My Son's Teacher's House Burned

On the first day of the new year, my son's teacher's house caught on fire when a freak thing occurred in her very clean chimney...a spark flew through a small crack in a brick and lit their wall on fire.

She and her husband woke their children and got out of the house, but a portion of their house (their living room, dining room, and kitchen) was burned beyond repair. There is also an awful lot of smoke and water damage throughout the entire house. Half their house will need to be gutted and rebuilt. Many of their personal items will need to be replaced, from furniture to quite possibly their clothing. Even all their Christmas presents were destroyed. They will be living in a mobile home on their property for a few months while their lives are recovered.

Thank goodness they are safe. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
Thank goodness their home owner's insurance company has been wonderful to them so far.
Thank goodness that the many, many hours she spent preparing the new classroom she is opening in her own home were not for nothing, as those items were miraculously spared.
Thank goodness friends and family have rallied around her and she is feeling very supported.

I pray that they can begin to heal from the tremendous emotional trauma that this was. I pray that their property is quickly rebuilt and that they can truly return home soon. I pray that they will grow ever stronger and closer as a family through this. I pray that they continue to feel the loving kindness around them.

Tomorrow I break the news to M. because this means he can't go back to school for a while. We don't know when his teacher will be up for teaching again. She's still sorting through a lot of wreckage, trying to find her bearings in all this and get a clear picture of what the coming months will be like.

This will be a very big blow to M. One of the best things I think I can do for him is to help him see that we can be part of the community that cares for his teacher and her family. We'll be cooking some meals for them...or something. And I will invite M. to take part in whatever it is we do.

As for his schooling, I don't know what this will mean. I have offered our house as an alternative location, but some folks won't be able to make the drive into our city. I also don't know, like I said, if his teacher will be up for teaching. In fact, she's not even sure yet if she'll be ready by the time the second trimester of the spring rolls around, when K. is scheduled to start. This may be a push for me to do something here at the house. Both the kids really appreciate their school time with the other kids in addition to homeschooling. I'm going to just let the chips fall where they may for the next couple of weeks, and hopefully by then we'll be able to make a gameplan with M's teacher.

This is hard to get out of my head. What a crazy, crazy thing!

Church Shooting Update

The most recent update is that it is now being reported that one victim of the shooting has died. Five of the others are in critical condition. Reportedly, the seventh person had not a gunshot but another (minor) injury related to the attack.

It seems you can get frequent updates here, so I will discontinue posting:
WBIR Knoxville, TN

Prayers and love to this church.

Church Shooting

No, I am not back from my hiatus. But I just left worship only to receive an email with news that there was a shooting this morning at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church in Knoxville during a children's production of a play. Six or seven people have been taken to the hospital. At this point it sounds like they are all people who were sitting in a pew, though details have not been released. The extent of the injuries haven't been reported, but fortunately no deaths have occurred.

May our prayers and thoughts be with this faith community at this time.

P.S. Nevermind what we may think about "Annie" being the morning's worship service. I am sure we all have opinions on that one (I know I do), but let's focus loving thoughts on this congregation.