Fire Devastation... So Much Help Needed

The fire as seen from our field on Monday

The TV blares with newscasts and press conferences. The online news sites show incomprehensible pictures. We have been surrounded by slowly trickling information.

But the news I have been most waiting for began to come in yesterday. The final answers to the gut-wrenching question thousands have been asking for four days... is my home still standing?

Phone calls. E-mails. Texts. Facebook status updates. One after another. And here we thirteen residents in this haven on a ridge alternately cheer and mourn.

So far I know that nine families in my immediate circle have lost everything. Many more I don't know well I am learning of, mostly people in our extended homeschooling community.

And the reports are not finished yet. There are still areas burning. Still areas too hot to enter.

As of this morning 1386 homes had burned. One thousand three hundred and eighty six. In my little community. My home. I grieve typing this.

I find myself staring into the distance, searing pictures into my mind. Pictures of how it was. Tim and Dee's house. Leah's house. Terry's Corner. My beloved Highway 21 with its towering pines, the road that made me want to move to this county, the road that I drive up and down four days a week.

I can't process that they are gone. Black. Charred to ash or sticks.

We have a home to go to. Miraculously we were on the perimeter of the fire. We are profoundly grateful.

More than that, the fact that in this massive fire we did not have more loss of life is miraculous. Tragically, two people are known to have died, and I do ask your prayers for their families. Given the extent of the destruction it is incredible that there was not more loss of life.

My heart and hands long to serve.

As we sat here these endless days and nights, worrying and calling and reading and talking and trying to glean any tidbit of news, an idea began to form in my mind. Red cross and insurance and many other agencies would come to help as people tried to put back together their lives, but who would help our homeschool friends rebuild their libraries? The books that are the foundation of their children's education?

So we made a decision. We would.

In between phone calls we began to formulate a plan. We would compile a list of names and specific books or other educational materials, and create a website where people could help from anywhere in the world.

It is still coming together as we contact the families and find out their needs. I would be so grateful if you would "like" our facebook page so that you will know when we have our website running.

The families of Bastrop County are going to need your help.

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