Two weeks later.

On my goal sheet last week (yes, I have a goal sheet; it is seriously the only way I can get things done) I had listed to post on my blog about the fire and I...just couldn't do it for some reason. Today I finally felt motivated so I thought I would at least try to sum up what has happened since my last post. And it's all good. Things have turned out better than I could have imagined.

From S's first time walking in our home after the fire it seemed like it would be a long haul to get things cleaned up. But I don't know if it is an awesome HVAC system (or the fact that a lot of prayers have been answered) but I can hardly smell smoke at all anymore. Every once in awhile I find it in odd places. Our basement smelled for days (which makes sense because we have very little ventilation down there for now) and I caught a whiff from Bean's crib. But the new home smell has actually come back.

It's amazing how, 2 weeks later, I've almost even forgot it happened. I was in church the following Sunday and I couldn't figure out why it smelled like a campfire until I was like, duh. Our building was right on the fire line. There were several prayers of gratitude offered that day to still have a building to meet in.

So rather than go into every detail about the event (since I think my previous posts summed it up pretty well in 400 characters or less) I will simply say that I am grateful that we didn't lose our home that night. It wasn't until I got back home that I was able to look around and see all of the things that were irreplacable.

Life moves on. The last bit of residue will leave when we get our carpets cleaned. There is a black mountain where the beautiful oak leaves were beginning to charge. There are families who are having to start over from nothing. But this experience has taught me a lesson in resilience. And that I have an awful lot to be thankful for.

Oh, yeah. And I have some pictures.

Here's a picture of one of the homes that burned down. All that remains is the chimney. I took this from our front doorstep.

A view of the mountain from our front doorstep again.

This is the next street to our east. Anyone following KSL during this whole thing might remember the pictures of the home with flames burning around it, as well as an aerial shot of a home that had the fire burn a circle around it. The blue house you see is that house. The owner of this home actually shared his testimony in Sacrament meeting the following Sunday. It is an amazing story.

A view of our church building. The fire is still smoking 48 hours later in this picture.

Another shot of some homes in our neighborhood area.