Many of you know that my parent's house burned down Sunday afternoon. Dad was grilling steaks - on a concrete pad away from the house. But some grease caught fire and landed on some dry leaves that immediately blew under the deck. The deck caught fire and then it spread to the house. It was just a freak thing.

Both mom and dad are fine. Dad has a few burn blisters on his arm, but neither suffered from any smoke inhalation.

The house is a total loss along with everything in it. We will be digging through it this week to see if we can find pictures and sentimental items - but everything is covered in smoke and drenched in water.

The town they live in has been absolutely amazing. Item donations and meal trains are being planned. The church that dad retired from has offered to let them move back into the parsonage, so they will be moving back into their old home later this week.

I know many of you are asking how to help. While they have insurance it takes a few days to process. In the meantime, we are having to replace everything. (Mom didn't even have shoes on when she left the house.) If you live outside of Monticello, feel free to donate here.

If you're in Monticello, the church set up a special account through Greenwoods Bank that you can donate to. You just have to tell the bank it's for the Balleine benefit account. You can also reach out to Zwingli UCC to help with the meal train and other donations.

I'll continue to post updates. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers!