Happy to Homeless in 60 Seconds! Home Burned Out!

We're homeless tonight --- and for the foreseeable future. Like everyone else...We never thought we would be the ones creating a GoFundMe account or asking for help. We're always the ones giving to these causes. Yet, here we are. So, I've made up my mind; I'm not too proud to reach out for help. Especially now.

On Sunday, me, Mark (my fiance) and Nasir (my son) celebrated our soon-to-arrive baby girl, Kaileah. My mom hosted the Baby Shower of the Year for us! It was magical.

On Monday, we finally opened all the precious gifts we had received the day before. Everyone had been so kind. We knew we were exceedingly blessed.

On Tuesday, after eight months of creating and establishing a solid foundation for Baby K, tragedy blindsided us. Just two days after having the most beautiful shower and 3 1/2 weeks before she is set to get here, our house burned down. Everything that didn’t burn has serious smoke damage. Some of you saw it on the news. Our home became an inferno. Thank the Lord we’re all safe!

The house will take 8 months to a year to repair. We just moved there in June.

When the smoke detector went off, Mark was asleep. He didn't know there would be a backdraft when he opened the garage door. The blaze was just too much, so he grabbed our dog and made it out through the front door. That’s when I pulled up with Nasir. We had gone grocery shopping. I saw my man there, barefoot in the street. The Firefighters did everything they could to tame the fire. But by the time we were able to go inside the see if there was anything salvageable, we realized we would be leaving our home with nothing but the clothes on our backs.

We’re renters, and getting a policy was scheduled on our agenda for next month. After buying all new furniture for our new home, a getting everything prepared for baby girl, the Insurance Coverage was on the back burner, so to speak. We prioritized the costly move-in, getting Nasir ready for his new school, setting up the house and having the baby shower, before my due date.

Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought the our home would catch on fire! On Sunday, who knew that our young family would be homeless tonight? Well, we are.

The Red Cross came through with some blankets and a small voucher to help us out for a couple of days. They did their thing and we are grateful. The Firefighters rolled out and their job is done, too The rest of the recovery is up to us. That’s where we start over and rebuild our lives.

We are a resilient family. But we need help. So we’re asking you to please support our family’s efforts to rise from these ashes…literally. We are in a world of hurt and we are accepting all the help we can get. We have to get all new everything. All baby’s gifts have to be replaced. All we need are the necessities. We’re talking basics here. We will redo the Baby Registry. And we will do what we need to do in order to begin again. This is Mark’s first child, and he’s nervous, but he’s also a realist. We all need your help.

Please contribute what you can and share our story with others. In advance, from us to you, please know that your compassion is greatly appreciated. We thank you for believing in us and understanding our struggle. This happened, but it’s not the end of the story for the Barney-Smith Family. We promise you that.

Thank you and Bless you for whatever the Spirit puts on your heart.