Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Diane at A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, to go to my 4th album and pick out the 4th picture on my computer. Well, I didn't think this picture would come up. It's a pretty frightening story, so I'll tell you how it started. See the firetruck there? Yes parked out on the road in front of my house. Well, look to the bottom right at the date. Yes, it was Christmas morning last year. This is how it all started.... Usually on Christmas Day, we have Christmas Dinner at my mom's house. We've done that for years. Last year, I really wanted to host Christmas Dinner at my house because we had just moved in, and I was ready to entertain. My mom relented, and decided to let me go ahead with it. I was so excited, because in all the nine years I'd been married, I never had to opportunity for such a special occasion. I set my alarm for Christmas morning for 5:00 am, to set out the rolls to rise. We have a wood burning fireplace that we love. Chad usually keeps it going all winter, and it's so cozy. Well, I stayed up that morning because I smelled something burning. I checked on the boys, and they were both sound asleep. I didn't see smoke in the house, so I figured the damper was open on the fireplace, and the wind just blew some smoke in the house. The smell got worse, but, I just put my chicken on the stove top to boil. I waited probably until about 6:00 to wake Chad up (he is not a morning person like me). I told him it smelled like smoke, could he get up and check on it. He did the same thing I did, checked on the boys, yadayadayada.. We have an alarm system, so he disabled it, and actually went outside to get some more wood to put on the fire, as it had fizzled during the night. About that time, our alarm system went off. How embarrassing, on Christmas morning, because our alarm system is not dinky, it's so loud & obnoxious, I'm sure it woke the entire neighborhood up, and some other people too. We have big foghorn sounding things so, yeah it was really loud. Well Chad said the alarm wouldn't go off unless it was something wrong. So he walked in Cooper's room (which is behind the fireplace), and felt the wall. It was so hot you couldn't even touch it. There was even a small black spot on the wall about the size of the end of a cigarette. He called his Dad, which is what he does when anything goes wrong. He said to go up in the attic to check for smoke. Sure enough, there was smoke. So, here goes, we called the Fire Department, and they were at the house in less than 10 minutes. We got the boys up out of their beds, and put them in our bed. We called our moms, who both came over to help. Of course the wall was knocked out in Cooper's room, and the firemen said if we'd waited 15 more minutes before calling, the house would be completely in flames. Doesn't God work in mysterious ways? The wall in Cooper's room was something like, 400 degrees. It burned the 2x4's, everything. We could see the brick on the back of the fireplace, and it was smoldering.

We had Christmas Dinner that day, and everything turned out exceptionally well, believe it or not. I couldn't imagine what could have happened with Cooper, and Connor, who was just across the hall. We were surely blessed that Christmas Day. It will be one that we'll never forget!!

8 comments:

Sue said...

This is quite a story! You were indeed blessed that this wasn't worse than it was. Had you not wanted to have Christmas you would have slept in and it could have been disastrous. God was really looking out for you!

southerninspiration said...

OH MY.....yes, I'd say you had angels watching over you!

Suzanne

Southern Lady said...

Goodness, Kelli ... what a scary story. I'm glad it turned out to be a happy one and you were able to celebrate Christmas in your new home.

I'm sure you had an extra long blessing at your Christmas dinner.

Unknown said...

I still get a little teary eyed when I think of that Christmas. When Kelli called me about 7 am she was so calm. I fell apart!

I think Suzanne is right...there were angels there that Christmas morning!
Mama

Tardevil said...

You are very lucky. It must be some sort of strange fate that I read this. As I put my daughter to bed tonight, she asked me if we have a meeting place in case of a fire. We use to, but moved 2ce from 2006-2007, and we have never discussed our meeting place at this house. She studied fire safety today, so it's fresh on her mind. December 2007 was our 1st Christmas in this house. My daughter woke up early (for once) on Christmas morning, and we were having breakfast by 8:00 a.m. I live on the penisula by a lake, and I remember hearing sirens...alot of sirens. I knew they had to be on the road my subdivision was off of, instead of the main road about a mile away. That night on the news, we found out that a lady had died in a mobile home she had down by the lake. It made me sad that 1) she was alone on Christmas & 2) she died on Christmas. That will always be one of the things I will remember about my 1st Christmas in this house. I'm glad your story turned out better!

Grandma Faith said...

Oh, my goodness, that is some Christmas story! Thank the Good Lord everything turned out okay. Take care. Love, Faith

Beth at Aunties said...

Oh Kelli,
Your mom said this story brings tears to her eyes and it gave me chills.
God does work in mysterious ways and I am sure you will never forget how BLESSED you and your precious family were on that Christmas morn.

~Beth

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Oh my Kelli! So glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been! Fire is so devastating. Yes, the angesl were surely watching over your family!

Hope you had fun in Disneyworld --can't wait to see your photos!