FIRE!!!!

Even as I type, the fire is burning strong next door.






I was online about a half hour ago, when I heard the girls yelling and screaming... more than usual. I went to go see what was going on and I see the older girls carrying five gallon buckets down to the garden filled with water. OUR GARDEN WAS ON FIRE!! Our house sits on the side of a baranco... a cliff?, that would be the best way to describe it. A huge ditch/valley, who knows what that word means in English? Anyway, there is all kinds of trash and trees and foliage, 'monte' as we call it in Spanish, and somehow it caught fire. The other day I saw a fire on the other side of the baranco, but I didn't think twice about it. Also, last week there was a huge fire in the city dump, where hundreds of people actually live, and they all had to be evacuated. This is the dry season. We haven't seen a drop of rain since October, so that doesn't help at all. Anyway, back to the story. As I ran down the stairs to the garden, a huge pine tree caught fire and it shot up all the way to the top in a matter of seconds. The five gallon buckets were pointless at this time. We evacuated the girls to the street out front and even had to carry little Ana, body cast and all, outside in a chair. The girls were so shaken and some were even crying. Can you imagine thinking about maybe losing everything? Where would these girls go? God protected His children, just like he promised. The fire passed by our house in about 10 minutes and only burnt trees and dry foliage along the wall of our garden. Our next problem was that next door there is not a house, but only an empty lot also full of foliage. (by the way, I hate that word 'foliage', but I can't think of another better one) So, we knew that next the fire would come up along side of the house and burn that lot. Melvin had a tiny hose that barely had any kind of pressure at all, but did manage to put out the fire on one tiny tree right next to our house. We had called the bombaros (firemen) only to get no answer, then to be told that there are other fires in the area, and that it would be awhile. This is the problem in Guatemala, maybe in many third world countries. But Guatemala city is huge and I would expect them to have an ample amount of volunteers. (another word I hate 'ample')



So, here we are almost an hour later and they are still not here. But the fire has passed on down, fortunately for us, unfortunately for our neighbors, who aren't as lucky as we are to have a high wall surrounding our house. I am worried about the neighbors on the other side of the empty lot next door. I think it may have entered their house. I pray I am wrong.



I praise God for His protection for us. It could've been so bad. We just have to deal with burnt trees and lots of smoke, instead of burnt buildings are injured girls.



What a night! Never a dull moment here. Zaidy said that this was just another memory for me to take with me. They wanted to make sure I don't forget them. Yeah, whatever.



Well, Guatemala is playing Panama and it's a huge game, World Cup... I think that's it. There's so many cups, but I'm pretty sure that's it. So, anyway, I'm going to watch with the girls downstairs. I'm trying to listen to it online at www.lared.com.gt but they talk to fast sometimes and all I get is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!!! To watch is so much better. So, bye.