activities, something different every 15 minutes, ha-ha!  From the moment they walked in the door to when they got picked up 2 hours later, we painted, played trains, did Play-Dough, played Hide-and-Seek, made a snack, watched a little TV, played cars, played Bakugans, and listened to a piano concert (thanks to Wade).  We cleaned up after every activity before we started a new one, and we still had a couple hours' worth of things to do when their mom came to pick them up!

I was really proud of Wade--he was patient, got down on the ground with them, and was very kind and helpful.  I think he was pretty pleased and relieved with how well it went, too. 

Don't count on us opening up a daycare anytime, though--we are both beat! :)

ps.  Poor Oscar stayed in his crate most of the time.  He liked the 1-year-old baby a little too much!

Wednesday's agenda

Today has been a great day for me.  I got several little projects done that have been scattered all over the house, such as finishing Jason's set of photo coasters for his office at work, and baking cookies for a Mutual activity.  Wade helped me with some of the cookies so he could bring them to the Blue & Gold banquet tomorrow and cross off a requirement for his Bear badge.  I also put 57 baby shower invitations in the mail, and, no, I am not hosting this one at our house. :) 

Because I felt caught up and things were in order, I was blessed with some opportunities to serve others today, too.  I dropped in on a friend who's on bed rest and expecting her baby any day.  It was good to sit with her and laugh/empathize for a bit!  Then in a few minutes I'm going to accompany the full-time missionaries on a visit to a 12-year-old girl who's taking lessons.  The elders called me this morning and asked if I could stop by with them and invite her to church activities. 

Then I'll end the day with a busy night of Mutual with the 14-15 year-old girls.

Tomorrow will be all about Oscar--I didn't get my walk in with him today and I think we're both feeling it!

Good gifts

Jason gave a wonderful family home evening lesson earlier this week.  The kids had given me some money for my birthday, and while we both appreciated their generous spirits, Jason talked to them about other gifts that he appreciated more from them, such as gifts of time and service.  We talked about examples like cleaning the church and their great job surprising me with a spotless kitchen.  It was a good discussion, and another reason why I am very grateful to have Jason in my life.  He is a wonderful husband and a thoughtful, wise dad--we love him!

That very day I'd been up to the kids' school, helping out at the library.  I'd been sick with a cold the previous week and hadn't come in at all to help shelve books.  I try to come in an hour or two a week.  Our school is probably 10 times busier than other schools in the district, mainly because the Accelerated Reader program is in full force there and kids are constantly checking in and out books to read for their goals.  With the volume of books being used, there's just no way the two women working full-time in the library can handle all the processing of books on their own--if they focused only on that, the kids would suffer and the library would be a total ZOO!  As I was getting books ready to shelve on carts, the school librarian came up to me, and in all seriousness said, "I'm so glad you're here.  I prayed that you would come today!"   Boy, was I glad I'd decided to come, instead of taking a snooze like I'd been thinking about doing! :)