It's been a week

I apologize for the quietness on my blog lately.  It just has been a very strange and crazy few weeks.

I am sure all of you have seen on the news somewhere about the large Waldo Canyon fire here in Colorado Springs.   It has been devastating and mesmerizing and the same time. Thankfully our home is very far from being in danger, but that does not mean it has not been impacting.  It has been so heart breaking and so hard to watch a large and beautiful area of our city being destroyed.  It has been so hard to see haunting photos of peoples homes burning.  Business' everywhere have had to close, so many people have been displaced from there homes, at one point 36,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 346 peoples homes have burned to the ground,. The smoke has also been heavy at times, even for those far away making air quality so poor that many people can't go outside.

You must know one thing about Colorado Springs, probably about 1/2 of the people who have homes here to do not air conditioning.  What?? you might think, but really there are usually like 2 weeks out of the year that people really might need one.  The average high temperature in June is 83 degrees, yep that is it.  The average high last week in Colorado Springs was right around 100 degrees!! Crazy!  So for many, even if they have not had a fire near their home they have probably felt on fire in their homes, not being allowed to open their windows bc of smoke with 100 degree temps is insane!   I couldn't feel more thankful that we had an AC installed last spring, WORTH. EVERY. PENNY!

I have a little bit of understanding of what it is like to lose something, not a home though.  So many people have been thankful that there hasn't be a huge amount of deaths from this (2 so far), which is so amazing, but at the same time for people who have lost their homes, their memories, their stability it is so incredibly difficult and I think incomparable to the death of a person, it is a completely different kind of loss. I think it will be very hard for people to move on and move forward simply because they can't just move on right away, building or finding a new home takes time, lots and lots of time, and it may be a lifetime before the areas that have been burned to ever look close to the same again....I hope we can remember these people months from now, when they still don't have a home.

Here are a few photos of the fire

(I did not take these)

The first night of the fire (Saturday night)

Some very strong winds came in on Tuesday late afternoon and this happend (the fire literally doubled in size)

People had to get out quick (not everyone had a lot of time)

Because this is what happened

seriously haunting

......

And my goodness, the amazing work of the firemen and other law enforcement.  I think this photo says it all

seriously sleeping on the ground, not giving up..

We were at a Park on Friday night and a couple of fire trucks stop by because they had a concerning phone call (there was nothing to worry about though).  We got a chance to thank them and they were so kind and let all of the kids explore their truck.

Norah, didn't like it so much, she is actually crying in this photo

The fire is not totally out, about 45% contained, they have made huge progress that last few days!

 Ezekiel 36:33-36 "I'll make your cities livable. The ruins will be rebuilt. The neglected land will be worked again, no longer overgrown with weeds and thistles, worthless in the eyes of passersby. I, God, rebuild ruins and replant empty waste spaces. I God, said so and I'll do it."

 and He showed us a sign of that promise

This fire had been right behind garden of the gods, this was taken on Friday morning

Still praying for our city and those that have lost so much