When Dark Clouds of Trouble Hang O'er Us

I have a LOT of great things to write about! But I have to write chronologically. So you'll just have to wait to hear about my sister coming home(!), my brother leaving, our awesome trip to Black Butte, and our summer.

For my AZ friends who didn't know about it, Colorado Springs had a terrible fire right when I visited. It was so scary and so sad. Luckily, we were not threatened like our friends and neighbors were because we were across the freeway from the fire. But we could see it! And many people we know were evacuated, some even lost their homes. 

I first noticed the fire when it looked like this-

But I wasn't worried because 1, Colorado has a lot of fires that don't become that serious, or are controlled and 2, it was near the Air Force Academy so I wondered if it was a drill because they are always having fake-explosions that we can see the smoke from. 

But then it grew and grew and grew and grew...

Then the sky turned black, and all my pictures looked like it was stormy, but on the edge of the sky, you could see that it was smoke, not clouds! (Below)

That evening, the fire jumped the ridge, and came down onto the houses of Colorado Springs. We could see the flames! And we would watch houses catch on fire and a huge pillar of fire would mean another house lost. My parents had friends stay at our house who did not know if one of the pillars of fire was their home. Very scary!

My phone could even pick up the flames in the night, and it can never capture anything at night...

All the hotels, including my dad's, were full. My dad even had people sleeping on the floor in the conference center because they had no place to stay. It was crazy!

I am so grateful we were just a couple of miles away that our home was okay. But my heart hurts for those who were not as lucky. They are still in my prayers. 

Ashley blowing fire....

This was a picture of my beloved Garden of the Gods. Not so funny then, but my brother found this on facebook and commented, "We found love in a hopeless place" after the song. Hahaha.

 This was kind of funny too- this is what we felt like, especially since the Colorado Springs fire was only one of a couple in the state!

But in all seriousness, it was very traumatic for Colorado Springs. 1000 firefighters came to fight it. 347 homes burned. (The pictures above were ones I took. Here are some from the internet.)

God bless Colorado!!