We're okay

That's the most important thing. We're okay. Matthew's okay. Although he knows what happened, he hasn't seen the house and therefore doesn't have any of those images to get upset about. "Stuff" is replaceable. And anybody that's been to my house knows I have plenty of STUFF.

There are things I had at the house that I'm sure are smoke damaged and I'm upset about. My sewing machine. Fabric, yarn, etc. But it's replaceable. In the grand scheme of things, it's not important.

For those of you that have generously Paypal'd us money, thank you. This past week was pay week, which meant we paid bills, made a big grocery run, etc. If Mama Cleo had told me my house was going to catch fire, I might have waited on groceries. So we're quickly depleting our funds paying for the hotel room and buying necessities to last us through this weekend. I haven't had the energy or opportunity, but I'm going to have to buy some shoes soon!

The adjuster comes tomorrow and the insurance company is supposed to call the hotel front desk about directly billing them tomorrow. Speaking of which, we're in 217 at Super 8 if you want to know where we are or if you can't get through on my phone.

Matthew has nothing here in the way of entertainment. We got the Wii from the house, but we can't get it to work. We bought him some coloring books and are going to get him something to play with with the Paypal money.

David's going to get pics of the house in a couple of hours so you can see the damage. For those of you that have asked, I don't know what started the fire. I do know it apparently started in the kitchen. The area of the kitchen that had the most damage was where I had all my appliances. And I have a LOT of appliances, but most specifically at that point, my rice cooker, George Foreman, toaster, coffee pot, coffee grinder and can opener. The fire spread to the attic and they had to rip out the ceiling, duct work, insulation, etc. Everything in the refrigerator is black. They pulled cabinets down, and where they ripped into the wall, there are openings into the bathroom.

For you locals, I'm going to tell you something. The first ones that responded to our house I'm pretty sure were there LITERALLY within 2-4 minutes of my call. I had no idea they would be there that quick. Every single person there worked their butts off and were great about letting us know what was going on in the meantime. For as long as I live, I will never forget the fireman that was kneeled in my hallway trying to salvage pictures of Matthew. (All of my picture frames fell off the walls.) It'll make me cry just thinking about how sweet and thoughtful it was for him to do that. This was an hour after the fire was put out! Fortunately, Mom and I have always been great about exchanging pics and DVD's with copies of pics we've taken of Matthew, so she has copies of what I've taken and vice versa.

The only firefighter's who's names I know that were there are Alex Johnson, Carl Dobson and Bob that works in the pharmacy at the hospital. (And if I'm wrong about Carl's name, someone correct me. I'm horrible about remembering names lately!) A big thank you to those guys. They have a hard job, and even growing up with a grandpa that was fire chief for most of my life, I had no idea how much actually went into it.

If you've asked for an address, it's still the same. We're there every day anyway, to take care of the chickens, and check the mail, etc. To be safer, my grandmother has said you can mail to her P.O. Box. It's right by our hotel and she checks it daily.

Wanda Cox
P. O. Box 67
Campbellsville, KY 42719

Again, thank you for all your prayers, words of encouragement and gifts. You are certainly not obligated, but it means a lot to me. We've been through a lot during our marriage. Lost jobs, etc. I was put on bedrest when I was 30 weeks pregnant with Matthew. I worked ten years at the hospital, and not ONE person called me during the time I was on bedrest or after delivery to see if I was okay, ask how I was doing, was I bored, etc. But in the past two days, I've gotten more love and support than you can even imagine from people we've never even met! I've gotten teased about the friendships I've formed online, but let me tell you something. A great majority of friends I have in real life started online. Our family, friends, neighbors, and even the staff at the hotel has been great!

I already miss my daycare kids. Matthew just left with one of the mom's to play at their house for a while. I finally bought a contact case, so I think I'm going to take my contacts out and try and take a nap. My back is killing me and for some reason, my shoulders and upper arms are really sore. I'll update later with pics.