Put out any fires lately?

I have.  And I’m not talking about figurative fires. 

Thursday morning, I ignored my alarm clock in order to stay in my toasty warm bed and snuggle with Ian for awhile.  He had fallen back to sleep, and I was just dozing when I heard what sounded like an explosion, or a sort of fireworks type sound.  I glanced out into the hallway and saw bright light.  My first thought was that something had happened to the pellet stove downstairs.

I jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway.  I immediately saw the flames – coming from an extension cord that our Eden Pure heater was plugged into.  They were shooting up fairly high!  I yelled for Ashley, then ran into Gracie’s room to unplug the cord.  Then I grabbed a cup of water in the bathroom and threw it on the fire.  Ashley was bringing more water and I threw another cup on it.  It doused the fire, but the smell was horrendous, so I made the kids get up and go downstairs. 

Later I went upstairs and threw the cord out the window!  Then I tackled the black marks on the floor.  Most of them came up – there’s just enough left there to remind us of the morning we had a fire in the house.

My mother’s mind keeps thinking of all the “what if’s” – you know the ones I’m talking about – things like “what if I hadn’t been laying awake?”, “what if I had been downstairs?”, “what if I couldn’t have gotten the girls out of their rooms in time?”  Our house is old and full of old wood – it could have gone up so quickly, had I not reacted in a timely manner.  Needless to say, it wasn’t as easy to go to sleep the next night!

I’m praising God for His care of us the other morning.  Fire is a very scary thing.  We’re counting our blessings, that’s for sure!