Berg family house caught on fire

On Friday, September 2nd – what was supposed to be the beginning of Labor Day weekend resulted in our home catching on fire. It was another day – another normal start of the weekend. My husband dropped off Harrison (our 7-year-old son) and then left to go pick up pizzas for the usual movie night event. Harrison ran upstairs to play with his Legos. Kyla (our 11-year-old daughter) was upstairs taking her nap. She had her early morning ice skating routine that day. Torin (our 13-year-old son) was sitting next to me. I was talking to my husband when everything happened, and the events that led to us losing our home began. At the time, I was more concerned about my husband driving in this condition than I was about the possibility of the lightning striking our home. It all started when the lightning struck our home, and then I felt the result of lightning hitting the attic vent which ultimately shocked me causing sparks to fly out of my computer. My son jumped off the couch… And I just started screaming which caused my 16-month-old to start screaming and frantically running around. I immediately picked him up to calm him. Harrison runs downstairs. You can tell he was frazzled and alarmed. He probably heard the lightning the loudest because it hit closer to where he was at. I tell him to go get Kyla. He immediately runs back upstairs to get his big sister. She took what seemed like forever to get up and come downstairs. I had the kids stay by the front door. I was still talking to my husband asking “What do I do? What do I do?” And his response was “I don’t know.” The poor guy was still on the phone with me when we all started screaming as we saw the black smoke filling our home. hearing crackling popping sounds. It was loud – almost like it was pouring rain in our house. The door would not open. It finally opened after a minute or two. We all ran into the storm screaming for help until a neighbor waved us into their home.

I am thankful for the lives of my children. As weird as it sounds – I am also thankful for this experience to truly appreciate what matters the most. Sometimes you breathe to survive, but you forget to live. Or at least, I feel like I am living but not truly appreciating life. I have a hard time asking for help or even suggesting I need help – and I know I will be okay. I was built for tough times. But watching my children navigate these hard times has been emotional for me. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.