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House Fire Saga Update #11 - July 18, 2019

Update May 2020 - I'm currently going back through my Facebook posts and deciding what I want to leave up for public consumption and what I want to leave private (mostly photos of family that I don't want to leave accessible forever). I thought posting the text of those posts, along with some of the photos I'm okay with leaving public, here on the blog and backdating the posts to the days they went up would be a good alternative.

If you've landed here in the midst of a difficult season (that is difficult for no fault of your own), I hope this helps. Leave a comment or send me a message (catpollockwrites @ gmail .com - remove the spaces) if you want someone to talk to, or even just someone to listen.

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Monday, July 18, 2019 - 8:16AM

House fire saga update #11:

Today marks one month since the brush fire that swept into my parents' home and burned it down. I was expecting it to be an emotional day, and probably with tears. But what I didn't expect was for those tears to be tears of joy.

Why? Because my parents got word this morning that they were approved for a rental house. It's one that ticked all of the many boxes on their list, including staying in Laveen, and I just... I can't even. One month ago, we were staring at the wreckage with no clue about where my parents would go or what would happen next. Today, we are celebrating. God is so good.

Not sure when exactly my parents will be able to get into the house, but they're hoping by the beginning of next week (yes, this is moving FAST). Those of you who have come to me with offers of furniture, I'll be getting contact with you in the next couple of days. Otherwise, I'll be posting a much more extensive list of needs in the next week or two as my parents get into the house and take stock of what they've already got.

Additionally, New Life Baptist Church is organizing a old-fashioned pounding for my parents' pantry. My parents and sister have made an extensive list of items that is in the possession of one Sarah Lineberger. Contact her for more information about what is on the list that has not already been covered.

[Not sure what a pounding is? Well, it was a tradition when a family was in need (because of disaster, newly married, just moving into the community, etc) to bring that family a pound of something non-perishable to (re)stock the family's pantry.]

Lastly - we are working on a cookbook for my parents. We've had a few people very generously send recipes our way, but we would love to have more come in. You can post them in the comments here or message me with them.

Thanks, everyone!

Addendum #1:
My sister messaged me just a few minutes after I originally posted this with something to add to her need list:
- boys size 7 uniform tops and bottoms (top colors: navy blue, white, yellow and red - NOT maroon; bottoms: navy blue or khaki)

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