Rental Property Fire & A Quick Adoption Update

As many of you know, after our house in STL was on the market for over a year, we decided that we would rent it until the market improved and we could sell. While we were visiting family there last week, there was a fire at that house. While it has been very hard to see the house we loved in such a mess, we can already see blessings having come from this incident. Yes, I said blessings! 

The fire started in the garage and there were only flames in the garage. I was pretty shocked when I went inside. It's crazy to see the damage that smoke and heat caused! It honestly looks like there were flames inside the house. The fire department did have to put a hole in the ceiling inside to make sure the fire wasn't in the attic and they did break a window in the kitchen to have some ventilation while they dealt with the fire. By the time I arrived, the men were almost done boarding up the garage. It's definitely hard for us to look at these photos. 

Counting my blessings: 

1. No one was hurt in the fire. Our renter was able to get out safely. 

2. We have insurance that will take care of the cost of all the repairs. They will basically gut the house and it will be entirely new (down to the light switches, toilets, etc.)

3. There was no structural damage to the house (only two beams in the garage were damaged). 

4. We'd had some problems with our renter and this fire revealed some information that, had we not found out at that time, could have been more troublesome. 

5. The insurance company will handle further investigation into the cause and origin of the fire and lease violations. 

6. It happened while we were in town! K was able to get there pretty quickly. 

7. Our neighbors there were very supportive and helped to check up on things and kept an eye on K and his dad while they changed locks and closed up the house. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. For patience and wisdom as we navigate all the repairs, interact with the insurance company, and plan to sell the house when the repairs are finished. Pray for a quick sell! 

2. For our renter--that he'll get his life on track and come to salvation 

3. For us as we again tackle two house payments, while we are also trying to save for adoption (this is probably the hardest part for me, as we were hoping a renter would allow us to save that extra money for our adoption expenses). 

4. For us as we wait to be matched with a baby and for wisdom as we fundraise and save. 

5. For our future little one and his/her birth mom

A quick adoption update: 

**We found out we were not matched with one of the babies that we had chosen to present on. There's always the "why not us?" question, but I am so thankful that because I KNOW that God has the little one He wants us to parent out there, because His plan is so much higher than my plan, we can continue to wait with hope and joy. 

We are overjoyed and so thankful that our adopttogether account has $1, 248. If you would like to donate you can do so here: 

https://www.adopttogether.org/kurtandpriscillajohnson