Hi!  I'm sorry for not writing sooner, but we have not had access to a
computer ( or much else) for the last two months.  Our home, and everything
in it, was destroyed by fire right before Christmas.  Praise the Lord, the
firemen were able to save all of our fur babies ( I tried to pull the cage
out of the door with me when I realized I couldn't put the fire out - the
gas heater was supplying it faster than I could beat it out- but the cage
bottom came off and the babes ran toward the fire into the house.  I was
able to grab Hannah, only because she was white( sort of, by then), and I
could see her.
 
Apparently the kids ran and hid under the entertainment center, and it's a
miracle they lived, because everything else in the house ( including the
place they were hiding) was burned to cinders.  Computers were all
destroyed, everything we ever owned.
 
I was pretty hysterical until they told me that the babes were fine and that
my neighbors were taking care of them, since I no longer had a home to take
them to.  I am so thankful!  God was really watching over all of us that
night..  all I can remember is sitting on the front lawn while my home is
engulfed in flames, imagining my other three fert kids were being burned
alive, and screaming, " Oh God, oh God..." over and over....
 
I tried to save them myself..  but I could not.  You can never imagine the
sheer terror and helplessness and guilt one would feel in that situation
unless you've been there.  I always thought I would be able to save my babes
from anything!
 
The loss of my home, my worldly possessions, means little to me.  My husband
was on a business trip that night, and so was not endangered.  But the
thought of my poor babes trapped in that inferno while I could do nothing
but crawl on the floor and scream for them because I couldn't reach them...
 
The babes came out of all of this with no problems whatsoever.  The firemen
of Wichita, KS are the best, and I sincerely hope God blesses each and every
one who donned gas masks and braved the collapsing inferno to save my poor
babes ( including my cat Alia, who was not in the fire, but hiding in the
bed and was rescued before it burned)!
 
I guess I am typing this mainly to try to cope with the guilt I feel at not
being able to save them myself..  What if????  Goes through my head a lot
these days.  But we are all fine, ferts happy and playful( got into some
styrofoam tonight and made "snow" ), and we are moving into our new home
sometime next month.
 
Message to Troy Lynn: I will contact you after we have settled about
adopting some needy babies to add to our family.  The home we have purchased
is big enough for hundreds, it seems (probably because it will be so empty!
*G*) I am sorry to tack this on to the FML; I can't bring myself to write
this story twice, and I thought you'd like to know why I took so long to
respond.
 
Sorry this post is so long..  please give all your fuzzies an extra big hug
and kiss for me.....
 
~ Miles, Telaraj and the four miracles~
Hawat: " mommy, what is that hot orange stuff?"
Thufir: " I'm scared- I'm runnin' for the entertainment center!
Rachael: " Me too!  Me too!  "
Alia: " I'm hiding in the bed so the fire can't see me"
[Posted in FML issue 2209]