As many of you know, my home was engulfed by an arson fire set in the shed in the neighbor's yard on 28 May 2008, the week before my birthday. What a way to celebrate. A week or so after my birthday, my beloved dog of 16 1/2 years, my Alex, she passed away in her sleep of natural causes, which is the way I wanted it to be since she was getting up there in years. I will miss her everyday, as well as the ones who didn't make it out of the house.

I lost pretty much everything including my clothes, my personal library of over 5,000 books, my collection of 35 Christmas trees, furniture, and several pets who were victims of the smoke.

Due to this, I am working with the insurance company on the claim so I can begin the renovations. The insurance money will be enough to at least get me back home by winter.  I will be responsible for getting the house returned to normal on the inside and that will be an undertaking. But I did it once, so I will work and do it again.

At least the house can be saved, but those big old houses take quite a bit of money when something like this happens and we all know sometimes insurance just isn't enough. I have a huge amount of work cut out for me over the next year to a year and a half.

My next book Angels of the Mourning Light has been postponed until at least June 2009 due to what happened and losing my computer and such. The manuscript was rescued off my hard drive by my sister the computer tech and so I didn't lose it.

There is a donation site through Paypal for those who are interested in donating to help with the vet bills incurred because of the fire and to help in general. The email address on Paypal is frankebittinger.firefund@gmail.com and I appreciate everyone who has helped and anyone who wishes to help.