Simple Treasure....

For those of you that don't know me, I am a mommy of three fabulous kids!

My daughter, Hannah, is soon to be 16, driving and headed to vet school. She is amazing! A true testimony to God's favor and goodness. She is incredibly bright, unbelievably smart (nothing less than A's both years of HS so far), and a blast to hang out with. She is stunningly beautiful (I think all my kids got their good looks from the hubby and smarts from me right, LOL!?)

My son, Andrew, is fantastically sweet. Eleven years old and has already skipped a grade. A best friend to many, precious beyond words, a mommy's delight. Freckled and always ready with a hug and a kiss. He's a talented drummer, loves guitar and piano, and is also very scientific. He loves to make lists, loves to dissect anything from bugs to vacuums. His sense of humor keeps us all in stitches!

My youngest, Emily, (Heaven help!!!!) just turned 10 but is going on 21. Gorgeous and cute as a button! Drama queen to the max, and has the long hair to add emphasis to ANY emotion she may be experiencing at the time. She LOVES babies and little ones. So much so that she would rather hang out with them for hours than do anything else with anyone else. She has even been paid for watching the neighbors great granddaughter while grandma recouped from a headache in the other room. She has incredible fashion sense and we ALL sense we're in for it when she gets older and can wear makeup. She is a leader to a fault (just ask her older brother) and hasn't a shy bone in her body. She just recently played the lead role in our end-of-the-year home school program and did a FABULOUS job!

You may wonder why I am telling you about my precious kiddos. They are one of the most important parts of this blog. I must lay the foundation for the most unbelievable story I'm certain I'll ever tell. If you have read my previous blog, you know about the current situation we have found ourselves in. Indescribably the most unreal moment of my life. Probably the closest to a Hollywood action scene I will ever be a part of. If you haven't read about the burning of the van, you must do so now, for this next blog is a continuation of that most implausible turn of events.

The saga continues......

The van is now quite the metal sculpture, gracing my front lawn. We have engrossed and entertained the neighborhood with our telling and retelling of the horrific ordeal. The well-wishes, hugs and offers of vehicles to borrow have been many and truly appreciated. But, the most incredible thing about this entire experience is the simple treasure we found amongst the rubble.

We decided to pick through the ashy remains inside the van, hoping to find something we believe may have been lost. We found the skeletons of our favorite umbrellas, the shards of glass and blobs of melted alloy. We pulled back the chunks of asphalt which the tow company so lovingly shoveled into the trunk area of my dodge, only to find shreds of pink and denim, fluff and plastic. All of which were meant to find their way to the consignment shop in hopes of funding next years school clothes. Nothing could have surprised us more when we discovered what lay underneath the seat where my children rode for the last 10years of "the van's" life.

Bibles. Four Bibles to be exact. ALL of which we were eventually able to open. Only to discover they had not burned all the way through. These Bibles were directly over the fuel tank. They should have been incinerated. We have been able to salvage 3 of them, the 4th was pretty much sticking to the bottom of the car and accompanying it to it's final resting place. The first of these discoveries was the most profound and the one in which this blog centers.

I was 10 years old when I earned this particular Bible. It was beautiful. A cream colored cover, with a photo of a gentle, loving Jesus on the cover. His expression was so tender while He sat, holding several children. I, of course, would often imagine myself as one of these precious little ones. Especially when I got into trouble :) This Bible was the most costly item I could have earned with my points from Sunday school. I worked so hard on my scripture memorization, bringing friends, always there rain or shine, hoping to earn enough before someone else was able to. I finally did it! It was mine. I loved that Bible! That Bible encouraged me to set up the same point system 25 years later at our own church for the elementary aged children. My youngest daughter, Emily, found a love for that Bible just as I had and she wanted to use it when we would go to church. Despite it's frailty, that Bible held up well and stayed in the van, awaiting Sunday mornings, in it's new pink, floral cover. Emily used it every Sunday and earned her own points. Unfortunately, this Bible was in the van when it perished.

Moving through the grieving process of losing the van, we felt the need to see what had been lost. Don't get me wrong, we knew how incredibly blessed we were. I had not perished, the children had not been with me, the Lord had me surrounded by amazing friends immediately after the fire started, houses were spared, my camera and several other precious things (including one of the kids Bibles AND dessert) had been spared. Life was good and we knew it. There's just something about having closure on everything. This was big.

I was poking around the ashes, looking specifically for something my son may have had in the van. It was a notebook. One that he had been writing in ever since he could do so. He LOVED lists. He had lists of numbers, lists of skateboard brands, lists of cars, alphabets (different languages), animals, illnesses (the way he tried to spell pneumonia was soooo precious!). You name it, he made a list of it. This was priceless. I wanted any piece of it I could salvage. It wasn't found. I am still praying that it is somewhere in his room, buried under a mountain of toys, not in that van under a mountain of ash and metal.

I noticed several "book" type items under the kids seat. Knowing that they were most likely Bibles, but really hoping to find the notebook, I gingerly stepped up into the van and attempted to reach through the exposed wires and open the first book. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! It was the Bible. My Bible! The page I opened to was almost in perfect condition, and the picture BLEW my mind!

In this Bible, the pictures were not in the same section as the story. I always thought that was strange. The right side of the section held the picture. It was of Jesus holding three children. This alone stopped me in my tracks. As tears spilled down my cheeks, I began to notice something about the children that were sitting with Him. The eldest was a young girl, long blondish-brown hair. She was standing in front of Jesus, staring into His eyes with rapt attention. The second oldest was a boy! He was sitting on Jesus' left knee, Jesus' arm wrapped around him. He had darker brown hair and was completely engaged, watching the third child. This child was a baby with sandy brown hair. She was as cute as a button, playing with Jesus' string on His robe. Jesus was looking upon this little one with such a look of love and joy. THESE were MY CHILDREN! They were safe! Safe in His arms. SAFE! I stood there for the longest time, no words, only sobs. I knew at that moment, I needed that Bible! I didn't care what it took, I had to get it out of the rubble. It's home needed to be with us, not at a salvage yard. I started to inspect the area to figure out the best way to retrieve it. It wasn't an easy task. The cover had melted to the floor of the van and I was so worried I would ruin the Bible trying to get it out. I decided to separate as much of the remains from the outer part as I could. It was then that I noticed the scripture on the opposite page. That did it!

As I said before, the pictures in this Bible weren't placed in correlation with the stories that they represented. They were basically scattered throughout the Word. The section of scripture where this particular picture was placed was in Jeremiah. No, not Jeremiah 29:11, that would be too easy, too general, too overused. It was Jeremiah 30:18-20. This scripture jumped out from the page at me. It was the part that was least touched by the flames. It was set aside in it's own section. It was meant for me. It was meant for US!

 " This is what the Lord says: 'I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents

and have compassion on his dwellings;

the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,

and the palace will stand in its proper place.

19 From them will come songs of thanksgiving

and the sound of rejoicing.

I will add to their numbers,

and they will not be decreased;

I will bring them honor,

and they will not be disdained.

20 Their children will be as in days of old,

and their community will be established before me;

I will punish all who oppress them.

WHAT A PROMISE!!!!!!! We salvaged the Bible, it will reside in a shadow box in our home. A perfect reminder of God's goodness and grace, His salvation, His provision, His love and protection. He is a good God. A wonderful God. An AMAZING God! I don't deserve His love, I should have lost everything, if not myself in that fire. He knew it would happen. He made sure my precious children weren't there. He made sure I would be taken care of. He wrapped me in love and prayer IMMEDIATELY after those flames started. He reminded me to save the camera AND dessert. He will provide a better vehicle for us. HE IS WHO I LIVE FOR! If you don't know Him, you need to..... NOW! He is waiting for you. Accept Him today. 

Tomorrow may be too late.

Inside out, upside down and BURNED to a crisp!

A week ago yesterday, life got turned upside down for me and my family. I was headed to a CBS (Community Bible Study) summer leaders luncheon, dessert in tow. We were going to a woman's house that was TOTALLY out in the boonies (an hour drive from my house) and from what I had heard it was gorgeous. Can't give up an opp like that so the Rebel was coming along for the ride. I was prepped to get some shots of this gorgeous countryside, I had even brought the tripod. I'm learning :)

We had just spent over $600 getting "the van" fixed. Emergency brake, spark plugs, etc, etc, etc. The "van" was still sputtering and my hubby thought maybe we had some bad gas. That's what I get now when I think about all this! His recommendation was to let the other gas run out and then fill up with premium somewhere other than Walmart, lol!

I filled the tank that morning and headed out. I had googled my map, knew where I was going and was so proud of myself for actually getting out the door and managing to get there early (or so I predicted). This doesn't happen much to me so it was big in my book :) I actually left very early so I could work on my new assignment for DPS (digital photography school), "Cemeteries". Ugh, what an assignment and what an omen? I hate that word, omen.... creepy!

I headed to Park RD 4 to the beautiful cemetery where my precious friends, Rick and Dana Rhodes are both buried and spent some time breathing in my Jesus. I had heard a fabulous poem read just that weekend (at a graduation of all places) called, "The Dash". I knew EXACTLY what I wanted my photo to represent. I'll blog this later but I was really surprised how hard it was to get a "dash"ing shot ;) I set my cell phone alarm to make sure I didn't loose track of time (see, really proud of myself to get there early, LOL!). I finally got the shot I wanted and spent a hair more time with Him before my alarm sounded. I headed out. About 30mins into the drive I realized they weren't kidding. She really did live out in the boonies! Up and down hills, BIG hills; around huge curves, BIG curves.... It was intense! Gorgeous but intense!

As I was coming up the steepest hill yet, I noticed the smell of gasoline in my car. I thought that maybe it was because the gas was sloshing around from all the curves and hills so I thought I might want to roll the windows down and let it air out. About 5 seconds after I rolled them down, I started to level off and heard a loud "POP"! I thought, "uuhhhh, that doesn't sound good...". I looked in my rear view mirror to see if something dropped off the van because I didn't feel like I had popped a tire or run over anything. I didn't see anything in the road and started to look forward again. That's when I noticed the smoke coming from the engine on the right side of the vehicle.

I thought, "OH LORD! My van is SMOKING!". I checked my gauges and it wasn't hot. Confounded and a little ticked (more repairs!!!) I figured I had better pull over, cut the engine and call my husband. We had just had some "discussions" about his desire to keep fixing the van instead of looking into another car for me. I have been concerned about this van for two years now. We keep dumping more money and more money into it. We have finally become debt free and Greg really didn't want to take on any debt again. While I understood this, I reminded him that I wasn't asking for $30k or even $10k, just something more reliable than what we had. Wellllllll........... we don't have to argue about getting another car now, LOL! Good grief!

I pulled over, started to cut the engine, and saw flames shoot up under the hood on my side of the car!!!!!! I thought, "OH GOOD LORD! MY VAN IS ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I grabbed the paper with the directions to Carol's house, grabbed my purse, unlocked the van (habit from getting kids out) and jumped out of the car! I grabbed my phone, threw my purse on the ground and started to call my husband. I then realized I might want to grab !MY CAMERA! I had my bag with all my lenses in there! I grabbed everything that was right there.... the camera bag, tripod, one of the kids Bibles, and the dessert I had made for the luncheon. Yep, the chocolate was spared!!!!! (gotta have a little comic relief at a moment like this.... God even provided that, lol!)

I threw everything on the ground across the pavement from the car to call Greg, turned around and saw a blazing stream of liquid fire running under the car, dripping onto the road, directly under the spot where the kids normally sit. It was then that I realized, "this van has a full tank of gas and could blow at any moment!". I grabbed all the stuff, started running down the road, hysterically SCREAMING at Greg, "THE VANNNNNN'S ON FIIIIIIRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

I dropped the phone, it turned off. Dang phone! Turned it back on again, called Greg AGAIN, still flying down the road, well more like hobbling down the road, I could barely manage anything carrying all that stuff trying to use my phone at the same time. Forget chewing gum and walking at the same time, try this on for size!

Greg finally understood what I was frantically screaming at him. He instructed me to call 911. DUHHHHH Jennifer! I'm sure I would have realized that eventually. He was def the smart one at that moment, I think my brain was on melt down too! I called 911, completely amazed I had cell service at all up there. I tried to tell them where I was (could barely read the directions through the tears), told them to look for the black plume of smoke, LOL! I stumbled to a nearby intersection, noticed the lovely bovine, curiously staring at me, chewing their cud and wondering what kind of freakish animal is that?!?! It was then that I turned back only to glimpse a ball of flames! My car was gone. Totally gone!



I frantically called Carol, poor Carol! Imagine getting that phone call. As I was freaking her out, screaming and bawling in her ear, another lady heading to the luncheon, pulled around my vehicle, saw me standing in the road and pulled over. I climbed up into her car and proceeded to freak her out with the tale of what had just happened. I can't imagine what I looked like or sounded like or anything! Debbie, my precious friend, God put you there just at that moment, just for me!

I was so freaked out. I thought for sure that we were in for a Hollywood style explosion and was so panicked about being too close. We were pretty far away but, you know Hollywood and my flare for the dramatic. I just knew we were gonna get pegged by shrapnel! Here I had survived a blazing, horrific death, only to die because the steering wheel cuts my head off! I said Hollywood, right???? I kept telling her (well, hollering really) we needed to get farther back! It was then that I realized, "I've gotta get pics of this!!!!". It felt weird to do, but I just knew I had to. It was like a guttural instinct or something like that. What a photog freak!

I grabbed my camera and started to just shoot (praise God for auto). I realized I was too far away and I needed my zoom so I decided to switch (lol, I can't believe I could even think about the photog details!). It was at that time that the firemen pulled up and started to extinguish the van. The entire thing was engulfed in flames! I can't imagine if my kids had been there. What if I had a baby in a car seat!!!! I can't even begin to think about that!

It took them a while to get it fully out. The engine was still shooting flames and they had to pry the hood open to get to the fire underneath. Unreal. Totally unreal. I couldn't believe my eyes. All of it, gone. Burned to a crisp, gone. No mirrors, no door handles, NO SEATS! We bought that van when we found out we were pregnant with Emily, 10yrs ago. Ten years of memories, gone. Yes, my family was safe! Yes, they weren't privy to the horror and terror of the flames and the narrow escape. Yes, all was well. But as with any "death", even the death of a car, there are emotions and a grieving process that occurs. The realization of what could have been hits and life takes on a whole different meaning.

I had to tell my kids. How do you do that? When I thought about that, I realized what had been left in the van that didn't make it. Andrew's new gift from his grandpa, the Ripstick, had been lost. BAGS of clothes we were going to consign in order to get $ for new clothes, gone. Andrew's other expensive gift from his grandpa, his Robo-raptor, gone. ALLLLL the Bibles, gone. All the umbrellas, my favorite one :(, gone. You mourn for things, then remind yourself what is really important and PRAISE God that all is well. Then the flesh rears it's ugly head again, you mourn for things, then remind yourself what is really important.... hmmmm, blasted cycle! The one "thing" that we may have lost that saddens me the most is Andrew's notebook. He thinks he left it in the car. Ever since he could write, he's been keeping a notebook of "lists". Lists of ANYTHING he could think of. Cars, skateboard brands, vegetables, medications, illnesses (his attempt at pneumonia is adorable!), alphabets, animals.... you name it, he made a list of it. I'm praying that it made it back to his room and it's just under junk. It's not out of God's capable hands to make that happen. Even the death of "things" has a grieving process I guess. Man! I'm getting emotionally worn out just telling it over again.

So, here we were. A burned up car. What now? That night I thought to search "dodge grand caravan, fire". Popped up an interesting article. Dodge, Chrysler and Plymouth minivan's from '96-'00 have a possible leaky "o" ring in the fuel injection rod. We decided to have the van delivered to our front yard after Greg contacted Dodge the next morning. They were going to send someone out to investigate. Liars. We have now been given notice that the van was too old and since we had just had work done on it, they are not liable. We have contacted a lawyer.



Time will tell. I can say that we did find a treasure amongst the chard remains. That my friends is for another blog ;) In ending today, I leave with one thought. God is GOOD! He knew it was going to happen. He knew where and when I would best be taken care of. I was surrounded by incredible, godly women and prayer immediately after it happened! He kept me, my children, my camera, and DESSERT safe :). Above the call of duty I say. I am a blessed woman. Truly a blessed woman! I can't wait to see what good God brings out of all this. Singing His praises and signing off. Until next time....