We're Very Grateful Today!

So upon leaving church today we ran into a roadblock on the way home, diverting traffic off of the highway.  The patrolman let us through when we told him we lived beyond the checkpoint.  Pretty soon it was apparent why the highway was closed.  Here are some pictures we took along the highway.  

 Apparently someone lost control of a fire in Coronado National Memorial that has now burned over half of the 4750 acre forest.  It was pretty cool to see from a distance, until we turned onto our street and got pulled over by a border patrolman.  We were only allowed home to gather any pets and check on the people we're living with and then he told us we were being asked to evacuate our homes.  Here's a view of the fire from our front porch.  Still pretty far away, but close enough to fill the sky with smoke and to get an evacuation order.  

We walked through the house, took pictures of our stuff for insurance purposes (just in case) and gathered a change of clothes and any precious, non-replaceable items we could think of, and then we were off to stay at a friend's house on the north side of Sierra Vista.  (A great BIG "Thank You" to Nate and Cindy Gray for taking us in on a moment's notice!!!)

news link we're following the update on

It's a wild experience to have to walk through your home and have to decide what is important enough to save and what you can allow to burn if the worst happened.  I tell you what; most everything is not important enough to save.  There is one thing I forgot to grab that I wish I had.  My mom made me a gorgeous quilt when I first left home for collage, which is currently laying on my bed.  I do wish I had grabbed that.

Back to the title of my post... I have sooooo much to be grateful for today:

• We're all safe!
• Once again the Grays for taking us into their already full home for who knows how long  
• Time to walk through our house and grab a few things
• The firefighters, and border patrolmen, and all those who are working so hard to contain the fire and protect the people in the area
• The church for encouraging us to always be prepared and have important papers and other essential items gathered and ready to grab in an emergency
• A Wonderful teaching moment with Princess M!  We've been talking with her about everything that's going on, all the how's, why's, and what we need to learn from this.  She's learning to stay calm in an emergency, to decide what is really important, fire safety, gratitude for all the servicemen involved, her ability to pray and ask for help for us and for everyone else in harm's way, (she said the sweetest prayer on our drive away from the house), and so much more.  You can't pay for a teaching opportunity like this!
• Princess M's sweet heart.  She wants to bake cookies tomorrow and take them to the firemen and policemen to say thank you.  I think it's a great idea!  She also wants to track down the airports where the airplanes came from (that are dropping the fire retardant) and take them cookies too.  I'm not sure we'll make that happen, but it's really neat to see her thinking of others.
• Everyone's concern.  Thank you.  
• A loving Heavenly Father, who we know is looking out for us and our family!

We'll post an update as soon as we know anything.