Brian Maloy

Friends — 

I have long believed that God is always good. Through the good, the joyous, the excellent, the struggles and of course, the heartbreak. This last week has proven this through and through. The Lord really is as good as He always has shown and said He is. There will be harder days to come no doubt, particularly in this next year as we walk uncharted territory, but we are going to continue on His old paths, and trust step by step.

That said, I owe you a brief update. I don’t know that I have terribly much new to share, but I know people are waiting for an update, so here is a little bit of what’s happened the last week. 

We are very close to rental house situation working out. There are so many details behind the scenes, but if everything works as it should, we’ll sign the lease soon, and on Thursday (12/26), we’ll get the keys and turn over the deposits. Then Friday (12/27) we will meet the movers — they will stage the rental for us. It sounds like State Farm tries to make sure you have at least basic furniture (couch, table, beds). That is a big blessing, because we are not rushed to figure out replacement stuff, we can take our time. We’ll call and get utilities switched over after lease is signed, I already have the internet stuff delivered to set up. All things considered, many things for which to count our blessings. 

I met the guys at the house this week who are working on some of the restoration of special items. They took our favorite pictures, some special Goatskin Bibles and hardback books (I know many of you have asked), a few pieces of clothing, and a few precious stuffed animals. They will test and see if they can remove the horrific smoke smell, and then we’ll know if some other items are salvageable. They warned us not to get our hopes up, it’s pretty bad. But hopefully in a week or two, we’ll know.

There are a few small miracles. Clara’s Bible (a beautiful calfskin handmade Bible I bought her a couple years ago) was in her bag in our bedroom. Our bedroom is in particularly bad shape. Well one of the investigators offered to go in our room and grab anything, we asked for her bag. The little tweed woolen case the Bible was in smells horrible, but miraculously her Bible still smelled like leather. We were truly thankful. Our insurance adjuster (who actually knew my grandfather who wrote our policy) said it’s amazing how often houses are destroyed, but Bibles are okay. 

While we are still grieving our special sweet Sophie (and will be for awhile), we are thanking God that the rest of us are okay and together. Someday if appropriate we’ll share the scary timeline of the fire, but suffice it to say, it is a MIRACLE we are here this Christmas. Those are hard words to say and ponder, but they are true.

The number of people (family, friends, neighbors, church, school) who have helped us has been unfathomable. Our kids lack nothing for Christmas (between random unexpected gifts, a few quick online orders, and the kindness of some folks at Westminster), the kids won’t even really realize their Christmas presents are destroyed in our basement. Friends have watched our kids so we can get logistics figured out, and sit down for a moment. We’ve received genuine hugs, and shared tears with people who love us. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you will never feel like enough for the true love we’ve been shown this week. 

Merriest of Christmas to you all!

(An awesome picture from our last hike, Don Robinson State Park, amazing, windy & cold day!)