I want to share this story about my husband's brother, his wife, and their sweet baby girl Alexis. They lost their home in the Ft Mac fires recently, and are now starting from scratch. This is Alexis. What a dolly right? <3
Here is just a small part of their experience. Alexis was due to arrive on the day they were evacuated, but came early instead.
"Just 11 short days before the evacuation and devastating knowledge that our home, all of our sentimental items, photos, many memories including our marriage proposal, and all of our hard work, including my own hand crafted business and only form of income would be forever lost, we had our first child. A child we had chosen to wait on having until all of our "ducks were in a row".
In the weeks before her arrival Chris was switched to nightshift at work, which worked well for me because I wasn't sleeping at night (anyone who knows me is well aware I'm a night owl) and that "nesting" stage of my pregnancy had set in full force. I was full of energy and had grand ideas of what I'd like her nursery to look like. In preparation for our little bundle of joy I was painting furniture, taking tags off of a million little outfits, and washing, folding, and hanging up those little outfits... Life was good and the road ahead exciting.
On May 3rd we started out the day the same as we had since arriving home with our little bundle of joy, tired from a night of very little sleep and beaming because our baby was just so adorable.
Our blinds were drawn as they had been for the past 10 days to allow for the privacy and comfort of our new little family. We had no idea that the fire was so close by, our newborn had us pretty preoccupied and nothing else at that point seemed to matter.
As the day went on the smell of smoke in our condo became quite strong so Chris went out to take a look at what was going on. He came back in and said there appeared to be a fire in the forest behind our condo complexes. He packed what little he could in a 10 minute period, with the lights flickering on and off while I fed Alexis. When he went back outside to put things in our vehicle he realized just how bad it really was, we had to go now the fire was too close and there was no time to waste, it was inevitable, we were going to lose our home...
As we ran to the car embers and twigs from the nearby forest were raining on us. Frantically we attempted to escape the fire. Flames igniting the homes across a field from where we were a sitting duck, stuck in a small car terrified for our 11 day old baby, ourselves, and dog... not knowing if we would make it out alive and being pushed further north for several hours (north being a dead end). Thankfully in the end we were able to go south but there were several hours of panic thinking we would be trapped north with the fire encroaching."
Chantelle Blackmore
This is what was left of their home.
Chantelle, Chris & Alexis received a few quilts from quilters around the world, to comfort them in their difficult time. Chantelle, already being a crafty gal, has become fascinated with quilts, and wants to learn to quilt too! Sadly though, her sewing machine was lost in the fire, and so she really has nothing to begin with. My quilting friends... can we help her out? I will be collecting donations for a new sewing machine, quilting supplies and fabric to get her going. Even the smallest amount will make a difference if we all chip in! My goal is to raise $1000.00 and I believe we can do it!
If we can exceed that goal, then we will put any extra towards a space saving sewing table & cabinet, for their small temporary space.
Please consider even a small donation for Chantelle.
Thank You <3