Greetings to all of you. My wife Julia and I wish to share what we are experiencing at this time . . . The New picture above is our pool - the pool we are dying to walk out of our house and jump in to! So right now we WAIT . . .

Our progress so far is that ALL items in the house have either been removed for storage after cleaning or TRASHED because of our fire. The house right now is literally almost empty. The garage has also been emptied and cleaned waiting for rebuilding to begin. Great News! ALL ESTIMATES FOR THE REBUILDING PROCESS HAVE BEEN APPROVED! The not so good news - we may not be back into our home until December . . . we will see.

On July 14th, at about 5:30PM, we had a sudden house fire in our garage which was later determined to be started by a Lithium Battery that was on my workbench. We were just starting to eat dinner when smoke started filling the house, setting off all fire detectors. We immediately contacted 911 and had to exit the house. It was a true blessing that we were home and could respond as quickly as we did; otherwise the entire house may have been lost. In short, the entire garage and ALL of its contents were lost . . . and our house suffered extensive smoke damage. Julia's beloved Subaru Outback was in the garage and only about 2 feet from the source of the fire, and it has damage as well from the fire. Julia and I were treated for smoke inhalation at the hospital, and except for persistent coughing and allergy problems still occurring for Julia, we are okay. The majority of our contents in the garage have been discarded, as well as much in the house. We are unable to stay in the house until the entire restoration is completed. In the meantime, we are staying at a local hotel.

We are still going through various stages of restoration through our insurance company, which has been great so far; however, we do have a hardship request. Our request concerns our out-of-pocket expenses that will not be recoverable by insurance. Our primary hardship is electric and utility bills for the house that are growing greater daily, and again, we are not living in the home. We will also be facing our deductibles for the the home as well as auto insurances, which will be another $3500 at the end of the process. But our main help request is for our immediate bills.

So, we are praying that we can obtain help for temporary relief, especially for the electric expense that will be needed for the next couple of months. Anything you can help us with would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, and God Bless you all!

Julia and I are well aware that our family was protected during this process. And we also know that "What the Enemy Meant for Evil, God Will Use for Good," (Gen. 50.20).