One month, one week

Where are we at 5 weeks after our family fire?

Enjoying a little more furniture, driving our free pink town car, and eating a home-cooked supper. All good.

We found the kids' shot records - Praise the Lord! And their social security cards too. For some "strange" reason, I moved those silly things to an entirely different part of the home (after 3 years) a week or two before they would have been lost forever in our kitchen.

It still won't be easy to enroll the kids in school yet because we haven't closed on the house in the town where their schools are...so please pray for a smooth transaction (as long as this home is God's will), that happens in the timeframe it is currently set for.

Tomorrow we will meet with our insurance adjustor, our very long list, a ton of photos to prove that it all existed, and a fantastic gentleman from our church who has been in the insurance industry for many years to help us make sense of it all. We are SO thankful!

So, the short version is that quite a bit is getting done and honestly, it finally feels like things are starting to become a bit easier and not quite so intense.

Yet, as we start to jog instead of running, I'm finding that there is more time, and the processing of the entire event, although stuffed with reasons for rejoicing and thanksgiving, is starting to hit. Tati and I are both experiencing a few more emotions about fire, the little losses are feeling a bit more deep, and the infamiliarity of everything around us irritates us all. We forget to do the "normal," like watering the flowers, because the abnormal, such as continuing to clean fire from odds and ends, or running from town to town so we can get our mail, are often rather time-consuming and cumbersome.

The famous question is still, "How are you guys doing?" I'm so thankful people still ask. And the truthful answer remains, "We are doing wonderful!" We are doing wonderfully well. Your prayers continue to sustain us - because they are heard by God and He is gracious and kind, seeking to comfort and strengthen His own.

Love from Oxnard!
The Andersons

Furniture and flowers and inspections and youth group

The girls and Gary are gone to youth group and the boys and I are in a very quiet condo enjoying some rest. Life is very seldom quiet, but when it is, we all soak it in.

Gary and I have FINALLY completed our list - or as far as we are willing to go with it - and have come to the conclusion we should have insured ourselves for more than we did...and we don't want to ever accumulate so much again. Tomorrow we will submit what receipts we can find, the list and any photos that we feel will help the insurance company to see a wide variety of the items we previously owned. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us during this list making. I would take 200 college papers to what we've just done; no, I'm not kidding.

Yesterday was fun as some new furniture was delivered, so we now have a table to eat at, a wonderful easy chair and various other items that are lovely. We've never really been "buy stuff new" people, but filling in some of our needs with new and well-built furniture has been rather fun.

Today was exciting as we had the home we are purchasing, Lord willing, inspected. The inspector was very informative and helpful, and the two of our kids who hadn't yet seen the home were very excited. Isaac began telling us how we can make the yard wonderful (next summer, he said, since it would be hard to do during the school year - smile), and the others ran to check out the park across the street, and later the neighborhood pool (which we are hoping to get a membership to as our family really does swim an awful lot).

The furniture store laughed when we purchased some of their "decorations" while looking at various other pieces we still need. Some small floral prints, a cookie jar, a comforter, & a couple of fun "fake flowers (they look real though)" left their show room to brighten up our rooms.

So many of you continue to fill in for the items that continue to be needed. We are so thankful, as it continues to be quite a job to finish simple tasks, and yet easier each day.

Wish we could hug you all around the neck and sing praises together of what a wonderful God we serve!

Please give each other hugs from us!

Some of the stories

There is no way we could truly share all that has been done for us in the last several weeks, but I want to share a few stories so all of you can enjoy the remarkable way God blesses His people.

Several years ago, I went with a close friend to Russia to help her bring home her new daughter. While we there, I remembered another gal back home that mentioned how much she loved the nesting dolls found there, and picked a set up for her. A few days ago, in the mail, a small package arrived from that friend.

In pondering the loss of our material things, she realized that any keepsakes I had from Russia would have been lost. She wrote that she wanted me to have something from that remarkable trip, so she was giving me the sweet little dolls I had given her so long ago.

One of the "side effects" of this kind of occurance in a family's life, is the realization that only your memories are left of your history. No physical reminders remain. So, when Gary and I looked, we felt so touched to have a tangible reminder of that time.

Another gift was sent that truly gave us a greater understanding of the "widow's mite." A very special friend of our's, who we have stayed in contact with over the last 18 years sent a rather sizable gift. There are many who have done this, and every gift is greatly appreciated and celebrated, however, this one was a little bit different.

Our friend married into a very famous Christian family, and then was later abandoned by her husband and cast out of the family. Although she had been in ministry for many years prior to getting married, when she lost her husband and her "name," she became an outcast in many Christian arenas. Now she lives near her parents as they are aging and she has a job that pays the bills but allows for little else. And yet, she was sharing with us abundantly. We were reminded how great God is that He calls all of us to share in each other's burdens. We have prayed and cried with her for a long time, and now she was giving back in our need. It was so humbling.

Today a bumpy envelope showed up in Gary's box at church. Inside were 6 tokens for free ice cream at one of the local ice cream shops. A woman from our church was thinking about our family when she was out on her daily walk, and decided that giving our family a gift of "good 'ol normal fun" would make our day brighter. It did!

There are so many more stories from so many of you who have sacrificed in order to help things not be so overwhelming. I wish we could tell them all...but I haven't even been able to get thank you's out to anyone yet. Yet the care and love you have shown us has been so joyful!

Our new little dog (from another family from church) is blending in as if he has always been with us, we signed some papers to get the ball rolling on the home we found, I am driving a lincoln towncar (pink) from two men we didn't even know, and we are almost done with our list (which is good, because some of that insurance money should help with our new home.

The girls are at volleyball camp (another gift from a friend), Caleb has taken our dog on as his
"younger brother", and Isaac is helping every chance he gets. The condo we are in is tiny, but fun, and Gary and I just pray for energy, wisdom, and joy as we go.

Love to you all!

House and a Dog

What an amazing day we had!!! Our offer on the house was accepted - oh my!!! Now we're going to be scrambling to get that list done (it's somewhat key to us having the right amount for our down payment - hee hee).

And we were gifted a DOG!!! We have all been so missing Joseph-kitty, and praying about replacing him with a cat or a dog. Well, yesterday we received a text message and a family from our church gave us our new Reggie. He's such a great dog! But shhhh. The girls stayed overnight with a friend last night and don't know yet.

Let's see...about the house. It's four bedrooms, has a living and a dining room, a big yard with lots of fruit trees, and it IS in Ventura, which we were beginning to think was completely impossible. God is so incredible!

Thank you all for praying, and please don't stop!

Some New Surprises

Gary and I were on the way to the church this morning when we received a call from a man from our church who knew of another man willing to donate a car to us. A few hours later we drove to the "smog" center with a silver/pink Lincoln Towncar. It has bells and whistles I've never seen, and was owned by a sweet Gramma for all 115,000 miles. We are so, so thankful!

Again, we set out to go to the church to work on Gary's expenses, and this time we received a call from our realtor. There was a counter offer on an offer we put out yesterday. So, needless to say, that changed everything. We went and signed the offer, went back through the home, and started praying a ton. Now we HAVE to get that insurance list done, as we will need some additional $$$ to make our down payment! But what a great incentive!

So, probably tomorrow, we will know if we will be living across the street from a wonderful elementary school, or if we will need to keep looking.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who are covering us so diligently with your prayers! We know that your prayers have sustained us and helped us to be hopeful throughout this whole process.

Please continue to pray that all the pieces and details will come together if this is the home that God has chosen for our family. And if it is not, pray for our stamina to keep up the search as each day counts in the next several weeks.

What else? Hmm. We are looking for a gas stove and gas dryer for this little condo, as our oven and dryer don't work. This continues to keep us searching.

Big hugs, much love, and joyful celebration to all of you!

the anderson six

Together Again!

Everyone is back from camp and there is a general celebration of being together running through the home. It is so good to smile, hug, and even argue and just do it all together!

I do not like cleaning "fire" off the few things we saved. Wow! But we continue to do so as those items do offer a sense of history and comfort. We are still throwing away much more than we are keeping, but honestly, our home is really beginning to look like a home.

God blessed us with an incredible furniture sale this weekend, and we were able to add some crucial items and were quality, but very inexpensive. Very fun! Most of our home is filled with the love gifts of so many, and we are rejoicing over and over for all of you!

This week our family has begun to accept that our cat, Joseph, is probably not going to found. An incredible amount of people from our old neighborhood continue to search, but we all are finding the need for closure, so now will be delightfully surprised if God chooses to reveal anything else to us.

Thank you also to all of you who ask questions, who drop us notes, who want to know how we're doing. We are really doing so much better than I thought possible. God has an amazing ability to sustain His people during difficult times. However, we don't want to give the impression that there aren't things that make us sad.

This last week has been a bit tougher in the memories, the reminders, the reality. We are each dealing with different sorrows, but running to God and each other so much more than we used to. We are making decisions as a family, and seeking out ways to minister to each other because we realize that each of us feels bad several times a day, but we also realize that each of us is capable of offering the others great comfort - whether it's in writing notes, listening, playing together, distracting each other, hugging, or simply crying for a few minutes.

Please know, if we forget to write a thank you, or you call or email and we don't reply, we haven't forgotten anyone. We are incredibly overwhelmed with so much to do, but with time, it will be "normal" again and we'll be so thankful to chat and show you how much we love you all!

In the meantime, we have some very specific prayer needs:

1. We must find more permanent housing as soon as possible. It is our desire to purchase a home, but we are asking God to show us His will.
2. For all of us to be patient about having a new pet. The home being gone, intensifies the pain of losing Joseph. We are used to loving and enjoying how God makes animals to comfort and simply be "buds" with people.
3. Our list for insurance is very, very long, but still far from being complete. Please pray for Gary and I as we continue to work as quickly as possible on it. We cannot receive our insurance check until we are done, and it's important that we are able to communicate in full the level of loss.
4. Ask the Lord to continue to draw us to Himself and more close with each other. It is so seldom that a family has such an amazingly defining moment in their lives that a "new beginning" is given so completely. We are all taking this to heart and embracing it together.

God bless you all!

the andersons

Right now...

Procrastinating. That's what I'm doing right now. It was probably three hours ago that I spoke again with our insurance agent, and I have to get the list of contents in our former home done for them to settle with us.

Instead I have made four business calls, taken two calls about things that can be donated, unloaded a couple of boxes, sent out emails, discovered 2 dead tadpoles (now if we can just keep the frogs alive - they are a good distraction), went on facebook, searched the local animal shelters for Joseph, looked at a few extra animals if we have to replace him, and told every one I can our new address, which happens to be PO Box 3816 Ventura, CA 93006. I've had to look up our new phone number at least 3 times in the last hour, but here it is too. 805-263-6975. I do want to warn you, however, that this is a temporary phone as we will be needing to find more permanent housing in the next 8 weeks.

Ending my procrastinating with a note to those who read this blog.

Yesterday morning, we had no pots, pans, serving bowls, spoons, measuring cups, etc. Today we have a full set of pots and pans, a family griddle, 3 serving bowls, several cassarole (how do you spell that silly word:) bowls, some serving utensils, and my first Christmas item - a lovely crystal platter. We also received several other items that are making our sweet condo feel more and more homey.

The pace has not slowed at all since Gary and the three younger kids left for camp, but it is certainly more quiet. Though I would enjoy quiet a bit more...not so much.

So, now I should be off to finish this incredible list...but guess what? I found another reason to procrastinate (which, by the way, is not at all my nature)...one of my business callers phoned me back!

Off I go, but first, God bless to all of you! Please know how much you have touched our lives and encouraged us along the way!

Rebuilding

This is the third night we have spent in our little condo. Gary, Tati, Bea, and Caleb are all settled at camp for the week, and Isaac and I are working to "unpack." Really, we're unpacking things from brand new boxes much more than anything else.

Everywhere we look are gifts from people who care what is happening, purchases made with more gifts, clothing in 24 different sizes - some bagged and ready to pass on, others waiting in piles or on shelves for putting away, and even more that still need to be sorted for keep or pass on.

The night before last, the girls and I came home from a long day of errands (to get everybody ready for camp) to the boys sitting on the living room floor eating hot dogs and beans. The hot dogs were understandable, but I wasn't too sure how they had cooked those beans, since pots and pans are not here yet. Gary smiled, saying, "I just cooked the can on the grill." I did notice the next morning, however, that the last 1/4 of the beans were in a bowl on the counter - no seran wrap. Sometimes we have to decide if it's worth it to go to the store again.

Today, Isaac and I will make our first trip to the grocery for food that we will eat and also put on our shelves. We are anxious to have some home-cooked meals that don't include hot dogs or cereal. We will continue to tidy this home, go to the post office, work on the endless list for the insurance, go and look at some options for more permanent housing, and maybe even look at a car to replace the blown up one.

The kitty is still missing, but we believe we may have spotted him, so trips to the old neighborhood continue. Bea, Caleb, Gary, Debora, and I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. the other night attempting to draw him out several times.

Wednesday is the scheduled day for demolition of the old house. This was tough news. Not sure why. It isn't as if anyone could live in the barbeque pit left by the fire, but maybe the finality. This is good as well. We need finality, and the journey ahead promises to be full of new beginnings, so this is just the catalyst into the new.

We do have a new "permanent" phone number: 805-263-6975. Oh, and we have telephones now too!

New surprises every day...

Unique experiences when your home burns down:

1. The TimeWarner man comes to your condo to start your phone/internet line and you get a phone number. Immediately it hits you; you may have a number, but you don't have any phones.

2. A dear man, who you don't know, but cares a lot, buys your new mattress, brings it over to your temporary condo, and happens to have the cutters to cut the padlock on the garage that no longer has a key to it.

3. That medicine cabinet won't clean up, so you buy some more shelf liner.

4. The CD cases that weren't completely burned, were drowned by python-sized fire hoses. So, you take out the only slightly burned CD to clean and see if it happens to still have music on it.

5. While listing every single Playmobil toy you have ever purchased for the kids (researching the company site and ebay for a couple of hours), you remember that your kids also had Littlest Pet Shop, Barbies, cars, Star Wars and Prince Caspian toys. It's good the computer still works.

6. While putting your groceries and orchid you have dreamed of buying for 3 years, and have bitten the bullet and picked out, the lady ahead of you asks you a question that brings up the fire (can't remember the question - sorry), and then she tells you she's been searching for your cat. You've never met her before, but she still cares about the details of your family's lives.

7. Countless calls, a ton of new clothes for a really tall son, and a 20 minute stop for a massage (another luxery I've waited a year for), and the realization that the eggs your kids found down by the hotel's creek were snake eggs - okay that's just creepy. You know what else WAS down there? Tree frogs. And they not only can stick to trees, but also red hotel walls, in spite of their fatigue from tree frog races up and down the stairs.

So many surprises, so many little joys, and a few critters I really didn't want to meet; overall, it was a very good day!

Such a Great Day!

This was a totally fun and productive day - something that has not happened so much since the fire. Isaac was dropped off at our new condo to do some serious carpet cleaning (which of course meant that Caleb cannot go in now for 3 days due to his history with Kawasaki Disease).

Gary was dropped off at work where it is probably nowhere near as chaotic as living quarters right now. Please be in prayer for him, other staff, teens, and our four kiddos as they will all be heading off to camp for a week starting this Sunday. I think it will be a wonderful "normal" time of fun and growing, and I'm looking forward to working slowly and steadily making the condo feel a bit more like home.

The kids and I then ran a series of errands; picking up clothes at one place, some dishes at another, getting a few more perscriptions, and then off to Target for several things to make other steps easier and more beautiful. One of the things I loved about our other home was that there were wonderful flowers and fruit trees growing right outside our bedroom patio door. So, today I purchased some wonderfully fun and pretty flowers to decorate our small patio and front doorway. It's nice here because flowers grow and bloom year round (not all, but many).

Then, we picked up Gary and he dropped Tati and I off at the condo and went back to swim with the others at our hotel. Soon, Lisa and Debora came with some bedding and a futon (probably the girls' bed for awhile, but maybe part of our living room motif. It was a beautiful futon, so that was so nice. Our only surviving piece of furniture from the fire, a wonderful rocking glider, matches the futon perfectly and felt so delightfully "familiar" now that Lisa cleaned the cushions so they no longer smell like fire.

Tati and I also did quite a bit of cleaning which also felt simply joyful! You even miss the irritating chores when they are suddenly not necessary or even possible. One task we are finding rather confusing is doing the laundry. Because everything is new to us, we often don't recognize what belongs to whom, thus doubling the time spent. Soon it will all be familiar, but today it wasn't.

It is such a joy to hear from so many of you, run into quite a few friends when we are out and about, and knowing that your love and God's love is truly sustaining us in all of this. Big hugs!