A message from the Smokies...........

As some of you already know, last Monday an accident occurred at the Curry’s residents. I (Tonya), went home on a break to start boiling chicken, Jason was home, so he would be able to turn it on low, well he left for class and forgot to turn the burner down (not putting blame on J, it was a joint effort :) ), we came home at 1:00 p.m. to a house full of smoke.

Since then, we have had to pack up about ¾ of our house, and prepare for a company to come in a and clean. The smoke was in everything, not one thing did not smell as smoke. We had begun that Monday night working until Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m., cleaning ourselves. My boss (aka: Housing Director) on Tuesday , learned of the events, spoke with the physical plant, and they graciously brought in this company to clean out our house of smoke smell.

On Wednesday, Jason’s parents came and helped us pack up our house from 9am to 8 pm that night. Having to clean every single item, sort out food, and etc. The prior night, Amy came and helped. Also our friends the Ericksons, took us out to Souper Salad and then today her David brought us soup that Amanda had made :). Amy Welker, my co-worker, has offered to come over tomorrow night to help with the putting the house back together. We were very grateful to all of them.

This past weekend we went to Jacksonville to do laundry, Jason’s family all lives on the same land (aunts, grandmother, and his parents) We had 3 washer and dryers this way. We did a total of an estimate of 20 loads of laundry, this was from every sock to the curtains on the wall, the bath rugs and etc. We got home this morning at 1:00 a.m., well to our temporary home, Jason’s sister Amy’s apartment. She has let us live w/her this past week now. Along with her puppy Allegro,which if you see us, ask Jason how he likes his "nephew", Allegro and Uncle Jason have a special bond... hehe.

The next few weeks will be long, we have to wipe down furniture, clean the pots and dishes that were left in the house, and unpack and put our house back together. Unfortunately, we will no longer be going to Kansas to see my family for Thanksgiving, we are going to spend the week putting the house back together and organizing. We are grateful that we only had to wipe down our belongings, and not have to sweep them up. We feel blessed that the situation could of been worse and it was not.

We would appreciate your prayers, as this is going to be hard with final projects for school to be completed and in general for our health, as well as for our sanity and just to bring peace. The moving and bending hurts Jason’s back and the packing and wiping things down flares up the Rheumatoid in my wrists. Many thoughts go through our minds like "are we moving" , "what does God have in store for us?". We really do not know why this happened, but we are getting through with a lot of help from prayer. We are tired and worn down, but are doing good! We thank you again for those who have been praying for us and we want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! (We will be celebrating with my co-worker Norita and her husband Earl. And Norita has graciously offered for me to help w/decorating for Christmas :) )

I will end with a quote from Jason, as we are sorting laundry, he says "Well, that was that was the most expensive pot of soup we've ever made, and we didn't even get to eat it! :)"