Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. I haven't logged on in a while. Ty's birthday was Sunday, a first "non-birthday" day filled with emotions of missing this amazing child. God brought us home early Friday due to a "kid emergency" and it gave us the opportunity to discover our house was on fire and to get a few of our precious items,  mostly pictures and memento's of Tyler's, out of the house while we could. We also got our pets, but not much else.

I had on a pair of jeans, t-shirt and slippers! Needless to say, we had to go shopping that night. We pretty much lost everything in the master bedroom and garage (electrical fire started in garage and moved into the attic) and everything else is smoke-damaged with a toxic smelling burnt plastic/tire smell to it. As we had been preparing to remodel the master bedroom and bath, we had most of our off season, and non-essential items boxed up and stored in the garage, which was totaled. 

The insurance co. has already hired a smoke restoration company to come in and remove many of our personal items to do an ionization treatment that is supposed to remove the toxins and smoke, but they may end up having to rebuild our entire house. The attic fire damaged the structural integrity of our home and destroyed the end of the house where the garage, laundry and master suite were located.  They are still trying to decide whether to rebuild half or all of the house.

In the meantime, my amazing friends had a rental available with wood floors (I have 5 dogs, two cats) and they sent my family shopping for clothes and basics while they called everyone they knew and took care of my needs in a matter of hours. I have a fully furnished house full of borrowed and donated items. I want for nothing! I am so blessed and this incredibly busy weekend (the fire was Friday night) kept me so busy, I didn't have any major breakdowns on Ty's birthday which was Sunday.   

I came back to work on Wed. and my co-workers (I am a teacher in a small rural school) had collected $265.00 in cash, 5 giftcards, and held a short notice surprise "kitchen" shower for me to replenish the food and dishes in my kitchen. They are amazing! I am a new teacher in this school, so their generosity is even more touching and appreciated because they have accepted me and made me feel like family from the first day I began working.

A little history on my job, I was hired a week before my son, Tyler, died. I am sure that God put me in this school, amidst these Christian co-workers, to fill my life with amazing and prayerful people who bless me daily. It has been a crazy 7 months, with Ty's death in June, and at times I feel like Job, but I also hold my faith close, share my blessings and try to be a witness to the blessings of God, and continue to allow God to carry me when I need Him to, and to share his Glory through my story.

Interesting note; this is my second fire, the first happened when I was not quite three, and I was burned over 75% of my body. I have scars to show that God obviously has special plans for me to remain available to tell about his grace and faithfulness in my life, and even though there have been times in my life that I felt my heart was being ripped out of my chest, my faithfulness never ceased and I have been rewarded every time. Job was tested, and he never allowed his spirit and faith to be destroyed. I know, from experience, that in believing, there is nothing that is impossible with God in your life.  I came back from the fire with a positive attitude and people have asked me how I keep my spirits up and I tell them first, I have already been through the worst with the loss of my son, Tyler, this last June.  Secondly, because of that experience, I have learned that if you can fix it with money, it's not that big of a deal.  It is only a setback and if you  have faith in God and are surrounded by Christians as I am, God will use them to help fill all of your basic needs.  I know, because this is the second time in seven months that I have been blessed by my faith and the support of my amazing friends.   

I am sure most of you already know this, and here I am rambling on...but I wanted to give thanks for  all of you keeping me in your prayers and leaving all of the words of encouragement about my son's birthday on my page! I am not only blessed by my friends and co-workers, I am blessed by this online community who has befriended me and has lifted me in prayer. I am so blessed!

Have an amazing day and know that you have truly blessed me with your words of encouragement and prayers!