Fires

Thursday morning, Aaron left bright and early on his camping trip. The boys and I were going to be on our own all weekend.

Mac was ready and rearing to have preschool time as soon as breakfast was over so we jumped right on it

Adrian played quietly while Mac studied.

In the later part of the morning, I cleaned up and then set out Mac's snack. 

After their nap the boys and I headed over to my moms to visit with my brother who was in town to celebrate his birthday. 

On our way home I noticed a huge cloud of smoke which only got bigger as I drove in the direction of home. 

I pulled over at my dads shop to check the news and sure enough a 5 acre section of the river parkway was on fire. We live along the river and though the fire was up stream a bit, the news was reporting that the emergency responders had not been able to access the fire yet. 

All I could think about was being forced to evacuate with my two young children, by myself, in the middle of the night (if the fire made it to our end of the river).

So I stayed at my moms and dealt with what I had with me to get us through the night (I did have to go buy milk and formula, but I had enough clothes for the boys and just had to wash the dirty diapers and also wash the clothes I was wearing).

At one point I did consider going home just because the news was saying the fire was calming and they were just dealing with small flare ups, but then I switched to a different news station which showed the fire still burning and they used the word "intensifying". The information was unreliable so I didn't know what was accurate. And to top it off this particular news station reported another fire in a different part of town. I finally decided to stay put, as I took this as God's way of telling me to stay where I know I'm safe with my children. 

That night I just wanted to be home and Mac wanted the same. He cried "mama I wanna go home" over and over until he fell asleep (solidifying my theory that he isn't ready for an overnight at anyone's house without us).

Aaron and I talked before I went to bed and I told him about the events of the day. He was shocked and glad we were safe. He asked me to pack up and come out to camp the next day. I realized that I feel safest when we are all together so I agreed. 

By morning that 5-acre fire had burned 100 acres of land along the river. It never made it to our end, but knowing how large it had gotten confirmed my instinct to stay away. It very well could have gotten to us. 

Thank God for the men and women who work hard to keep us safe.