MONUMENT — This has been the most harrowing week or so that I have ever experienced in my life. The things that got me through these very uncertain times were, first and foremost, my King and Savior, Jesus, my family, friends, and my wonderful community. As most of y’all know, Monument and a lot of our state of Oregon have been up in flames. I did not have my article the previous week because we had been preparing for the coming fire and evacuation. This week, we had no Tuesday lunch. But I will share about what is happening here and about the heroes of my community.

As I am thinking of how and what I am going to write on this platform that the Lord has given me, there are a lot of emotions that are going through my soul and heart. I just bless the name of my Lord, Jesus, for everything, even the bad, for I can find His blessing in it, and I will elaborate on that later. There truly is a silver lining in everything!

Boneyard Fire started heading towards Top Road and it hit David and Karen Stubblefield’s first. Bill Newmann, Top Ranch manager, and others had tirelessly made fire break lines behind the ranch, but the fire broke through them and raged on. But due to the efforts of local heroes and firefighters, the Stubblefield, Howell and old Schafer place were saved. That same fire made its way by jumping Top Road and then creeping along the back where the tree line was.

Everyone was on edge, and understandably so. This fire had its slow-moving moments and when that wind picked up, it moved fast. My family and I tried to do all we could to prepare for that fire when it came our way. We would get up, eat a quick breakfast, take care and water and feed all our animals. We then moved plastic, wood and anything away from the house that could potentially burn. We weed-whacked all around the house and outbuildings.

We would stop around noon, for the heat was sweltering, and went to our friends Tom and Theresa’s place on the other side of Monument. They had lunch ready for us and we would eat, rest for an hour or so and then head back to our place to take care of our animals and work again. The Lord blessed us with good friends who gave us a place to stay, rest, and took care of us.

We did this routine for several days, until we had to evacuate for the fire was heading towards our ranch. We decided it was time to move my bottle baby goats and mamas that were penned up near the house to down below, across the road. My kids helped move all the babies and the mama goats down to where the rest of my goats were, and we opened the interior gates. That pasture is over 100 acres and there are two ponds, green grass to eat, and room to get away from fire. The rest, we left it in the Lord’s hands.

That fire approached our place from the rear of our house, and firefighters were getting ready to fight. Now these words are paraphrased from a friend told from a firefighter, who was at the scene: “When out of the smoke came three Cats, driven by Sam Gilbert, Sammy Howell, and Brad Smith. They made fire break lines behind our house and outbuildings and stopped that fire from further movement!”

That fire came all the way down to the fire break line. It went around the lines and moved along behind each of my neighbors’ homes.

Our family and all of us on the mountain are overwhelmed by their heroic efforts, and for me personally, I just want to leap for joy. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts and can’t wait to hug each of them when we see them.

Remember how I said that the Lord gives us a silver lining in everything? For years I had worried about how we were ever going to clean and clear up all those pine needles, pine cones, dead trees and debris in the back or our house that had accumulated over many, many years, and what a daunting task it would be. Well, the Lord took care of it! He burned it all and now all we have to do is maintain it. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

The day after our evacuation, we were unsure if we even had a home to return to. As I was praying, meditating, and memorizing Psalms 34, I came to the last verse. Verse 22 says, “The Lord redeems the souls of His servants and none of them who trust in Him will be desolate.” Desolate means void of life, barren. So I took it from the Lord that our place was still standing, and it was!

We came back to check the status of our home and to take care of our animals. A fire truck was parked in front of our barn by the goats, and two firemen were putting away their hose. I stopped and said that this was our place. We came to check and take care of our animals. Well, they said they just fed and watered our goats for us!

Apparently, someone had reported to the state troopers that we had left our goats with no water, and the state troopers asked the firemen to check if the allegations were true. The firemen said they could tell that the goats were fed and watered. They just thought they would water them since they knew we had to evacuate the day before and weren’t sure when we would return.

Their names were James and Nick from the Hillsboro Fire Department. Their kindness made my heart swell with gratitude. They went above and beyond their call of duty. I praise the Lord for them. We thanked them. If I see them again, I want to give each of them a great big hug.

Through all of this, all I can say is God is good all the time. Even though this horrible event happened, it united our community even more, for everyone was working together to help each other and check up on each other. My family and I are truly blessed to live in such a wonderful community that I just want to cry for joy and gratefulness for each of them.

I could write way more but I don’t even know if this will all even get printed for it is quite long. We love our community and our prayers for the Lord continue to watch over all of them and the firefighters as they continue to fight this fire. To Him be all the glory, my King and Savior, Jesus!