What Is Your Teen Reading This Summer?

I don't know about you - but I keep a close eye on what my kids watch on TV/Movies.
To preview Movies my kids want to watch I go to one of the following review websites:
Plugged In
Christian Spotlight on Entertainment

But, besides either trusting the back cover of a book or reading a book before my kids - I have no way to really tell if the book is appropriate/acceptable for my child to read. My kids tend to read more hours a day than they watch TV or movies and with two reading tween/teen books I just can not pre-read every book they want to read. So, another blogger lady and I started a website where parents can go and read reviews of books from the perspective of a Christian parent.

The last few reviews I posted are for:
Inkheart
Trion Rising
The A-List
The Clique

The favorite teen book I've read so far and one I highly recommend is:
Dragonspell

I encourage you to take a look and cruise around Teen Lit Review - and find some great summer reading for your teens!

Heroes . . .

Here are the heroes that saved my Mom's life . . . .

I have a new found respect for firemen. We have visited them several times since the fire. The two men on each side of my Mom (John and Dan) are the ones who carried her out. They found her on the floor at the bottom of her bed, face down, unconscious. They carried her out and "bagged her" to improve her breathing. Within 2 minutes of carrying her out - the ceiling in her room fell down. The firemen have photos and a video of the fire they gave us a copy of. John told me when they respond to these calls usually they find the people are able to walk out on their own, or dead. To find and "rescue" someone was rewarding and makes his career worthwhile - even if he never saves another person. The guys are all so nice and concerned about others. I try to remember to pray for them and firemen (and ladies) everyday - for their safety. Their service to others is awesome, I pray they are serving the ultimate hero - Jesus Christ as well. Thank you Station 16!

After The Fire . . . .

Here are photo's of how Mom's house looks after the fire. Demolition begins this week - rebuild should take about 5 months. Mom actually will get to rent a unit across from this one - so she'll be able to keep an eye on the building process - she's excited about that!

Fire Photos

Click photo to make larger:

Here are some photo's a neighbor took of my Mom's House while it was on fire.
I will post some photos later this weekend of what it looks like now.
Thanks to all my blogging buddies who have emailed or left comments - ya'll are so sweet! Thanks for your prayers too!

You Never Think . . . .

You never think those bad things you see on the news will happen to you. They always happen to someone else. I'll watch the news and view the sadness, sad for the victums - but glad it wasn't me or my family. . .

5AM on Saturday morning, bad news entered my world. HWH received a call on his cell phone, while he was listening on his cell our land line rang. My Mom's next door neighbor was on the other line. "Angi, your Mom's house has burned down. They've taken your Mom to the hospital". Paul was receiving the same news from my uncle (my cousin was staying with my Mom and had just gotten home to the chaos at about 4:45am).

I call my sister to deliver the news. She and I are in panic mode. HWH tells me to calm down - calm down so I can drive. I dress, grab some breakfast and a book and head to the hospital. Sister and I arrive at the same time. We go in and are taken back to see her. She's sedated, with a tube down her throat, soot all over her. We talk to the doctors and nurses. Find out she was recesitated at the scene. They tell us there is significant carbon monoxide poisioning and probable lung damage. The first step is to transfer her to Duke for several treatments in the hyperbaric chamber. Those treatments will remove the carbon monoxide from her body so there won't be any brain or body damage. After that they will evaluate her lungs. Mericasouly, there is not one single burn on her body!

She is transfered to Duke at about 7am and in the camber by 9am. We wait. Then she's taken to ICU, we wait. Doctors check her out and evaluate her condition. The news is very optomistic. She is progressing nicely - indicating no bad damage to the lungs or airways. Two more hyperbaric camber treatments, the removal of the tubes, and she was sent to a regular room Sunday afternoon. Monday afternoon she was discharged at about 3pm. (She was on the same hall on Senator Kennedy!)

Her first request was to go by her house. Once there, the tears came. It was a total loss. We were able to salvage her mother's china and some other items that were stored away in closets (old pictures and photo albums). Other than that it is all gone. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to upset by the loss of the stuff. She seems to just be happy to be alive. To have survived such a bad fire, with as little injury as she had.

The 911 call was made by the neighbors. Their dog woke them up barking. (My mom will never curse that yapping dog again!) It appears my Mom never woke (she has insomnia and takes sleeping pills at night). When the firemen got there they looked at the fire and were not expecting anyone to be alive inside. They went in, and within two minutes of getting her out of her bedroom, the ceiling collapsed.

In my mind - I see her guardian angels holding that ceiling up until she was drug out. I see them holding the flames to the front part of the house until she was safe. I imagine them waking the dog and her neighbors. I see them keeping the roads clear, the hero firemen availble and fast. I see those angels doing the work of God.

Thank you God, for my mother's safety. I pray you use this experience to draw us all closer to you.

Check back later this week for pictures . . . . .