July 21

As I left the house to pick up Brady from church this afternoon, I spied a plume of brown and white smoke as it rose above the nearby hills and into the blue sky. Although I had an inkling that it probably wasn't a good thing to see smoke on a very dry 100-degree day, I didn't think much of it at the time.

But then I checked the Watch Duty app and saw that the smoke I saw was from a wildfire that started in nearby Sunol. And I watched as, over just a short period of time, the fire spread from 75 acres to 150. And then to 400. And then I watched as mandatory evacuation orders appeared on the map. And I listened as helicopters and planes flew by overhead, providing air assistance to the ground crews.

When Ruby Hill --a community a few miles down the road from us-- received evac orders, I calmly told the boys to gather up their irreplaceable prized possessions just in case. And I texted Abby (who was at school) and Adam (who was at work) and asked them if there was anything they wanted me to get for them, too. I packed up photo albums and mementos and important documents, and watched with interest as my kiddos chose their own irreplaceables: Isaac picked items from my grandma's house and Bibles and things he'd handwritten over the years. Brady grabbed BearBear, Chub, Bagger, and Froggy, who are his four favorite stuffies, and the ring he got for winning a baseball tournament last year. (I almost cried when he plunked them down on the dining room table and declared "just about everything else can be replaced.") Abby wanted Pilly and Blankie (which, quite obviously, were her childhood pillow and blanket), and Adam requested a book of pictures Logan drew.

The fire grew to 950 acres and the evacuation line came within a single street of our house, so we literally sat around waiting for directions. Isaac meandered between the deck outside --looking up at the sky and the helicopters and the planes-- and inside. Brady followed me from room to room. Eventually, I sat down on the steps near the front door, and Brady plunked down nearby while Isaac settled into the dining room across the way. I prayed aloud for the firefighters and for everyone affected by the fire. 

The evac line hadn't moved in a few hours, so Adam and I decided over text that we'd offer to take the boys to dinner with us. And they agreed to go. We packed all of our irreplaceables into the Explorer (just in case something changed), and went downtown to Strizzi's.

Since then, the evac lines have been pulled back, and we're no longer on the edge of the danger zone. I'll still probably sleep with one eye open and I'm not in a hurry to unpack my irreplaceables, but I'm grateful that the immediate threat seems to have been resolved.

Although the experience stressed me out, I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to see what my children view as their prized possessions. And I'm grateful that they --at least in my opinion-- chose well: they went with sentimental items like photos and writings and things that hold special memories for them. (And I'm also grateful for the reminder that I should get to work on digitizing all of my old film photos.)

And beyond all of that, I am grateful to God for being with every single person who is out doing hard, demanding work in hot weather to keep the rest of us safe. I am thankful that He gave each of them the desire to serve and the bravery to serve well.