Good Dog

I've been having an extra amount of problems between Sierra and Mia lately. It seemed that most of it stemmed from Sierra so, in a quiet moment, I tried to get to the heart of the matter.

So I gently said, "Sierra, God made you Mia's sister and that's a special thing. It's so important for you to be the best sister that you can be. I want you to try to be kind and play nice with her. Don't whack her or take her stuff. It's very special to have a sister and so you need to be nice."

During my little speech Sierra started to tear up and I was so satisfied that I had touched her heart and that this could be a turning point in their relationship. (Or at least stop some of the fighting!). After a moment I asked her, "What's wrong Sierra?" Through sniffles and tears she looked at me and said, "I don't want to be a sister..." Oh no! My whole pep talk had taken a terrible turn, now she didn't even want to be a sister. My brain raced trying to think of how to encourage her in her role. All I could do was say, "What?"

"I don't want to be a sister," she repeated, "I want to be a dog!"

Uggg. "Well," I conceded "At least try to be a good dog."

What a Day!

Despite the sign we actually had a few customers come in. One of the salesmen came back into the rubble to announce he'd sold a jacket! The front of the building which is primarily retail was fine, the middle portion which is offices, sewing and embroidery had minimal damage but will take some clean up. The back area, which is screen printing, was completely destroyed. You can see the dividing wall here between the middle section and utter destruction.Here's Andrew surveying the rubble. The sun is shining through a hole in the roof.

Here's a destroyed printing press. This is just peeking into the back area, you can see the door frame is charcoal.
The employees were amazing. I really appreciated their support and attitudes. Some came in the middle of the night and stayed until after the fire was out, assessing damage and trying to grasp the reality of the fire damage.

Here's Chad sorting through damaged orders so we could immediately call customers. Sadly these orders were in the finishing department! You can see how the canvas rolling cart was melted away.

The Statesman Journal came out and did an article and took some great pictures. Keep in mind that, as all newspapers do, the article had a few facts incorrect and there is some drama that may not be accurate, etc. Also, we've received some very kind comments online but also some that are borderline slanderous. It's sad that people feel obligated to kick us when we're down. I definitely appreciate the people who've reacted to the negative by supporting us.

We are still in shock from this but given what we've come through in the past we are confident that we will come through this as well and are so thankful that no one was hurt. It definately reinforces that stuff is temporary, one minute you've got it, the next it's gone. In this economy I know many of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Also, we have to give a huge thank you to Salem Fire Department. They did a spectacular job in containing and extinguishing the fire quickly. I was so amazed at the care they took in protecting the other parts of the building.

So, *deep breath*, after surveying the scene, the kids and I went out to lunch and as we were pulling up to Carl's Jr. we see a little bantum rooster right in front of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits Restaurant on Hwy 22 (not a great location for a chicken to be on so many levels!). So, being the chicken people that we are, we went right over and Josiah caught him as he got tangled up in the bushes. Since Carl's Jr. provided the box for us we decided to name him Carl.

The funny thing is we found out he's a celebrity. The chicken was briefly on TV tonight!!! You know what? I needed that laugh. What a day!

Fire

I don't have pictures at the moment.

Early this morning, 1 am to be precise, we were awoken by a call from the security company telling us the smoke detector was going off at the business and the fire department had been dispatched. Minutes later a friend and neighbor of the store called frantically telling us the building was on fire. Andrew hurried out the door. The next call was from an employee who lives near the store as well. I had already prayed many fervent prayers by then. I called my brother for multiple reasons. It was hard to decide if I wanted him to go support Andrew or stay home with his scanner and give me updates. I asked him to go help Andrew. Actually through my adrenaline induced indecision I don't think I ever got around to asking but he actually offered to go down there. Then I called my mom and she offered to come here so I could go down to the store. By the time she arrived, around 2:30am, the fire was pretty much out and Andrew said they were just standing around. So, I decided to stay home and pray some more.

From the statesman journal site I learned it was a 3 alarm fire. Andrew said that screen printing was hit the hardest and the rest looks fine. No one was hurt which is a huge praise. I'll update more later but just wanted to get the news out.

A Tribute to Logan

I met someone today, but only for a little while. His time with us was too short. He's made an impression on my heart, praise God, as only little ones can. He reminded me of my own child that I am waiting to hold again: tiny, sweet, soft... What a privilege to be allowed to experience precious moments with someone who's moments are known to be few. This is a treasure I will always hold dear, a gift I've been given today.
I witnessed a mother who bravely walked through painful waters and led her children safely through as they said hello and goodbye to their baby brother all in one day. She soaked in every second with him and took her time making beautiful memories and allowing others to make their memories, too. I watched a father, who's heart, I'm sure, is full of grief for a son he can not save, being strong for his wife and family. There were so many different broken hearts in that room, grandparents and friends, enjoying the moment and holding sadness at bay. It was the time to enjoy little Logan, and we did. Even the nurse was touched by his life. I caught her outside the room, releasing her emotions, tears flowing down her face as she expressed her admiration for her patient. Pictures were taken, hand and foot prints made, but all of these things are really just extra... he will never be forgotten.
Thank you Jesus for Logan, I accept your answer to our prayers but we'll all need help walking through our grief. I pray especially for his parents, bless them for trusting you and allowing you to control this outcome. Sustain them through this painful time. We leave Logan safely in your arms until we can see him again. In Jesus name, AMEN.

LOL

LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud... you probably know that by now. I just wanted to share with you some funnies over the last couple of days that got me LOLing.

Mia came home from a snow trip with Grandpa Davis and said to me, "I brought you something." Well, how nice! She came up to me and said, "I didn't have anything to put it in so I had to wrap it in garbage." Mmmm... I'm thinking. She carefully unwrapped the granola bar wrapper and revealed a pinch of marshmallow that she saved for me. This is no ordinary marshmallow, it's the carmel flavored ones... "special". I looked into those sincere, dark brown eyes, took the bit of marshmallow, removed what fuzzies that I could, thanked her and gulped it down quickly trying not to think about what else might have gone down the hatch with it. LOL!

Yesterday Andrew was faced with a dilemma. While we were driving down the freeway a small yet potentially dangerous beetle like bug had landed... um, how shall I put this... "between his legs". I didn't notice the bug at first, what caught my attention was his twitching hand as he debated whether to swat the bug and risk a self inflicted injury or to let it continue to crawl on him. Hard to multitask important decisions like that while you're driving 70 mph. LOL!

Speaking of bugs. Sierra came shrieking into the room the other day, dancing all over the place, with something pinched between her fingers. "There's a bug!" she said. She knew she wanted to kill it but halfway through lost her nerve and it freaked her out. I finished it off for her. LOL!

Tonight Sierra came to me crying wearing nothing but her Dora undies. "What's wrong?" I asked her. "I don't have any cute jammies," she sobbed, "I don't like those other ones." Thankfully I had just done the laundry and we found some cute jammies in there. Crisis averted. LOL!

I just love little things like these.

When Life Gives You Lemon Juice...

I was waiting for gas at the Costco station today. Usually they have the best price and it's conveniently located to a lot things I do (like shop at Costco). It strikes me every time how many vehicles are being filled up there. There's always a line and it's not like they don't have 10 stations!! What is the world coming to? Honestly! It makes me want to ride my bike. But then again, it would be hard to fit all the kids on or behind the bike and fit all my super sized Costco groceries in there somewhere, too. *deep breath* I guess I'm doomed to be a minivanner... at least for now. Speaking of super sized Costco shopping, I made another shopping mistake last time I was there. You know when you're tired and you have to pick up some groceries but you don't have a list, so you just wing it and end up with some weird things but not everything you need? Ya, I did that the other day, Costco style. I was just getting some basics to get us by until I actually had my list. I remembered as I went down their baking aisle that I needed some lemon juice. I'm not sure why it didn't register with me at the time that I did not need 96 ounces of lemon juice, (two 48 oz. bottles). On the bottle it says "the juice of 31 lemons". Hmmm... What would I do with 62 lemons? Thankfully my sweet sister-in-law passed along a great article in Real Simple magazine about uses for lemons. I guess I'm set in that department! In fact, I don't know why I'm spending time blogging. I should be... sanitizing the chopping block or removing soft cheese from the grater. When life gives you lemon juice... remove tough food stains from plastic!

Great Grandparents

The van was quiet as we pulled on to the freeway... something that's odd with our crew of 4 kids. The first to speak up was Mia. "Mom..." she said, "I'm gonna miss Grandpa's sticky buns and stuff." "Me, too" I said. We had just said our goodbyes to GG and Gpa, my grandparents, outside of Denny's. When we hit the freeway, they went north to the airport and we went south towards home.

For the past week and a half we have had a wonderful visit with my Grandparents from Michigan. It's been nearly 5 years since we saw them last and this was their first time meeting Sierra and Eliza. The kids got to spend plenty of quality time reading books, cuddling, sharing old stories and enjoying plenty of family meals. Grandpa did make sticky buns, and dinner rolls, and cinnamon rolls. It was great. Grandma made a nice gravy for the meatballs and a wonderful veggie soup. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands around to help with Eliza, rounding up the wayward alpaca, and keeping the dishes moved along. They got to watch the kids in PE class and it was fun to celebrate Mia's fancy birthday with them here, too. David, Cheryl and Mackenzie made many trips down here so we could all be together and my mom even slept on the couch several times to extend the visits. It was a wonderful time and they will be missed!!

I hope we can get up to Michigan to visit them next. Andrew's never been to their neck of the woods and Josiah doesn't remember when he was there last. He was only 17 months old.

I love you Grandma and Grandpa. THANK YOU!!!