Fire

About a year ago I woke up to the sound of kids playing in our alley. That afternoon when I came home from work the kids were still outside playing. I introduced myself to the four kids and they immediately brought me to their house to meet their mom, dad, and grandma. They had just moved in to our neighborhood, out of grandma's house for the first time in a long time and finally in their own place.

Over the past 12 months I've loved having this family as my neighbors. They are great students and atheletes. The 12 year old has completed over 10 5Ks through a mentoring program. All four of the older kids are often racing up and down our sidewalk, either running or on bikes. The youngest boy comes to see our garden and checks to see if our compost has turned to dirt yet.

At 5:00 am on Monday, the parents knocked on our window. "Our house is on fire!" I saw them briefly Monday morning, they were able to retrieve a couple garbage bags of belongings, but that's all they were able to save. By some grace all 5 kids, plus mom and dad, made it out safely. Grandma still lives in North Minneapolis and the family will be staying with her again until they figure out what else to do.

Praise God, everyone is safe. Please pray for this family this week, and also for the other neighbor kids who are scared about this happening to their own home, and missing their friends.