Finding Indira: we were on fire this fourth of july... literally

i do believe that the fourth of july is the BEST holiday in my family.

i was more homesick on my mission during the 4th of july than during christmas!

the andersen family is full or pyromaniacs and we are surrounded by acres of cherry orchard and dead weeds and in the past we've had a few issues with some little fires but never before have we EVER lit our neighbor's front yard on fire! and the day after that mishap, we lit our field on fire.

lighting our neighbor's front yard on fire was quite possibly one of the scariest moments in my life. the firework was a cake firework from harmon's of all places. every shot that came out knocked the base a different direction and it freaked us all out and sent some of us scrambling to get out of the way. one, unfortunately shot straight across the street. and into a dry, dense lavender bush right at the base of the neighbor's front porch. at first, we saw something glowing at the base of the bush and then someone yelled. almost the instant that that person yelled, the flames exploded to the height of the roof.

almost everyone jumped into a frenzy. a few stayed back to corral the kids away from the chaos. the guys, andy, my uncles, and my dad ran at the speed of light across the street. my mom, meera and myself ran directly into the house to grab buckets and pitchers and anything that could hold water. i just had this overwhelming panic that i did not want to go back outside. i felt that the whole house was going to be on fire and i did not want to witness that.

we booked it outside and to my insane relief, i didn't see any flames... just lots and lots of smoke.

everyone was gathered around the bush and to my surprise it didn't actually look that scorched. the base of it was definitely burnt but it was still mostly green and full of lavender! the woman who lived in the house was visibly shaken up. andy had basically busted down the door to warn the family inside and grab water, while the rest of the guys were using their shoes and anything they could find to stamp it out manually. we tossed the water to smother it all out.

we were all a little shaken up but so so so so so grateful that that little bush was the extent of the damage.