The Inferno

I never in a million years would have imagined that when I answered the phone at work that it would be my husband on the other line telling me to hurry and come get the kids because our van was on fire. I looked at my boss who sits next to me at work and shares a similar string of bad luck and half laughed as I told her I needed to leave because my van was on fire.

In my excitement to leave work I of course forgot my cell phone, pretty typical of me. As I'm driving down route one a good two miles or more away I see black smoke billowing in the sky and it finally clicked in my brain; YOUR VAN IS ON FIRE!

As I pull in to the parking lot that Tom abandoned ship in, the fire truck also pulls up. I didn't see my kids right away and breathed a sigh of relief once I saw them with my own two eyes sitting in the chiropractor's lobby. Hannah immediately burst into tears and began telling me about the van catching fire. This of course made me want to cry, I'm just glad they all got out of the van in time.

Our van is a mere two years old, it is or rather was a Dodge Caravan. It is now a hollowed out carcus of its former self because anything plastic, rubber or fabric is gone.

I think I'm still in shock. The one thing I am certain of,  is that this all happened for a reason and is part of God's grand plan. He was definitely watching out for my husband and kiddos today as Tom unbuckled all three of my babies from the van while it was on fire. Them coming out of this unscathed is my only concern. The rest is just stuff and will sort itself out in the long run.

I don't really know anything yet from the insurance company. I'm hoping they'll call back tomorrow with word on what our next step is.

Please pray for Hannah, she is having a hard time with it and is super upset still. Unfortunately, she did see the van on fire and doesn't quite understand that this is just a fluke thing that happens.

The van being towed away:



Where Carter and Hannah used to sit:



The driver side:



Amongst all of this I did find humor in a few things:

• The claim specialist who told me to collect my belongings from the car, blahahaha


• The irony that I just filled the gas tank up with nearly $60 in gas yesterday


• I had the car serviced 2 weeks ago for regular maintenance and spent $125 on air filter, oil change and new wiper blades


• Tom managed to save our big stroller, he said he needed something to hold Carter in


• My best friend wondering if I'll now be buying a Toyota