Ginger . . . the Rescue Dog!!

For those of you who know us well, Ginger is the light of our life. She is now especially sweet to us after Friday morning. We are in the process of moving (AGAIN), so Thursday night was a really late night. Actually, it was 2 AM before we went to bed. Friday morning we wake up and Will heads off to buy more furniture blankets from U-Haul. Ginger and I decided to stay in bed and get a little more sleep. :) All of sudden I awoke to Ginger barking. I hadn't heard anyone knocking at the door, but thought I'd go check. I looked through the peep-hole, but no one was there. So I convinced my precious little puppy to come back to bed with me. As soon as we laid down she began barking again. (Side note - Ginger doesn't usually bark. Only when someone comes to the door.) I checked the door again, and then picked Ginger up to give her a "talking to." It didn't matter - she wasn't stopping. I knew something had to be up, but couldn't figure it out. She was going NUTS!! I then realized there was a faint smell of smoke. Now because of the guagua fire 2 weeks earlier I didn't want to overreact. I assumed someone had simply burnt their breakfast. At Ginger's insistancy I decided to go ask our neighbor upstairs if all was alright. She wasn't home, and I didn't smell smoke up there. I went back into our apartment to find Ginger still in dismay. The smoke seemed to be getting a little stronger, so I decided to check the apartment right underneath us. I couldn't get anyone at the door, but noticed that her dog (which is CRAZY) wasn't barking. As I looked in the bedroom window I saw white smoke!! I ran upstairs and called 911. They told me to get everyone out and pull the fire alarm. I grabbed Ginger and a few other things (including my deodorant and toothbrush - didn't want to stink!) and ran out the door. Within minutes 6 firetrucks and an ambulance arrived. It was so surreal!! Praise the Lord no one was injured. Even the dog was pulled out and revived. About 2 1/2 hours later the firetrucks had left and we were loading our things.

When Will arrived home he said if it had just been a few more hours we would've been out - but then perhaps no one would've been there to notice the smell. It was definitely God's hand of protection. I am a HARD sleeper, and might not have woken up but for Ginger. In fact, after all the commotion was over - a girl walked out of the adjoining apartment - she had slept through the WHOLE thing!!