02/19/2024
Hi everyone, Alexander Family here.
As many have probably heard or seen, we lost our barn to a fire early yesterday morning. We awoke around 3am to our big guy Zeke barking his head off and found the barn fully engulfed in flames. It was a total loss.
There are some news stories going around that give animal loss numbers based on the guesses we were all making in the moment. In the end, we sadly lost 31 of our 75 sheep. Our hearts break for those poor animals, and we are grateful for those we were able to get out.
Our garage, which is attached to our home, also caught fire that morning, but determination and a garden hose were able to keep it at bay long enough for the fire department to arrive. It was a darn close call, but the house and garage were saved with minimal damage.
We could write a novel here, but this is the gist of it all: our community showed up in droves.
The fire departments were amazing and we can't thank them enough. There were firefighters from Garland, Corinna, Dexter, Corinth, Newport, and Levant at our home. These people do this volunteer job to help people like us, and they'll never get enough praise. Thanks to them and everyone who does what they do.
Our neighbors and friends and family, nearest and far, came to help move vehicles, get our surviving sheep on a trailer and hauled away, bring us food and coffee, get us firewood, clean up the animal remains, get our sheep situated in their temporary homes...to hold us in their hearts and arms, and to laugh and cry with us. The list of people who have reached out in any and all ways is immeasurable, and we have scarcely had a chance to comprehend it. Thank you all so dearly.
To address a few questions we are being asked by so many:
-How are the kids? Silas is too young to understand the enormity of it all, so he is taking it in stride. The girls are heartbroken, and not a little unnerved, but they are troopers. Their home and family are safe, after all, and they know that is most important. Lucy and Vera weren't home that night, both a blessing and a curse in their own ways. Emma was a rockstar, the ever-steading woman she's become, and she got her brother safely into a warm vehicle and helped immeasurably. When Oma checked on Silas at one point, he said, "Everything will be fine, I know. Emma told me."
-Did you have insurance? Yes, on some of it all. Time will tell how it all works out, but we are better off than many in this scenario.
-What do you need? In this moment, we are okay. When the times come for cleaning up and rebuilding, we promise to ask for that help. We've always known it takes a village, and we've always known ours is the best.
This barn was just a building, but it was more than a building. Our family spent the last 11 years turning it into the home base of our lifestyle. It's where our kids have learned to work, have sweat and laughed and sang, have fought and made up. It's where they learned to be responsible for other living things, and it was full of the smells, sounds, and rhythms of our lives. Our hearts are broken, but we are sleeping safely in our beds tonight, so we are just fine. Thank you all.
