My Three P's

A few weeks after the fire, I created a new lingo for myself. I call it my 3 P's. These are the things that were miraculously saved from the blazing house fire, and these are another reason that I thank God on a regular basis.

My Peeps
My Pics
& My Pets

Thinking back on the events, just imagine how terrible and tragic things could have been if we had lost a loved one. Is surely could have happened. 3:30 AM. We were not awaken by smoke detectors or the barks of our beloved dog, Pablo (who was sound asleep by our feet in bed with us, by the way). We were "blessed" to be at an age where we don't sleep very well or very long. We were conscious enough to acknowledge strange sounds coming from the kitchen. (which by the way, we were blaming on our cats) I say that God woke us up. It is also common, at our house, to have extra bodies on the weekends . . . say 1-3 extra people. That particular Friday night, no extras. Another reason to be thankful.

We were able to exit with 2 of our 3 beloved pets. John made an attempt to go back in to rescue our other cat, but already the smoke was building up and making it unsafe. Our youngest son was especially heart broken to have lost one of our cats. The rest of us were too, but we were very grateful that we got out safely, as we did. We stood and watched the house go up in flames in a matter of minutes. Before the Fire Department could arrive, the fire had shot all the way across the roof line and the flames were just blazing. It was a long period of time battling the fire. There were fireman on those huge extension ladders way up in the air, dumping water on the house from several angles. From 3:30 AM to probably 7:30 or so. As the fire department was packing up, I asked a fire fighter to check for our cat. I just knew that the most likely place to find him would be under our bed. We were not allowed to enter the house because there was so much water pouring through the ceilings. There was a real risk of the 2nd floor falling in on the 1st with the weight of the water. When I heard what the fireman shouted out, I was ecstatic. "Will he bite me?" I called out the good news to our children. There was great rejoicing!

Next I began to think of all the things I had lost in the fire. I thought about all the pictures from our wedding and the kids as babies and all the memories. It was very sad to think about. I asked a different fireman to go looking for any pictures he could save. I gave him directions of where to look and a little while later, he emerged with an big arm load of albums. Yes! He continued to make trips back into the house and just kept bringing out more and more treasure. Again, I was astounded. There was even a stack of loose photos, some of my favorites of the kids growing up, that was just sitting near the floor by a book shelf. He carried those out as well. We even have our old high school year books and scrap books. Almost all of the framed photos were recovered off the walls. It was miraculous!

So there you have my 3 P's.
Peeps, Pics and Pets . . . . thank you God!