Out of our hands

We had an amazing weekend enjoying the glorious beauty of the Colorado mountains. We traveled up to a high meadow, in the cool air above 11,000'. This spot has been a long-time favorite for our family. K was exuberant the whole time that we were there, rolling in the grass, galloping, yipping, and joyful. She was so joyful that she could barely contain herself at times.

It was as if K knew that we were perhaps in our favorite place as a family for the last time. She wasn't wasting time being wistful but was reveling in every instant. To be perfectly honest, I thought that we were close to the end of her life last week - a whole host of things seemed to be going wrong at once. Now, in contrast, she's humming with energy and as happy as can be. I am so thankful, and I've never been so aware that life's course is out of my hands as I am now.

Over our time in our favorite meadow campsite, we did notice that the horizon became progressively smoky. We listened to the radio and heard about the many fires in our wonderful state. On Saturday, 8 were burning. Today, I think that there are fewer but the remaining ones are huge and out of control.

Indeed, we arrived home last night, and a fire broke out close to us early this afternoon, caused by a dry lightning storm. Nearby forests are burning... and it breaks my heart. This photo is of K in the forest this morning.

We're packing our vehicles and preparing to leave. At this moment, the nearby fire is moving away from us so we doubt that it will threaten our home unless the wind reverses itself. However, with the parched forests surrounding us and more electrical storms forecasted for tomorrow, we know that whether our home burns is out of our hands.