Week 7 - Is Smokey the Bear OK?

Last week at a glance:

Denise visits, Jonny O from Denver visits, "surfing", me choking at night, fires, smoke, too much fire and smoke, retreat to LA, watch news 24-7, Hollywood is gross but cool, come back to ashes and house still standing, regroup and see who and what needs help.


For those with time, a little closer look:

Denise visits - The highlight of this week was definitely having Denise, Sami's mom, here from Dallas for 5 days. Sami was able to get off the entire time her mom was here, so we all had fun going to the beach, talking, and running from the fire!




Me Choking - So the night before the fires I was sleeping alone in the day room when I pulled out my inhaler and took a big "swig." What I knew is that the vapors from the inhaler would open up my lungs and help me breathe better. What I Didn't know is that there was a wadded up wrapper from a dove dark chocolate inside the inhaler. I found out very quickly. The wrapper lodged itself deep in my wind pipe...and I was running to the door of our bedroom to try and wake up sami. She didn't hear me because I could barley make a sound. I fortunately coughed (puked) up the little bugger and was able to breathe again. It was freaky and not fun. I will be inspecting the ol' inhaler before each puff from now on. Thank God for life, for every breath.




Fires and Smoke - The fires began Sunday and haven't stopped. It's been a week now. The fire that was heading towards our house was the biggest of over 12 fires. It had already burned 150,000 acres and the westerly winds did not look good. Smoke and ash blanketed a firey sky Monday, and we decided to get out of Dodge. We packed our valuables and jumped ship to L.A. Little did we knw there were as many fires up there! Fortunately we found a nice little nook in Huntington Beach that was out of treacherous smoke wall.

While in L.A. we decided to make the most of our time by visiting Hollywood and Denise's old houses where she grew up. It was a great to forget about the fires for a moment and enjoy being in a cool place. Hollywood - cool but stinky and dirty. For Sami and me it is a one-time deal. The Walk of Fame was pretty cool, I have to admit.



Back in Encinitas - We headed back Wednesday to a house that was still standing, thank the Lord. The Santa Ana winds had died down, turning the fires east again after coming within about 6-8 miles from our house. The latest numbers I have heard: over 2000 homes gone, over 300,000 acres burned, and the fires are still going.

So now that we are back into the swing of these we are finding ways to help out.

Also, this week my fam will be in town to see my little brother David graduate from Marine Boot Camp. Hoorah bro!

We love you all. Thanks for praying with us during this crazy, tragic time in SD.

Jon and Sami





Bonus Video! -