Shaking the dust off

For those of you who know me you already know my story. On October 24, 2012 my family experienced a great loss. Our family home burned down as the result of an electrical fire. We lost everything we owned and were left with just the clothes on our backs. Most heartbreaking loss of all was the fact that our two dogs - Belle a 9 year old yellow lab who I described as my "other kid" and Bear - a playful 1 year old pommerian puppy were lost in the fire. In those few short hours on a chilly fall day our lives where changed forever. The first few weeks after the fire are still a blur to me. Some of my husband's co workers paid for several nights in a motel for us. Later the Red Cross paid for a few more days. Everyone who knows anything about North Dakota knows we are in a housing shortage and we needed somewhere to call home fast! We weren't interested nor did we ever entertain the idea of rebuilding in the community that our now burned home still halfway stood. We had moved there only 6 years before because I fell in love with the house and now that was gone. We had no emotional ties to the area. A week after the fire we traveled to my husband's hometown of Jamestown ND so his 93 year old grandma Lu could see the kids and check us all over to make sure we were ok. Spending the weekend there we found a house advertised for rent. It was an answer to our prayers! We had somewhere to call home at least on a temporary basis. Our initial lease was only for three months. So on Nov. 6 2012 with my van filled with donated items the families from our homeschool group, the soccer club and our church had given us - we arrived to start our new lives in Jamestown ND. More tomorrow