Update on the Kids

Friends and family,

As some of you know, Amy and Alex lost their home last Thursday due to a gas explosion. Rather than continuing to send emails to all of you, if you want to stay updated, I'm going to post this and all updates to my blog.

In a nutshell..........last Thursday morning, the gas company replaced a meter in the house where the kids were living (Amy's inlaws) A leak resulted and even though the gas company was called back, nothing was done and it apparently caused an explosion in Amy's kitchen, setting the house on fire.

Everyone is ok - Alex was at work and Amy and Jared had just gone outside with Hayley when it happened. Amy and Jared are staying with his brother, but no room for Alex - he's staying with whoever he can find to put up with him for a night or so until he can either move back in with Amy or find a place of his own.

They lost just about everything, might be able to salvage bedroom furniture and some clothes from the back half of the house [correction to the email - the back half of the house - bedrooms/bathroom - didn't burn].....if water and soot didn't destroy it. Insurance is covering some and a lawsuit is being considered.

Amy (pregnant again) is pretty emotionally distraught and I'm very worried about her and the new baby. She's pretty stressed out right now, but is pretty good about vocalizing and letting it out :) Alex is pretty upset, scared what with not knowing from one day to the next where he's going to sleep. We offered him a place to live here if he wanted to relocate, but he's worked so hard....got his license, a car and a good job this year....he doesn't want to relocate. Physically they're fine, financially it's going to be a struggle what with finding new housing and replacing their furnishings and such. Amys inlaws were supposed to get a place to live by sometime this week, then we'll see how it goes with the kids from there. Alex went thrift-store clothes shopping........Hayley's first birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks so I had a few things I'm going to send down. Haven't heard from the kids today....no idea where Alex is.....the cell phones all lost in the fire and no way to reach them, just have to wait until I hear from them. I guess no news is good news.........Will keep the blog posted with progress as I hear it.

Thanks to all who have helped so far.....your love, concern and aid are appreciated more than I can express...these are the times it hurts so much to be a mom. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

Love to all,
Gail and Mike