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I woke up to the smell of smoke this morning. Well, that’s a bit of an understatement. My bedroom was engulfed in smoke, and the smell was sickening and overpowering.
“What’s on fire?!” I yelled to Eva.
“I was making pretzels!” she said.
Eva has permission to prepare her own milk each morning; however, she does not have permission to use the microwave to “cook” anything.
Dear Lord.
I made my way down a hallway filled with choking black smoke and entered the kitchen, scared to death of what I was going to find. The kitchen abounded in smoke. The family room, the living room, the staircase, everything was engulfed. I choked and tried not to throw up.
“Go back to your rooms!” I yelled to my children as I hustled them in a panic back to their bedrooms where the smoke hadn’t yet reached. Why didn’t I put them outside? I don’t know. I was in a panic.
I ordered them to stay there while I assessed the situation. I remembered from a true crime show that fire cannot spread without oxygen, so I kept the microwave shut as I turned on every fan around and opened every window and wondered if and when I should call the fire department.
The fire in the microwave miraculously went out, but the smell and the smoke it left behind was horrendous. I tried not to throw up as I ran back to Eva’s room and found my son and daughter snuggled together in her little bed, tears streaming down their faces, her comforter pulled up over their mouths and noses.
We held hands and prayed, and thanked Jesus that he protected us as he promised to do, and that he watched over our household during what could have been an all-out disaster.
I do believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. By the time G finally comes home, my strength will be immeasurable.
Thank you, Jesus.
Jen, Jen, Jen, Jen, Jen! I’m sorry, it’s just too hard not to laugh!
BETH! I’m about two seconds from heading back to YOUR house.
Wow,Jen the good Lord was watching over y’all,glad everything is fine.
NOW GO GET SMOKE DETECTORS AND PUT THEM UP.
You know what? I want to know why none of our five or six smoke detectors did NOT go off! I’m having my dad come over tomorrow to help investigate!!
I bet Hayden got to all of them while you were showering, and took the batteries out for some toys. It’s quite possible, you know. WAIT! I know exactly what happened! Hayden called Vincent on one of their toy phones, and explained in detail how to get the batteries out of the smoke detectors. I wondered who he was talking to — I should have known!
OMG I am DYING. FIRST out loud laugh in DAYS. Thank you!! Totally dying!!! I’m sure that’s what happened!!
Have you tested them and put new batteries in lately?
I am going to do that tomorrow. CHECK IN with me tomorrow and make sure I’ve done it!!!
Nothing like getting your blood pressure up first thing in the morning! So glad everyone is safe.
Thank you! Yes, that was a real blood pressure/adrenalin/metabolism booster!! At 2 p.m. I set the kids up with an hour of Berenstein Bears and then crashed on the couch. Phew. Then I called G on the satellite phone last night and for the first time ever, shamelessly begged him to come home! Awesome day.
Checking in Jen,did you get the smoke detectors fixed?
Thanks for checking in! I appreciate it! I did replace the batteries in five smoke detectors. The weird thing is that when I “tested” them prior to replacing the batteries, they all tested out fine. So why on earth didn’t even ONE of them sound off when we dearly needed it to?!
Tomorrow,test them with smoke,get a metal pan or pot and put a small wadded up piece of cloth in it,get under the detector and light it,if the detectors don’t go off with just a small amount of smoke then you need to replace them.
Thanks! It never occurred to me that an entire detector would need to be replaced. I sure don’t get it. How could five or six detectors not detect that horrible smoke? The weird thing is that they’ve gone off even if you cook a chicken fajita on the stove and it all gets too hot. Well, I’m going to test them and get to the bottom of it! Thanks again for the direction!