So here is the whole story. I have probably told the same story 35 times but here are all the details of the night. Sunday I hosted a baby shower for Robin. It was very nice and awesome to see her. Immediately following I had family over for a little going away party for Jess who is moving this weekend to Arkansas for her freshman year. Yes, we grilled. We have a charcoal grill and Brandon grilled Italian sausage for a few hours. It was a great night. People left around 9:30 and around 11 or so Brandon poured water on the coals and came to bed, where Ruby and I were already sleeping.

It was about 3:45 in the morning when I woke up to the sound of glass breaking. I heard it again and immediately sat up and Brandon heard it to. We thought someone was breaking in. So Brandon grabbed his bat (yes he keeps a bat next to the bed) and we slowly opened the bedroom door. We opened the door to what now feels like a dream. Flames engulfing the back of our house, rising higher than the house even stands. It was hot, and the most scary thing I have ever seen. I remember Brandon yelling one word in particular and I ran back to the bed yelled at him to grab his phone – I grabbed mine and we ran out the front door. I remember yelling “Ruby! Ruby come!” Brandon had to pick up her 80 pound body and carry her outside. As we reached the front door, the backdoor to the deck was falling inside the kitchen. I was calling 911 as we were reaching the front porch. After they told me to calm down (Really!) they were there in what seemed like hours, but was really only about 4 minutes. Ruby ran next door to her boyfriends house and tried to hide on the porch. Brandon and I stood there in shock and crying. It took about 2 hours to get control of the fire, get it all out, check the whole house for sparks, and let the smoke get to a level where we could enter.

The firefighters don’t talk to you though, they just stare at you. It was awful not knowing what was happening and what was gone and what the inside even looked like. The fire inspector finally let us go in the house and I just wanted to throw up. Everything is black and destroyed. They had us grab a handful of things and we left and went to my dads. Luckily our cars were fine so we went to my dads and showered and gathered our heads. We went back to our house at 10 or so and the restoration people were already there, a city guy was there and the clothes lady was there. They were all amazing, they held our hands and were nice and explained everything. We really don’t have to do anything. They took our clothes and will treat them for the smoke damage and we will get them back slowly. They said anything they cant clean or treat to perfection, they will replace.

So that’s the whole story. Ill keep it updated regularly so you know whats going on. The main thing is we are ok. So long story short, what would you grab in a fire? Nothing! You just RUN!