My name is Kristen LeBlanc and this is my family and I's story of what happened to us during Katrina and up until the 10th Anniversary this year. My views and opinions in what happened are simply that. Also, my family's account of things may match other families but they are too afraid to reach out. I'm done with being forgotten. We all deserve to speak.
My family lived in Gretna, La prior to hurricane Katrina. I'm the oldest of the two children my mother, Katherine, and father, Kenneth had. My dad had been working for the United States Postal Service 15 years and my mother was a homemaker at the time Katrina hit. Now, we were not allowed to leave until my dad got home from work. We barely left before the patrol officers closed off the city. At first, my father wasn't gonna leave until we woke him when we saw it was now a Category 5 storm. Like every other family that was able to leave, we packed up ourselves, clothes, papers, animals, etc. All we kept getting told was water, water, water, so crazy me piles all of the stuff I couldn't bring with me onto my bed. That may have been a big mistake. So we get stuck in evacuation traffic and don't reach our destination of Galveston, Tx until 5:34 in the morning. We had no worries or concerns because we had heard that we would get the weaker of sides from the storm.
Now, I failed to tell my father that I had found roof tiles on the ground in the yard after Tropical Storm Cindy had come through. I believe that was her name. Anyways, me failing to tell him that may have been the worst thing I could have done. When we turn on the news, all the focus was on the rushing water and massive flooding on the other side of the river from where we lived. I'm sure everyone who lived on the west bank of the city were also frustrated. Very little news for us so we were all sure that our homes were fine. We were wrong in assuming that as well. No one was concerned with wind damage or the thought of houses getting ruined by falling trees or debris.
A week or so had past and they were starting to let people back in areas where it wasn't flooded and safe. My family were among the first few to have the opportunity to go back. My father, his sister and her husband piled into my uncle's truck and headed back. His mother's home was also one of the few houses that they could get to. So, I can't remember where they went first. I believe my uncle's, mom's house was where they went first. She lived in Chalmette, La near the oil refinery. Come to find out, she had six feet of water in her home and about six inches of oil from the spill on the floor. My father recorded the whole trip to all of our houses and back. Seeing all this was shocking. They then went to my aunt and uncle's house in Harvey, La. There house was fine and untouched so that gave us hope that ours was too. Sadly, not the case.
When they pulled up to the home, the pine tree in front of our house was literally a foot from our roof. It could have fallen in but didn't. My dad didn't see major damage from the outside but when he got inside, it was a different story. As my whole family, cousins and all, watch the video of my dad opening the door, we all got quiet. The roofs in almost all of the rooms had caved in. The roof had sever damage from the wind and the heavy rain came in through it, causing the ceilings to cave in. As he walks through the house, he is walking over misplaced items and stuff from the ceilings. When he shows my sister and I's room, I see that the only damage was above my bed. All that I had put on top of my bed was unsalvageable. He goes down the hall to see the ceiling fell into the tub in the bathroom and the ceiling over my mom and his bed had caved in as well. The extra room that was storage was leaning from water but not cracking. By now, my whole family was in tears and my mom, emotional. After seeing that, she was never the same again. She was to herself and very quiet.
Knowing that we couldn't go back until we had a place to go, our aunt and uncle let us stay with them until we could find something. After my father dealt with the insurance company, he realized, they gave us no money to fix the house. They decided to "do us a favor" and pay the house off. He now owned something that was deemed unlivable. Also, we got a check for a little over $18,000 to replace belongings. We tried to get a FEMA trailer but were denied several times. Our aunt who had no damage was offered one. She asked if we could live in it but was told, "No. Only you and your husband can." So, we had to use the $18,000 plus a little more to go and buy our own trailer, leaving us nothing to replace anything that we lost.
I was 15 at the time and my sister had just turned 12. My luck, I went to high school right across the street from where we lived. Of course, the school started asking who lost their homes, belongings, or family. I raised my hand, and a student actually said, "Don't you live right there?" while pointing at my house. I replied, "Yes. We had wind damage. The roof was heavily damage, rain came in and the ceilings collapsed." People stayed away from me from that moment on and I wasn't seen the same way. My sister had the same reaction at her school.
Living in maybe a 100 foot trailer was not the best of things but we had somewhere to live. It was very small for four people to live in. My mother was still not herself and still stayed quiet. I thought nothing of it except that she was depressed like the rest of it. My father and mother even tried to get help from Road Home and even had someone come out. He knocks on our door and go looks around. He leaves without even going in our home to see the damage. He judged by looking at the outside. So, my poor dad was stuck with a damaged home and no way of fixing it.
A little over a year later, I started to notice my mother suffering more and more, She was very heavy and she even would struggle to simply get around the trailer. One afternoon, she and I went to pick my sister up from school and my mom was crying. Her legs were bothering her bad and I tried my best to comfort her. When we got back home, she fell asleep in the truck while waiting for my dad to get home. I didn't want to wake her but I took my sister inside to start her homework. About 5:30, she makes her way to the backyard and falls between the trailer and maybe one foot between the fence. We run to go get our dad and she didn't want help. I stayed there with her for about an hour and a half until she tried to pull herself up onto the last trailer step. She did it but, I noticed her breathing got funny. She was telling me right before not to call 911 and I listened. Right after she pulled herself up on a step, she started really struggling to breathe ten cried, "God Help Me." Literally seconds after, she fell back onto the trailer steps and was unconscious. I call 911 but it was too late. My mom was 44 and died that night, November 27th 2006, of a pulmonary embolism in her lungs. My mother was my best friend. I was lost without her.
With my mother passing away and her being so young, there was no will, life insurance or money to pay for her funeral arrangements. My dad had just been approved for a $10,000 SBA loan to start the house and that went to her funeral costs. Everywhere we turned we were at a loss. I was so ready to commit suicide, but, I felt I was needed more by my family than by God at the time.
We didn't live in that trailer until maybe January of 2007 again. When summer came, the AC in the trailer almost caught the panel on fire. It surged the breaker box and it was smoking. Right after that, my dad decided we had to move back in the house before we lost the trailer in a fire. He climbed the rafters and all, spraying for mold. He then showed me how to use the crow bar to take out the wall after he cut huge squares. Him and I gutted that whole house by ourselves. We had no central AC, no central heat, and no walls in the house. The tub would back up and so would the kitchen sink. It wasn't the best of living conditions but we made due.
My family encountered deaths, illnesses, surgeries, etc after that and even dealt with harsh winters and hot summers. With everything that happened from that moment until November 15th 2014, we were just happy to be alive and still together as a family. What happened that morning, though, would just change our lives even more. It was one of the coldest nights we had last fall. My dad had purchased a new central room heater and it was plugged in by my clothes wrack in the living room. The heater was set too high, overpowered the power strip, arced a wire and sparked. It caught my clothes on fire. My dad ran from the back of the house because he smelled smoke. The fire had just started. I was fast asleep until he screamed, "Fire!!!" I woke up and tried to stomp my shirts and clothes but it kept spreading. We had no idea it was electrical so my dad told me to go run get water. As soon as I threw it on the fire, I heard a roar and the whole clothing unit was in flames. It had reached the wall and my father screamed, "Get the F*** out now!!! Now!!!" My sister had been asleep until he screamed that. She didn't hesitate and ran out. My dad and I fought it but I turned around, grabbed the three bags of mine in view and ran to my sis. I threw the bags across the street and back in when I realized my dad was still in there fighting the flames. There was no saving it. When I went back, I told him to come on but I stopped when I realized we forgot about the three unruly dogs we had to keep in cages during the night because of how they acted. I bent over to unlcok their cages and they ran. I could feel my back burning so I ran. Almost the whole living room was engulfed. The cat had run to hide and the oldest dog came from the back of the house towards me so I grabbed her. When I realized that the other dogs weren't outside, I screamed, "I'm over here!! Follow me!!!" The last thing I saw was the youngest dog petrified by the fire in her cage afraid to move. I left the kitchen door open in case they could find their way out but all but the dog I saved, died in the house. They were no more than 8 pounds each. I felt bad for forgetting them but it was so hot and intense, I could barely breathe anymore. My father and I ended up having to go to the hospital because I was coughing up blood and was burned. He was burned and even pale. I had second degree burns on my back that have left a scar in the shape of a heart and first degree on my hands and arms while my father had second degree on his face and hands from staying in there so long by the flames. His face was even distorted for days and his gums infected. We barely got out and the whole house was a loss. We didn't have fire insurance either. Insurance had blown sky high since Katrina and my dad could barely afford flood, wind and hail anymore. We had nothing left. Red Cross got us blankets, money for clothes and food, plus temporary housing if we had no place to go. Our family, friends and coworkers helped us out a lot and we are eternally grateful for that. I'm not sure we would even be clothed without them.
This past 10 years has influenced how I live my life. I think I took having a home, having parents, and being young, for granted. I was not a part of the clean up but I am apart of the survivors. I have my story to tell of growth, change and prospering. I took a bad situation and turned my life around. My family never let anything we went through stop us or break us apart. We may fight, but that's a family.
With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina being 2 days away, my family is facing a huge hurdle right now. The city of Gretna has given us 25 days to demolish the Katrina/Fire damaged house or they will. My father had serious repairative surgery on his abdomen from a hernia and fatty tumor. He can't lift more than 10 pounds for another 2 weeks. We still have a lot to move from the other house to where we are staying now. We will figure it out, though, but all we have gone through is too much. I try to see the reasoning behind all that has happened and why my family has struggled so much during this time. I may never figure it out. I just know we were forgotten, overlooked, and I know there are tons of families out there who are the same. Like I mentioned earlier, they may be just too afraid or too upset by their experiences to come forward for assistance. I'm done with struggling. I will speak up and hope to reach someone out there. It isn't right to only focus on the 9th ward or the "man made" disaster when a lot more people were affected than just that area. The whole gulf coast doesn't even look the same. I figure that if I put our story out there, maybe more people will speak up as well. The injustices need to stop and the wrongs need to be made right. I truly do not even want help but I want awareness as to how much has been left unfixed. They think that New Orleans and the surrounding area is back? Man, I would love to see where they get their numbers from.
This is only my account of the past 10 years and this isn't even all of it. This is just in reference to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I will kindly share more if need be but this is what I want the world to know: Once you take away the pain, the scars are still there. Yeah New Orleans may have had a face lift, but under the skin, the real problems are still hidden.
Kristen LeBlanc
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Funeral Services or Family Reunion?
I know this blog is mostly about getting through hurricane Katrina and then losing our house again to the fire, but, this is another subject that has happened within the last ten years.
Loss is something every family goes through and has to face, in one way or another. Mine has just experienced a lot in a small time frame. This family loss brought about the realization that we hadn't seen my dad's side of the family, like his mom's family, in almost 10 years. They didn't all know about our house fire and sure didn't realize how much I had changed either. Of course there would be reactions, but didn't expect some to not even recognize me to the point of a reintroduction.
I slowly remembered some of the family by name even. Come on, we hadn't seen them in 6 years. Some of the older cousins had passed away and others have been diagnosed with various forms of cancer. Coming together for a funeral really did turn into a family reunion. We were able to catch up with people we hadn't seen in years, spend time with them and realize that we truly never were forgotten.
The funniest thing that happened, though, I didn't even realized had happened. My dad mentioned it to me the next day. One of the female cousins had approached him about me during the service. She asked him, "Is that Kristen?" With how he is, I wasn't expecting a decent response, but, he redeemed himself. He replied, "Yes it is. She goes to the gym every day." So, obviously he does pay attention and does see the hard work I've put into my health. He just doesn't know how to show it.
The other type of reaction was expected. Some of the family had come into town right around when my grandfather, my dad's dad, had passed away. They had seen my progress up until that point. So, when I saw them again today. some 3 years later, I was told things like, "You are looking good!", "Keep up the great work," and the faces that went along with them were priceless.
It was a service for my great uncle Gerald, who was the step brother, partially, to my grandmother Sadie. Her mom had died in child birth. Her father met MiMi, who ended up being his second wife, and she adopted my grandmother into the family. I know it is an odd thing to understand and we know little about my grandmother Sadie's parents, but, we know she was loved. That family may have not seen or spoken to us in a while, but they are still our family. I was glad we were able to see them again but sad it was under those circumstances.
Loss is something every family goes through and has to face, in one way or another. Mine has just experienced a lot in a small time frame. This family loss brought about the realization that we hadn't seen my dad's side of the family, like his mom's family, in almost 10 years. They didn't all know about our house fire and sure didn't realize how much I had changed either. Of course there would be reactions, but didn't expect some to not even recognize me to the point of a reintroduction.
I slowly remembered some of the family by name even. Come on, we hadn't seen them in 6 years. Some of the older cousins had passed away and others have been diagnosed with various forms of cancer. Coming together for a funeral really did turn into a family reunion. We were able to catch up with people we hadn't seen in years, spend time with them and realize that we truly never were forgotten.
The funniest thing that happened, though, I didn't even realized had happened. My dad mentioned it to me the next day. One of the female cousins had approached him about me during the service. She asked him, "Is that Kristen?" With how he is, I wasn't expecting a decent response, but, he redeemed himself. He replied, "Yes it is. She goes to the gym every day." So, obviously he does pay attention and does see the hard work I've put into my health. He just doesn't know how to show it.
The other type of reaction was expected. Some of the family had come into town right around when my grandfather, my dad's dad, had passed away. They had seen my progress up until that point. So, when I saw them again today. some 3 years later, I was told things like, "You are looking good!", "Keep up the great work," and the faces that went along with them were priceless.
It was a service for my great uncle Gerald, who was the step brother, partially, to my grandmother Sadie. Her mom had died in child birth. Her father met MiMi, who ended up being his second wife, and she adopted my grandmother into the family. I know it is an odd thing to understand and we know little about my grandmother Sadie's parents, but, we know she was loved. That family may have not seen or spoken to us in a while, but they are still our family. I was glad we were able to see them again but sad it was under those circumstances.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Starting From The Ground Up
With not having fire insurance or home owner's to cover the damage the fire had caused, we were between a rock and a hard place.I went back to work the Monday after and word had spread like wild fire. I was self conscious about the burns and kept them hidden with layers of clothing and long sleeve jackets. Of course people still wanted to see so they didn't stay unseen for long. My father's burns healed to where you couldn't even tell that he was burned. The burn on my back left a scar. It's just a reminder for me that I'm a survivor.
Family, friends, coworkers and even outside sources had given donations of food, clothing, money, etc. By the time the clothes were sorted, we all had more clothes than we did before the fire. I hadn't realized how much my father and I had touched people's lives to where they wanted to help us out. It was amazing and I still can't believe it.
My father finally received a call from the building inspector to meet him at the burned house. He told my dad that the whole roof including the support beams had to go along with the wall where the fire had started. The other thing the inspector mentioned was that if the appraised value of the house was less than the cost to repair it, we would have to raise our home, costing an extra 100 plus grand. My poor dad works so hard and tries to give us all he can. He just never could catch a break. He is a fighter though and I know I get my will to never give up from him.After Hurricane Katrina, my aunt and her husband had moved in with our grandfather to take care of him. Once he passed away, they made it their home. One forgotten tid bit of information though was that her husband had the rights to his mom's house. She had jut passed away within the last 2 years. They graciously moved into her house to let us have more room to ourselves. Ever since, it has truly felt like home. I don't feel like I'm in a weird place or out of my comfort area. It was like it was meant to be. All of that may sound crazy, but, the house catching fire was an act of God's doing. He was tired of seeing us struggle all this time and decided it was time for us to be able to start completely over, from the ground up.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Has God Made Up Our Minds For Us?
With my dad working hard for so long, he had never had the time or money to repair our house. We were living in a literal hell hole. It was just studs for walls and four doors. We had no central air or heat, just fans and portable heaters. So, we just made do and had been living that way since my mom passed away. That's what we knew and that house was in bad shape. It had electrical issues, the sewerage would back up into the old dishwasher and the shower never worked correctly. Heck, even the toilet was always losing it's flusher. What happened to us next was totally unseen but it was an act of God....
At the end of 2013, my mom's dad was getting worse off to where he couldn't even clean himself after using the bathroom. This added a ton of stress to my grandmother and right after Christmas of that year, she had him brought to a home to be taken care of. Her daughter, my mom's sister, fought her on the idea and she thought he should be at home. She didn't realize the weight my grandmother had to carry. She realized it in late March though....in the middle of the night, my grandmother had a minor heart attack. I didn't find out until my cousin contacted me at 4 pm the next day....my mouth just dropped...my sis and I had no idea and weren't notified. That wasn't a new thing though. After my mom passed away and even after my uncle's accident, my grandmother had become distant. So not hearing from her wasn't a huge surprise but it did upset us to hear that she was in the hospital. Not soon after her heart attack, we started visiting our grandpaw at the home. He was so happy there and so happy to see us. It was nice to just go sit and talk with him. I was so happy to get that time with him.
Summer came and work hadn't started again yet. I was driving home and felt my phone vibrating a ton. My sister called and so did my grandmother. It was odd and I called my sister back first. What I was about to hear was a shock...I verified it once I called my grandmother back. My grandfather had just all of a sudden took a turn for the worse and they were performing emergency CPR on him. As soon as we made it to his room, we heard them stop trying to resuscitate him. They pronounced him dad right as we walked up...he was waiting to hear our voices.....it hit us all hard and they say he went peacefully in his sleep. I just never got to know him..that is what made me the most upset. I met him when he had lived most of his life. I'm just very fortunate to have been able to meet the man who helped make my mom, sister and I's lives a reality.
How much more could my family truly take? What else could possibly happen? What was God planning for us next?
My sister had been diagnosed with diabetes years back after being admitted to St. Jude's Children's Hospital after having suicidal thoughts at school and was later diagnosed with high blood pressure. My dad had several health complications leading up to this next event. He had issues with his back, his knees had given out on him numerous times while working, and he also almost had heat stroke. Nothing seemed to be getting any better for my family....we honestly would ask why and I knew we were all depressed with how we had to live...I know I was. I was sleeping on a sofa in the living room, my sister had finally gotten her GED in May of 2013 but is struggling to find a job, and my dad would work 10-13 hour days. Those aren't the greatest lives to live. We just prayed and hoped that something would happen to change it all....it did, but, not what we were expecting.
November 15, 2014 at 2:30 am
I was woken up by my dad screaming, "Holy Shit! FIRE!!!!" A fire had somehow started on my clothes wrack feet away from where I was sleeping. We hadn't realized that it was started by an electrical cause until after the fact. My dad told me to go run get water... As soon as I threw the water on it, my whole shelving unit was engulfed. You could hear the roar of the engulfing. My dad screamed, "Get the F*** out now!!!! Go!!!" I turned around, grabbed 3 bags that were my only thing in sight and ran. My sister was already outside on the phone with 911. I noticed my dad hadn't followed me so I ran back in. As I got in there, I saw he was still trying to put it out. I told him to get out. It had reached the roof and I knew the house was gone. The openness of the home and all wood was just the perfect fuel for the fire. He ran out and I almost did until I realized something....THE DOGS. We had to keep three caged because they weren't trained. We also had a cat but she ran and hid. I ran to the cages to undo the locks.....I felt my back burning.....burning so I ran towards the hall. The oldest dog had been at the back of the house and so I grabbed her. I turned around and screamed, "Come on!! Follow me! Follow my voice!!" All I could see was the flames engulfing the living room and one dog standing in the cage staring at the fire paralyzed. It honestly looked like God's hands grabbing a hold of the the house. None of the other animals made it out. Just the one I had picked up. We stood outside watching the firefighters try to stop it and the flames reached at least 10 feet above the house. The smoke could be seen more than a half mile away. We had made it out alive but lost the little we knew as a norm. My dad received 2nd degree burns on his face and hands. I had first degree on my arms and second degree on my back. I didn't realize that my dad's face was distorted until after the fact. He wasn't looking well so I drove him to the ER. He was crying and blaming himself....I rarely see him show any emotion. I started crying too and he suggested that I be looked at too. He had to be kept longer because of the worry of carbon monoxide poisoning. The burns on my back actually had pussed up badly and was bigger than my fist. Once our burns started to heal, my sister noticed that the larger one on my back was in the shape of a heart. Was it my mom who grabbed my back to tell me to get myself out?? Did God do it to make me leave? I may never know. I just know it was an act of God. We have found several bibles burn free in boxes with things burned to a crisp. I also have had a whole table of things untouched with everything around it scorched. There was a bible on the shelf under it. One other thing I know now is that my opening of the back door in hopes of the dogs getting out saved the house from totally collapsing in the room where the fire started. That, and, the space heater overloaded the power strip. One of the coldest days of the year and all we wanted was to get warm....you can't tell me things don't happen for a reason. I know they do. I'm thankful to be alive and to still have my family here with me. We may have lost everything materialistic to us but we still have each other. That's what truly matters.
At the end of 2013, my mom's dad was getting worse off to where he couldn't even clean himself after using the bathroom. This added a ton of stress to my grandmother and right after Christmas of that year, she had him brought to a home to be taken care of. Her daughter, my mom's sister, fought her on the idea and she thought he should be at home. She didn't realize the weight my grandmother had to carry. She realized it in late March though....in the middle of the night, my grandmother had a minor heart attack. I didn't find out until my cousin contacted me at 4 pm the next day....my mouth just dropped...my sis and I had no idea and weren't notified. That wasn't a new thing though. After my mom passed away and even after my uncle's accident, my grandmother had become distant. So not hearing from her wasn't a huge surprise but it did upset us to hear that she was in the hospital. Not soon after her heart attack, we started visiting our grandpaw at the home. He was so happy there and so happy to see us. It was nice to just go sit and talk with him. I was so happy to get that time with him.
Summer came and work hadn't started again yet. I was driving home and felt my phone vibrating a ton. My sister called and so did my grandmother. It was odd and I called my sister back first. What I was about to hear was a shock...I verified it once I called my grandmother back. My grandfather had just all of a sudden took a turn for the worse and they were performing emergency CPR on him. As soon as we made it to his room, we heard them stop trying to resuscitate him. They pronounced him dad right as we walked up...he was waiting to hear our voices.....it hit us all hard and they say he went peacefully in his sleep. I just never got to know him..that is what made me the most upset. I met him when he had lived most of his life. I'm just very fortunate to have been able to meet the man who helped make my mom, sister and I's lives a reality.
How much more could my family truly take? What else could possibly happen? What was God planning for us next?
My sister had been diagnosed with diabetes years back after being admitted to St. Jude's Children's Hospital after having suicidal thoughts at school and was later diagnosed with high blood pressure. My dad had several health complications leading up to this next event. He had issues with his back, his knees had given out on him numerous times while working, and he also almost had heat stroke. Nothing seemed to be getting any better for my family....we honestly would ask why and I knew we were all depressed with how we had to live...I know I was. I was sleeping on a sofa in the living room, my sister had finally gotten her GED in May of 2013 but is struggling to find a job, and my dad would work 10-13 hour days. Those aren't the greatest lives to live. We just prayed and hoped that something would happen to change it all....it did, but, not what we were expecting.
November 15, 2014 at 2:30 am
I was woken up by my dad screaming, "Holy Shit! FIRE!!!!" A fire had somehow started on my clothes wrack feet away from where I was sleeping. We hadn't realized that it was started by an electrical cause until after the fact. My dad told me to go run get water... As soon as I threw the water on it, my whole shelving unit was engulfed. You could hear the roar of the engulfing. My dad screamed, "Get the F*** out now!!!! Go!!!" I turned around, grabbed 3 bags that were my only thing in sight and ran. My sister was already outside on the phone with 911. I noticed my dad hadn't followed me so I ran back in. As I got in there, I saw he was still trying to put it out. I told him to get out. It had reached the roof and I knew the house was gone. The openness of the home and all wood was just the perfect fuel for the fire. He ran out and I almost did until I realized something....THE DOGS. We had to keep three caged because they weren't trained. We also had a cat but she ran and hid. I ran to the cages to undo the locks.....I felt my back burning.....burning so I ran towards the hall. The oldest dog had been at the back of the house and so I grabbed her. I turned around and screamed, "Come on!! Follow me! Follow my voice!!" All I could see was the flames engulfing the living room and one dog standing in the cage staring at the fire paralyzed. It honestly looked like God's hands grabbing a hold of the the house. None of the other animals made it out. Just the one I had picked up. We stood outside watching the firefighters try to stop it and the flames reached at least 10 feet above the house. The smoke could be seen more than a half mile away. We had made it out alive but lost the little we knew as a norm. My dad received 2nd degree burns on his face and hands. I had first degree on my arms and second degree on my back. I didn't realize that my dad's face was distorted until after the fact. He wasn't looking well so I drove him to the ER. He was crying and blaming himself....I rarely see him show any emotion. I started crying too and he suggested that I be looked at too. He had to be kept longer because of the worry of carbon monoxide poisoning. The burns on my back actually had pussed up badly and was bigger than my fist. Once our burns started to heal, my sister noticed that the larger one on my back was in the shape of a heart. Was it my mom who grabbed my back to tell me to get myself out?? Did God do it to make me leave? I may never know. I just know it was an act of God. We have found several bibles burn free in boxes with things burned to a crisp. I also have had a whole table of things untouched with everything around it scorched. There was a bible on the shelf under it. One other thing I know now is that my opening of the back door in hopes of the dogs getting out saved the house from totally collapsing in the room where the fire started. That, and, the space heater overloaded the power strip. One of the coldest days of the year and all we wanted was to get warm....you can't tell me things don't happen for a reason. I know they do. I'm thankful to be alive and to still have my family here with me. We may have lost everything materialistic to us but we still have each other. That's what truly matters.
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