CLOSE CALL!!!

On Tuesday, I had been out all day and came home for about an hour in time for my girls to get home from school, eat a snack, and then take Hannah to piano lessons. About 5 minutes before we were to leave the house, I started smelling gas or something that may be burning. I knew it was in my kitchen but I couldn't figure out what it was. I checked EVERYTHING! I started to worry knowing I was leaving the house and because I was breathing in something that I knew was bad for the baby, me, and the girls. I sent the girls out to the car to wait while I called Brent. While I was on the phone I started to see smoke coming from behind the refrigerator! I heard sizzling coming from the bottom of the refrigerator so Brent told me I needed to pull it out to see what it was. This was not easy in my condition! But I did it. I couldn't see anything so I finally unplugged it and the sizzling stopped but the smoke kept coming! I called My friend Rene, she came right over to help and within minutes, another friends husband knocked on my door saying he heard we needed help!(I had called his wife too!) He found we had an electrical fire in the bottom of the refrigerator! Some of the insulation was burned and we think the compressor was what was burning. I was heartsick knowing I had just stocked my freezer and refrigerator and it was all going to go to waste. Ben and Rene were nice enough to take the majority of the food and store it at their homes for me. What a blessing! We aren't sure if it can be fixed or if we will need to get a new one! I didn't realize just how much I depend on my refrigerator and how much I use it until now! I feel like the kitchen has been shut down and am limited as to what I can make. To top it all off we were having family come stay that evening and for the remainder of this week. Sorry guys! Another aspect of all this was that I was so panicked that I was crying and didn't know quite what to do, I often went to call for help but couldn't find my cell phone. After I had calmed down and I got my brain working again, I realized it was in my pocket the whole time! This could have all taken place while I was gone and then my home would have had serious damage, possibly caught fire! One of the thoughts I had through all this and the potential harm that could have been done was that all the Christmas presents I had just bought could have been lost and a friend of mine had just dropped off a Christmas gift for her daughter for "safe keeping" maybe 45 minutes earlier and that that gift could have been lost too! But, the greatest blessing of all is this: The Lord is always here to help, guide, and protect me! Sometimes I don't realize it as I should but this time I really felt him there with me and that he made sure everyone and everything was safe. I got the help I needed, just everything fell into place and all is good now. Needless to say, Hannah didn't make it to her piano lessons and that's OK!