My Very First Memorial Box Monday!!!

I am so excited to finally start a Memorial Box! I haven't actually acquired the box yet, but I'm going to start gathering the items that will eventually go in the box.

So, today, on my very first Memorial Box Monday, I'm flooded with ideas for stories and items, and I'm really having trouble picking one! But, this month marks the first anniversary of our little "laundry room barbeque". The circumstances of that event have obviously been on my mind.

In Mid-November 2008, we *finally* got the call that we had been waiting for more than a year. We got a permanent placement! We were cautiously excited, and we knew that she would be coming in early December. The night before Thanksgiving, we had a couple of students at the house watching movies. I went into the laundry room, and I smelled that electrical burning smell that is s0 very distinctive. This had happened before, and last time it had been a problem with the water heater. We immediately called the owner of the house so that someone would fix the issue. I had JP scour the laundry room to make sure nothing else could be causing the smell, and we were satisfied when we went to bed that all was well.

It just so happened that we were leaving to go out of town the next day, and it just so happened that my mother had offered for us to stay in her home that night since we anticipated that we would run out of hot water. We declined her offer... thank you, Jesus! Now, my JP has sleep apnea, so he has to wear this very complicated and loud mask at night so he won't stop breathing in his sleep. For some reason, he forgot to put on his mask before he fell asleep.

Early the next morning, the smell of smoke woke him. I know, that's not supposed to happen - you aren't supposed to smell smoke in your sleep... but I absolutely believe that God made that possible. He jumped out of bed, and ran down stairs, yelling for me to wake the kids up on the way down. After just a few seconds, he yelled for me to get them out RIGHT NOW!!! For some reason, my little boy, Jonathan, had ended up in bed in his underwear... maybe he got too warm in bed? I don't know. But I yanked a shirt over his head and dragged them down the stairs and out the door and into the car (it was COLD!). Please note that neither of our smoke alarms had gone off yet, and by this time the laundry room was fully ablaze. I ran back inside (since there was very little smoke), and called 911. I went back to the porch and witnessed my studly honey running through the house (in a T-shirt and boxers, I might add), carrying a small bowl of water, which was sloshing out everywhere as he was running. Later on I would think this image was really hilarious, but at the time, I just yelled ," GET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!". And it was totally a God-thing that we even had those fire extinguishers to begin with-- we were required to have them for foster care. Not only that, but we were required to carry renter's insurance by state law.

In the end, JP managed to put the fire out before the fire department even got there. We sustained minimal fire damage, but alot of smoke damage. The worst part is that we were displaced for several weeks while the damage was repaired. We were so scared that we wouldn't be able to accept our placement. But, our agency was amazing, and they arranged for respite while we were waiting to move back in. In the meantime, we were spending the rest of our meager resources on the necessities... clothes, school supplies, etc. We talked to Tinkerbell on the phone for a week or so before she came, and we found out that she was coming only with the clothes she had. We would need to provide all toiletries and school supplies when she arrived. We honestly had no idea how we were going to pay for this. Our bank account was absolutely exhausted.

Out of the blue one sunday, one of the church employees pulled my husband aside and gave him a gift card to Walmart that covered all of Tinkerbell's expenses. We were so thankful.

So, for my first Memorial Box entry, I'll put in an empty WalMart Gift Card to remind us that the Lord may give, and the Lord may take away, but he ALWAYS provides-- Jehovah Jireh.