the official report for the cause of the fire was electrical. one of the connections to our laptop overheated. unfortunately that also happened to be the computer that held all of our fianancial records…oh-well. we also recieved word yesterday that we will be out of our home for about a month. we will be completely rebuilding the garage as well as the entryway and laundry room. we will have the house re-painted and new carpet installed. most of our clothing is being specially treated to remove any smoke odor and soot. all of our furniture is being treated to remove any evidence of smoke damage. because the air conditioning was on, the smoke quickly moved through the vents causing the smoke damage throughout the house. however, the fire was well contained in garage, and we were told by the fire department that if we hadn’t had all four doors closed (the entry, the garage, the laundry and living room) the fire would have spread much more quickly and caused a lot more damage. so we count our blessings that was the case since the girls and i were home when the fire started. oddly enough, none of our fire alarms went off. we have five of them throughout the house, but none in the entryway or garage, so those will be added during the rebuilding process.
we cannot thank everyone enough for all of the love and support that we have been shown. we are being well taken care of by the insurance company, but nothing compares to the generosity and care of good friends. thank you amber wilson and danielle zamora for being second mothers to my girls while we have endless meeting with insurance adjusters :) a big thank you to emily chandler as she is recieveing endless phone calls on our behalf and organizing any help/donations. i have recieved many phone calls of encouragement and offers for help…i wish i could return every phone call, text message and email i’ve gotten these past few days…please know that i have recieved them and appreciate everyone’s willingness to help :) we will keep you updated throughout the week!
~angela