Of Melted Metal and Toasted Mandarin Oranges

Here are the facts that many of you asked for concerning our recent trial:

We were on a holiday in Sydney when we received a call Sunday morning that our house was on fire. At first we thought it was a practical joke but soon realized much to our dismay that it was in fact true, the house we were renting was on fire.

The fire was started by a space heater that was too close to our couch in the living room. Allen Blackwood , as many of you know, was living with us while he attended uni. In the mornings it can be pretty chilly so Allen had it on to warm himself and the room. Allen left to use the toilet and when he got back the couch was on fire. He tried to put it out with wet towels but it was too large at that point. Allen then ran to the neighbors to call 000 (not 911), by the time he got back it was too hot to even enter the room. We thank God that Allen was not hurt , the fire was very intense and the smoke was really bad he could have been hurt badly. We are not upset with Allen, just thankful he is well. We realize that it could have been us who caused the fire instead of him if we had been home. God could have kept it from happening but for some reason he allowed it, he is teaching us something through all of this. One thing that we have seen already is the blessing it is to be a part of a church family. The church here has shown so much love and it is only the day after. We have so much help coming to our doorstep, from those here and from all of you at home. We really feel loved. God is in control and he is sovereign, we are thankful for that.

As far as our immediate needs are concerned. We have lost almost everything. It is a shock but almost all of it can be replaced. Our clothing was not burned but the smoke damage is so bad we may not be able to save some things. The living room, kitchen and dining room were burnt to a crisp. The rest of the house has the smoke damage. It is amazing what fire and smoke can do to things. Our laptop was incinerated, the heat was so intense that my Kitchen Aid mixer ( almost completely made of metal) melted into a lump of aluminum. Funny though what survived. On the counter I found some oranges that were toasted on the outside but still juicy in the middle, yum!!! In God's providence most of our wedding photos survived. I am not sure how this happened seeing as though they were in the room where the fire started. I think God knew that those meant a lot to me, and allowed me to keep them. I am thankful.

Some have asked about helping out with things we need. Shipping items to us is not very economical, shipping charges are outrageous. The easiest and most useful way to help would be gifts of money. Brandon's mom is on our bank account in the US. We have a US credit card as well so things can be bought with the card and then paid off through our US account. Of course we also value your prayers and words of encouragement, these are most important. You could pray for the below items...

1. That life could resume some normality soon. Being pregnant and having Jolene requires some normality. Pray that Jolene would adapt to living on the road again. She is becoming more aware of where she sleeps at night. I am not so worried about myself, more for her.

2. Pray that in the next few weeks I wouldn't become depressed over our situation. This past year has been hard in that we haven't had a home to call our own. We were just starting to feel like we were getting settled into this house when the fire happened. We will be living with families from church for the next few weeks until we find something more permanent. It is hard going back to life on the road. As soon as we know for sure where we will let our parents know.

3. Praise that God is already providing for us. The couple we drove with to Sydney have a brother/brother-in-law who is in the process of buying a house here in Geelong. He cannot leave Sydney for another year and was looking for someone to rent/house-sit for him until then. He already called us and offered the house. We will pray about it and see if that is best for us, but as of right now we are seriously considering it. God's perfect timing!

4. Praise that Allen was not hurt in the fire.

5. Thanks for the church, here in Oz and back home. Brandon and I were wondering how those without a church would be able to deal with something like this.

6. Praise for the peace God has given us. We mourned on Sunday and now it is time to put things back together again.

7. Pray that we could use this to witness to nonbelievers here in Oz. I was thinking especially for those in my play group.

Click here for pictures of the house before the fire

Click here for pictures of the damage

Zec. 13:9
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.' "

In God's loving hands,
Brandon, Megan, and Jolene