Out of the Ashes: Two White Doves

By Rita Silvestri

April 2, 2009, began as every spring day does in southern Utah. The sun was bright, warm, and welcoming. The temperature would rise into the high eighties. Winds blew soft and warm, much warmer than expected in April. The roses along the patio were in full bloom, a perfect day. At noon, it became too warm for the four dogs to stay outdoors, so they all came through the open doors of the dining room to lie down in the family room, where Dad slept in his leather chair.

While this went on, the painter was bringing in bathroom doors, which he had refinished with clear lacquer, to begin mounting them to the cabinet frames. The master bath renovation was complete except for one door, which needed a screw to be tightened.

Two five-gallon containers of lacquer sat beside him on the floor as he started on his electric drill to tighten the screw. The explosion rocked the house, part of the roof blew off, and flames shot thirty-five feet into the air, sucking all the oxygen out of the room. It was twelve thirty.

Nate jumped up from his rest, running to help the painter. Rita grabbed the fire extinguisher, only to find that it was inadequate for the job at hand. She dialed 911 as she herded the dogs from the house. Collette panicked and ran back in. There were two cats to save as well from the office. The smoke dropped low, making the rescue difficult. After what seemed an eternity, fire trucks began to arrive, nine in all. By five that day, the fire became national news.

Thus began a seven-month miracle journey home led by two white doves from heaven.

I hope this will capture the attention of readers. I learned to call this a hook when I wrote my first book. Hopefully, the last sentence will do just that. Please let me know that this arrived. Thank you, Rita.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524535278

Rita Silvestri

Rita lives in Saint George, Utah, with her husband, Nate, and their two Labs, Truffles and Toffee. The Silvestris have three sons, two granddaughters, four grandsons, and two lovely daughters-in-law. Nate loves golf, and Rita has yet to discover what she likes to do most in life. Right now, it is writing. Her favorite hobby next to playing with her dogs is to collect interesting and loving friends. Rita is also a pro-life minister. Her passion is to save the unborn and to help end the culture of death in this world.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Rita Silvestri.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016913661

ISBN:        Hardcover      978-1-5245-3529-2

                  Softcover        978-1-5245-3528-5

                  eBook              978-1-5245-3527-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 09/16/2016

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 You Had to See it to Believe it

Chapter 2 Location, Location, Location

Chapter 3 Survival

Chapter 4 Smoke and Water, April, 2009

Chapter 5 Companions on a Journey

Chapter 6 Satooie

Chapter 7 Here We go Again

Chapter 8 Two White Doves, Who Are You?

Chapter 9 Tom the Builder

Chapter 10 Summer in the Colorado Highlands

Chapter 11 Time to Rebuild

Chapter 12 Replacing the STUFF

Chapter 13 Home Again

Chapter 14 A Word to the Wise

Written and submitted to be published in the Year 2016.

It is a story about the destruction of Rita’s family home which was destroyed by an explosion and fire in 2009 and the miracles that took her and her husband Nate into a year of friendships and miracles that strengthened their faith in God and humanity.

This book offered in thanksgiving

to The Holy Spirit of God, The Third person of the Blessed Trinity, Who came upon this earth to guide, to teach and to lead us. I know that He comes to help me write books because I could never do it without Him.

Holy Spirit, I love you, I adore you and I thank you.

Your daughter and your servant, Rita Silvestri

April, 2016

Matthew 3:1 After Jesus was baptized, He came up from the water and behold He saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove (and) coming upon Him.

The New American Bible

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my dear brother, Raymond Lawrence Pillon. Ray was first of all a special son and brother. In high school, he excelled in basketball, making headlines on the sports pages of the Detroit Times. However, Ray’s first love was golf. He was a fantastic golfer. He caddied for Gene Sarazen, one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game. But, But this is not about Gene, but Ray, the Marine, a part of the greatest generation, good father, husband and friend. Ray wore many caps, but the finest one he wore was as a Marine during WWII.

My brother put everything he loved behind him when he signed up to fight for his country. I was six years old when he left and eleven when he returned. During those years, Ray lived most his life on a ship in the Pacific. He was not playing golf anymore and any dreams he had of being a pro-golfer were gone. He was fighting in the trenches for the family and country he loved.

Those of you, from the generation that followed his, may remember seeing battles on the screen when you went to the Saturday afternoon cartoons in your neighborhood. We were all watching those battles on film. My brother was starring in them. He fought on islands that we had never heard of. The most famous and bloodiest of battles was fought on Okinawa. Ray was there. A dear friend of mine, Lee Warren, was on Pearl Harbor the day it was bombed. Lee told me that Ray was a walking miracle. He said Ray was one of the few who returned from battle on Okinawa and the many others in which he fought. Ray shared with me once in very few words that he watched the war all around him as bombs and hand grenades exploded near the faces of himself and his buddies, while they lay on their backs in the mud of fox holes, wondering who would die next.

At that time our dad hung maps on our walls. He used push pins to identify where Ray might be every day. Mom prayed not to become a Gold Star Mother. Our sister worked for the USO. I collected newspapers and grease for munitions. When Ray came home we never stopped thanking God for hearing our prayers.

When people ask how we got through our fire, my answer is, A piece of cake!

INTRODUCTION

E very adventure has a beginning and this one started with a bang, actually an explosion, but first things first. I would like to start this story long before the fateful day of April 2, 2009, which had begun as just another wonderful spring day in the high desert of Southern, UT, specifically the city of St. George. Those of us who are blessed to have made our home there have grown to expect that on most mornings from March until October, we will awaken to sunshine. In our case, my husband Nate and I not only open our eyes each day to a brilliant sunrise but also to a fantastic view of the Bloomington golf course and a magnificent mountain right outside the windows of the comfortable living room of our home. Beyond the green of the course are red rock buttes that turn golden as the sky brightens and the sun rises in the east.

Sometimes Pine Mountain, in the distance, appears to greet us as it emerges through a layer of puffy white clouds in the morning. Flocks of small birds often land in the big cottonwood tree behind our house. Occasionally a Kite or a Red Hawk will fly in to perch on a bare branch as they scan the ground for a mouse or a rabbit or whatever might serve as breakfast. All of these things can take place in a matter of minutes. Then suddenly, the whole world awakens and comes alive making it impossible not to thank God for another day in one of the most beautiful and colorful places in the world to live.

April 2nd of 2009 was no different from any other day at that time of the year. We fed our little family of dogs and cats, and then sat chatting with each other about the fact that this was the last day of the renovation of our master bath. We had waited for this day for several years. Every other room in our fixer-upper house had been renovated except for the master bath and we were both looking forward to seeing the finished product. There was nothing to warn us that something would happen to change our lives completely that day and that we were headed into a new life chapter.

Let me ask, have you have ever heard a fire engine go by while you were out shopping, having lunch with a friend, on your way to an appointment or getting gas and wondered where that fire engine was headed? I have and so have others. You are not alone. I used to be one of those people who looked over toward the direction of her home and checked to see if I could see smoke off in the distance. We all do that. Once I could not see any smoke, I would often go back to what I was doing and forget about the siren. After all, I would think, things like that only happen to others. We all react to a fire or an accident. But now I know that I was wrong. Nobody is immune. We all have things happen to us that impact our lives. However, how they do that is up to us. If some day a fire engine is rushing toward your house, I want you to know that with support and love you will make it through and the sun will shine again for you. Just understand that God does not set fires, but He will help you if you just ask Him to do so.