Meet the Peters Family

(melancholic music) - What do you think? Huh? What do you think? (Jennie laughs softly) There's a lot that I enjoy about being a mom, watching the kids grow up and their smiles, and seeing them laugh. And it's definitely quite the adventure having children. (Jennie laughs softly) We've been living in the canyon now for about seven years. (baby screaming) We've really love living out here because we do have so much more space, and the kids have plenty of room to run around and just explore and be

kids. Sticks are swords and you know a forest is a magical kingdom. James, do you wanna come feed the chickens? (melancholic music) (chickens clucking) Right after James was born We were finally getting back to a new normal and catching up on all the things I don’t know, all the things that kind of go to the wayside when you have a baby, and then…um. It's snowing ashes. There's one. (dramatic music) - [Child] It's snowing ashes? - [Jennie] Yeah, sun used to be over there. Now it's gone. That ni

ght I put James to bed and I was getting ready for bed, and I was like, well I'll check Facebook before I go to bed and just see if any of our neighbors are leaving. And there was reports that the fire was in Gates, and we just started packing everything that we could think of into our cars. At that point, it was about midnight and I remember, we were in the front yard, and I could see burning embers floating over the house from the forest back there being on fire. And so we're like, alright, I

guess it's go now. (slow melancholic music) The fires came from that direction and it was so hot that it kept igniting even though they were spraying water on it. (slow melancholic music) Ultimately, the house did get scorched pretty good. Like the gutters were like melting off the house and the siding was charred. Looking back, I don't know how we've made it. Like... (slow melancholic music) - Yeah. (slow melancholic music continues) We first heard about Family Building Blocks at one of the res

ource centers for the wildfire survivors. We were searching for binkies to help James sleep. Baby James. (baby cooing) And yeah, just baby supplies to try to get him situated. While we were there, Melodie from Family Building Blocks was there, and asking if we had heard about them, and I'm like, no I haven't. They were able to provide us with food for Christmas and they also did a, like a secret Santa. Somebody had sponsored our family for Christmas that year which was great, cause we were strug

gling with insurance not wanting to pay for things. So, we really didn't have much to make Christmas happen. So, this is our house now... with no ceilings. They let us know that spring about the wildfire group going on that they were partnering with that they would be providing the childcare for, and they were having some counselors there from Marion County to help process emotions and things from what happened. With all the positive interactions, we had had from Family Building Blocks, It was k

ind of like, okay, well this sounds, you know, good. And then when they said that they were going to watch the kids and feed them dinner, it was like, okay, I'll go. Like I think, you know, it could have been a timeshare almost at that point. (Jennie laughs softly) There was so much that went into being able to rebuild that came from that support network, cause we were, with when COVID happened, because all the building costs went up, we were now very, very underinsured. Again, we still weren't

sure like what Family Building Block was all about yet, but as time went on and as COVID ran its course, we were able to have phone visits and then some in-person visits and then actually getting to go to the classroom, which the kiddos have really enjoyed. (dramatic graceful music) Family building blocks, that one connection kept us from having to abandon all hope and actually be able to rebuild. Because we had that support from the community and Family Building Blocks. It felt like we weren't

alone. - We have some spelling books, right here.