Family prepares to move into new house

Just more than a year ago, Kathy Spicer watched as her home was destroyed by a fire.

Now, she and her family, which includes seven children who live at home, are preparing to move into a new manufactured home.

“We were so thrilled when it pulled in last week,” the mother of nine said. “The kids took pictures of the two halves.”

She won’t soon forget Aug. 28, 2007. That’s the day her rural North Bend home burned down.

“That was one of the worst days of my life. Half of the house was gone when we got there,” Spicer said. “We were on our way to

Omaha and fortunately had all the kids with us. Thankfully nobody was hurt.”

In addition to its belongings, the family also lost two dogs, one cat, a guinea pig and parakeets.

“Then I started thinking about our girls’ hope chests,” Spicer said. “A big concern was how they were going to look at life in general and how they were going to look at God.”

She said everyone in the family has handled the situation a bit differently.

“At first it was hard for them to fall asleep,” Spicer said. “The kids are what kept us going.”

He children range in age from

5 to 25.

The home was purchased in 1998 from a family who had gutted and re-wired the whole house, she said.

“We thought the electricity was safe,” Spicer said. “Thankfully we weren’t home or asleep.”

The fire started in the kitchen and is blamed on electrical wiring. She said the only doors to the home were in that kitchen, which makes her even more grateful that nobody was home.

“That was a rough time, that first few months,” Spicer said. “We have all these children. If it was just us, it would have been no big deal.”

While they await the completion of their home, the family is renting a home in Scribner.

“It’s just 10 miles straight up the road from us,” Spicer said. “Our expenses have doubled, having both places. We’ve gotten good at being frugal.”

The family wanted to re-build to begin with, but found it to be too expensive. The home was insured, but the Spicers did not have re-build insurance. The insurance policy paid off the mortgage, but the family had just a small amount of equity in the home.

Her husband, Scott, is a disabled Gulf War veteran who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder.

“Then we went to look at manufactured homes,” Spicer said. “During the course of the year, we slowly replaced personal items. Walmart knows me by name.”

She said the entire situation has been overwhelming, but friends, family and churches the family doesn’t even belong to have been a great help.

The new home will be a bit bigger and five rooms will be utilized as bedrooms.

“I don’t know if we’ll all know how to act,” Spicer said. “It’s not anything fancy, but it’s brand new and it’s big. I’m impressed.”

She said the Red Cross walked the family through what they needed to do and all the help they received was shocking.

“We were so blessed,” Spicer said. “I’m still working on my thank yous. I’ve got pages of names.”

The family expects to be able to move in next month.

“We’re really hoping to be in and settled by Thanksgiving,” Spicer said. “We’re almost done. I’m looking forward to peace and not having to think about so much.”

Gratefulness is the big thing on her mind now.

“We would not have made it through this without friends, family and neighbors,” Spicer said. “That was a huge blessing.”

Even the family’s pet stock is rising.

“We replaced one pet. We got a poodle puppy,” Spicer said. “Someone donated two kitties and a bird to us. My daughter just got two hamsters.

“We are so grateful for God and for the community,” she said. “We have so many things to be grateful for.”