After the smoke was gone

     On June our little cove that we live in in Herriman looked like it was going to go up in flames. The smell of smoke filled our homes and I knew we were going to have to evacuate. This is Herriman's second fire, but after living in our home for almost a year, we missed the first one. I knew that we didn't have must time until we had no choice but we had to leave. My dear mom told me to pack up some cloths. We were supposed to leave for the cabin that day, so this task was simple. Next I wanted to help my brothers. My dad was away on a business trip. 


     Cooper, upstairs could see from Skyler's window the mountain in flames. As a ten-year old, this is scary. I heard his cries from downstairs and wanting to provide comfort to my little brother I knew I needed to do something to help him. I held him in my arms and told him he was brave and that he could do this. I reassured him that our home would be safe along with our neighbors homes. We then proceeded to say a prayer of safety and comfort. 

   My trial was that I needed to drive the car without a parent with me. I'm already terrified of driving. Driving through smoke is even more scary. After a pep talk from my mom and our cars packed up with what few things we could grab, we left our home. 

This isn't a photo I took, in the rush of things, I didn't have a chance to take one. But this is was it kind of looked like when we left our house. (taken from: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=21052342&nid=460&page=19#1)

     Luckily today we had a home that didn't have smoke damage to return home to, like so many fortunate people in my neighborhood. The lords had was truly evident in this whole emergency. I will forever be grateful to those firemen and police that risked their lives to keep our homes safe along with all of our friends and loved ones. 


    Today we had an extra long sacrament. The spirit in that room was truly amazing. It brought our ward a sense of gratitude and unity. The testimony's that were shared made me stronger, it taught me to listen to promptings, pray for strength and help, and to do all that you can and rely on the Lord. Many homes were spared in the event, I know it was because of our faith and prayers. I learned to have faith that in life when we can't see through the smoke and we don't know what we have or what we have lost, that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. We just have to have enough faith to trust in him, and once the smoke has cleared and we can see our trails more clearly we will be able to learn from them. 


Here are some photographs of the fire, I didn't take these but I thought they were pretty amazing. I can see the lords hands in all of this. 

Look at how the houses were saved,
there really is amazing stories from
each of these families

While my dad was in the plane, I can only
imagine the panic he felt when he realized
Herriman was on fire

My house is somewhere in the smoke
we were lucky enough to have
very minor smoke damage

The helicopters took water from the
little pond we have to go fishing in