Popular Post bsjkki Posted December 31, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted December 31, 2021 Hoping no one here has lost their home today in Colorado. I will be starting my volunteer service with the Red Cross in a crazy way. 580 homes lost so far. 5 Link to comment
Tacenda Posted December 31, 2021 Share Posted December 31, 2021 1 hour ago, bsjkki said: Hoping no one here has lost their home today in Colorado. I will be starting my volunteer service with the Red Cross in a crazy way. 580 homes lost so far. Oh my goodness! I had no idea, bsjkki very good of you to help like this! Link to comment
Jane_Doe Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Thank you @bsjkki. That is my parent's area that went up in flames. My hubby & I were just there over Christmas, and literally said "this is going to be a horrible fire season"-- but didn't except it so soon or.... admittedly right in the middle of town. I know these neighborhoods... and this is very very rough. 2 Link to comment
bsjkki Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 45 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said: Thank you @bsjkki. That is my parent's area that went up in flames. My hubby & I were just there over Christmas, and literally said "this is going to be a horrible fire season"-- but didn't except it so soon or.... admittedly right in the middle of town. I know these neighborhoods... and this is very very rough. Do you know if their home made it? I hope so. Many, many of my friends are effected because their extended families lost homes. I live down south but would visit family in Boulder. It was unreal to see those neighborhoods go up. Link to comment
Chum Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Just came across this: How To Help a Friend Who Lost Their Home in a Fire 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) Quote Sit in the discomfort. Do not offer a bright side. Finding a silver lining is their work, not yours. So hard to do (from the side of the supporter), so important to have available rather than the all is well lecture (from the side of the one needing support: sometimes it is better to understand and accept life is crap rather than hear again how it is all going to work out; I know that, it helps me endure longterm but it inflates the pain of the moment for some reason, perhaps it makes the pain appear irrelevant which just makes it worse that I am experiencing it). Quote One of the best decisions we made after we lost our home was to purchase 20‐30 wooden crates from craft and fabric stores. We lacked the time or desire to shop for permanent furniture, so instead, we used these. We stacked them in closets for clothing, placed them on their ends for nightstands and used them in the living room to hold books and toys. They can also be stacked in two columns with space between with a board laid across for a desk. The versatility of these is indispensable. Flashback to student days. Kept some until my kids were grown, they alternated as containers, bookshelves, stools, tables. Lasted longest as the shoe container for the back door. And maybe I will take a video tour of the house including opening cupboards and drawers as a quick inventory next time I am mobile. Edited January 1, 2022 by Calm 2 Link to comment
Chum Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 3 minutes ago, Calm said: So hard to do (from the side of the supporter), so important to have available rather than the all is well lecture (from the side of the one needing support: sometimes it is better to understand and accept life is crap rather than hear again how it is all going to work out; I know that, it helps me endure longterm but it inflates the pain of the moment for some reason, perhaps it makes the pain appear irrelevant which just makes it worse that I am experiencing it). I can understand a phase (as in a decade) of Life Sucks And That's All There Is. When it's like that there's feeling it and not. Looking to the future means feeling it and that's cruel. Best to focus on survival. 1 Link to comment
Chum Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 Just now, Chum said: I can understand a phase (as in a decade) of Life Sucks And That's All There Is. When it's like that there's feeling it and not. Looking to the future means feeling it and that's cruel. Best to focus on survival. Also, yeah it sucks to have your house burn up. I don't recommend it. 1 Link to comment
bsjkki Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 I’ve learned a lot through the Red Cross trauma counseling course and even the church’s emotional resilience course. Basically, don’t minimize. (At least no one died. It’s just stuff. etc… Don’t tell people what or how to feel. Don’t tell people it’s God’s will. Give them time to go through the grieving process in their time frame, not yours. I’ve been practicing this in my life as I react to other’s trauma. It’s been very helpful. (I’ve had so many people die this year.) It’s amazing to watch people as they start to regroup. They really do just need someone to say ‘sorry’ and ‘this really sucks.’ 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 26 minutes ago, Chum said: I can understand a phase (as in a decade) of Life Sucks And That's All There Is. When it's like that there's feeling it and not. Looking to the future means feeling it and that's cruel. Best to focus on survival. Exactly. 1 Link to comment
bsjkki Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Chum said: Just came across this: How To Help a Friend Who Lost Their Home in a Fire This is really great advice. My son lost everything in a fire. They still live with us after moving in. It takes awhile to rebuild after crazy covid setbacks and housing inflation. They got so many donations of used items it actually ended up adding to the burden. So much to sort through and get rid of. 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, bsjkki said: Don’t tell people it’s God’s will. Please, please, please don’t. Also not “God can turn everything to your good”. Maybe Joseph needed to hear that in his moment and maybe we need to know that to have it in the back of our heads in our moments (sometimes I love reading that section), but don’t tell me what I am going through is for my good if I am in some kind of agony at that moment. Edited January 1, 2022 by Calm 2 Link to comment
The Nehor Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 27 minutes ago, bsjkki said: I’ve learned a lot through the Red Cross trauma counseling course and even the church’s emotional resilience course. Basically, don’t minimize. (At least no one died. It’s just stuff. etc… Don’t tell people what or how to feel. Don’t tell people it’s God’s will. Give them time to go through the grieving process in their time frame, not yours. I’ve been practicing this in my life as I react to other’s trauma. It’s been very helpful. (I’ve had so many people die this year.) It’s amazing to watch people as they start to regroup. They really do just need someone to say ‘sorry’ and ‘this really sucks.’ One of my best friends taught me how to do this by doing it to me. When my life collapsed he took me to an late-night buffet of garbage food and let me spew out bile and we toasted the end of the world and the humor got darker and darker. Good night. Best way to cope with a broken engagement and broken life. 3 Link to comment
Tacenda Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 32 minutes ago, The Nehor said: One of my best friends taught me how to do this by doing it to me. When my life collapsed he took me to an late-night buffet of garbage food and let me spew out bile and we toasted the end of the world and the humor got darker and darker. Good night. Best way to cope with a broken engagement and broken life. Love this! Link to comment
revelstoked Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 The fire burned across two wards. The ward to the south got very luck with minimal loss of property and only had to evac half its members. The ward to the north had their entire ward evaced was not as lucky (I'm not privy to final counts). The most surreal moment was getting housing for someone, calling the family up that offered room, and hearing that they need to rescind the offer because they just got put on pre-evac themselves. 2 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 If you don’t keeping us updated… Link to comment
bsjkki Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share Posted January 3, 2022 Colorado wildfire causes evacuations and destroys homes at New Years (thechurchnews.com) 11 members lost their homes. 1 Link to comment
Cordelia Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 The photos of the aftermath look like a dystopian videogame. I can't imagine losing everything in one day like that. 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 4 hours ago, Cordelia said: The photos of the aftermath look like a dystopian videogame. I can't imagine losing everything in one day like that. It is weird to watch the drone moving from this completely wiped out area, houses are smoldering pits, to an untouched one. It seems like at least there should be a transition with houses mostly burnt out, somewhat burnt out, halfway standing, singed around the edges and then untouched. 1 Link to comment
Jane_Doe Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 On 12/31/2021 at 7:53 PM, bsjkki said: Do you know if their home made it? I hope so. Many, many of my friends are effected because their extended families lost homes. I live down south but would visit family in Boulder. It was unreal to see those neighborhoods go up. My family is ok, as are all those I know. Thankfully. There's a lot of clean up to be done... 2 Link to comment
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