my heart was touched today

I haven't really shared anything personal on here, but I truly feel the need to right now. I finished my semester on Friday so naturally I've had some time to think. Well, as some of you know, time to think isn't always a good thing. Two days after the fire I threw myself back into school and my hectic schedule. Fortunately, that kept me busy and for the most part helped me keep my mind off of what happened. The days that were harder I had two of my closest friends at Chapman pounding on my door to take care of me. Seriously, they pounded. They refused to let me be alone.

Now that Christmas is coming closer I find it easier to start feeling sorry for myself. I have yet to be angry, maybe confused, but not angry. I want my house, I want my things, but most of all I don't want to lose my memories. Then I think of other people who are struggling more much than I am and want to know what my problem is, but we then I know we all struggle.

My best friend, Jenny, made me a CD of a bunch of random songs. Most of the songs pertain to being strong, talking about friendship, basically songs of encouragement. I've loved working my way through them these past couple of nights, and tonight I skipped to the last song and was caught by surprise. I'm not positive what the actual title of the song is but some of the lyrics go like this:

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

and then later on in the song:

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

I've loved this song for years now and have been looking for it since the fire. Tonight was the first time I've heard it in over 2 years, and I can't even express how grateful I am for these words. I believe the lyrics speak for themselves and for anyone who is struggling with anything right now. I wanted to share this with whoever is still looking at the blog because I find it so amazing how God works.

God bless!
~Alyssa

Moving In

Hey! I don't know how many of you are still following this, but just in case I wanted to give a quick update.

Many people are unsure of when we are going to move in to the rental. We should be moving in within the next 4 weeks. The earliest would be January 1st and the latest January 19th. I'm hoping we'll be able to be move in the first week of January, but who knows?

Rental Home Update

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. School and family has been keeping me very busy. The rental home that we were planning on moving into December 1st is no longer happening. Instead our family has found a rental home up our hill. This will be closer to our house so my mom can be closer for when we start rebuilding. Also, the house will be furnished and will make our stay much more comfortable. The only problem is that as of now we wont be able to move in until January 1st, so we wouldn't have a house of our own for the holidays. Keep us in our prayers because this holiday season is going to be incredibly difficult.

Today we're decorating Colleen's house and my family helped me decorate my apartment so we're trying to get into the holiday spirit :)

Janett and Tim stopped by today and dropped off some things from our other church family. Thank you so much to everyone. It was so kind of you all to think of us. All of your generosity warms our hearts. Your thoughts and prayers keep us going.

God bless!
~Alyssa

Hard finding joy today

Today was a hard day. I guess we are going to have days like these. I was given many coffee cups with almond joy in each one representing that through our lives that we have times of joy and sometimes we have times with no joy, that cup was black. Well today was a black cup day with no joy and it's hard to say but it's ok to feel no joy in our lives at times. It doesn't mean we are losing faith, it just means that life throws us unfortunate things and it is ok to mourn them. So continue to pray for us. The holidays are going to be really tuff but we will get through it. Funny thing yesterday, I called AT&T to forward my phone number to my cell and the lady helping me told me that she lost her home in a fire too. We started talking and she said that the hardest thing is not having your home to come home to. It takes along time to make a home feel comfortable. It was exactly how I was feeling and it was such a blessing to chat with her. Alyssa and Ryan are out of school in two weeks and they will be staying at Alyssa's apartment on campus but it will be very quiet there and they both love to come home especially Alyssa, so please keep them in your prayers because we can't get in the rental we found until the beginning of January. So we are going to feel a little displaced until then. Colleen has been such a sweet heart through this and opening her home to us. We are beyond blessed to have such amazing friends and family. Please have patience with us, you might run into us and we might just be having a black cup day and we might not seem ourselves.

Treasures

Well we didn't find many treasures today but are treasures are in our friends. We don't even know what to say about all the support we had today. First I wanted to thank Dave Sims and Lester Arcalas for going over to our home before Saturday and finding some silver and gold. Dave found a book that was titled "Alexander and the terrible horrible very bad day", can you imagine? I think we will be framing that one. lol It was very difficult to see all the things that were special to us destroyed but some special ornaments were found and momentos that later will be very precious to look upon. Tood Gino even found a penguin that I made in kindergarten. We are so thankful for all the love that was given to us by all our family and friends. Words can not discribe how much we love you all.

Just a little note but we found a rental but we won't be moving in until after Christmas. The house is up the hill from our house so this will make rebuilding easier. We are so happy we found a place to call home during this time. Pray that we will be strong through this and that we may glorify our Lord and that people will see what Christ has done for us.

Oh I started writting down all the things we were receiving but it got too overwhelming because we were brought so much which was so wonderful to see. So I'm thanking you here, for all the delicious food that has been brought, the clothes, the school uniforms, the shoes, the toys, friends getting us shampoo, etc and my makeup. ha ha We are filled with so much love and you have no idea how your outpouring of care and concern for us has helped us keep moving forward.

In him, Joelle Gino

Another Update- Pictures of Our House

We need pictures of our house for the insurance company, so if any of you have pictures of the inside of the house please send them to Colleen's house or my address at Chapman or e-mail them to me at leapyearbaby88@aol.com

Thank you!
~Alyssa

Update! Potential Rental Home!

Hey! Good news today. We have a potential rental so please pray that it works out. We would be moving in December 1st.

Don't forget this Saturday at 8:00 am help us dig through our rubble. Please don't bring any children, even though we love them. It's just too dangerous with all the debris. You'll want to wear old clothing and shoes that you don't care about. The ashes will ruin them. If you have a mask, gloves, shovels, anything to dig with and keep you safe please bring them.

Again we want to thank everyone for bringing food. It has been so wonderful and helpful. There is no possible way for us to adequately to express our appreciation. Mornings are hard, but we're getting through this because of the support from all of you.

About comments--you don't have to be a member to comment. There is a way to just leave one with your name. Please leave us comments. We are reading them every night.

In Him,
The Gino Family

Updates- Tuesday November 18th

Hello! This is Alyssa. I'm going to be putting updates on here every night so that can update people all at once. Many of you are wondering what you can do and what we are doing. This will be a way for you to comment and us to respond all at one time. We are so grateful for all of the support and prayers. You are all so wonderful. God has blessed us with amazing friends.

Here is a little update for now.
We are currently looking at rental homes with the help of Colleen. Thus far we haven't had much luck. Fortunately things are looking up. Tomorrow will be a hard day for my family so please keep us in your prayers. My parents will be meeting with the adjuster.
Right now we're trying to settle into things. Ryan is back at Pepperdine resuming his studies. I'm returning to classes tomorrow, Wednesday, to try to get back into my daily routine. Kendra has been back in school since Monday and been receiving clothing and toys from families at school. Also, Colleen and her girls are exhausted and have been such a help, so please keep them in your prayers as well. It has been hard on us all.


I'll be sure to give more information when I have it. Please feel free to leave comments. I will respond through this. It's very hard for any of us to continue to return phone calls right now. We're all very overwhelmed.

~Alyssa



Here is a picture of our house burning that was on a website. The firefighters did the best they could.