Fire Destroys Ramey Family Dream Home

On September 7th, the Ramey family woke to find that their dream home had been struck by lightning. The fire had already begun to engulf their home and, as they watched the firefighters arrive, they realized there would be nothing they could do to save it.

This house had been a labor of love - built by Randy, his wife, Kathy, and their loving daughters. Not yet complete; Randy and Kathy had worked on nights, weekends, and holidays for over 5 years to create this home. They invested all their retirement plans and savings into this home. And now, they are left with nothing to show for it but a burnt shell of a home.

The house had no home insurance. It wasn't that they were irresponsible. They had tried to obtain insurance at the beginning of construction. But they were told that the builder's risk insurance would not cover the long self-built construction process, so they could not insure the home.

A little about the family: Randy is a prime example of what it means to be a hard-working man. Of course, some of his favorite days working were spent on that dream home. Days spent teaching his daughters and their many friends how to build walls, run plumbing, and especially how to enjoy working with their hands.

Randy and Kathy included their teenage daughters as they designed the different rooms. Each daughter learned how to run electrical lines, work nail guns, and eventually even took on building large walk-in closet systems and dressers.

Randy’s background is home building. He began working in the construction industry before he graduated high school. This year, he will be turning 60. These 40+ years have been rewarding, but working outside in the Texas heat has been physically hard on his body. So, it's easy to see that Randy and his wife were looking forward to Randy's retirement. This dream house was how he and Kathy planned to fund this retirement and, just as important, their daughters' futures.

Randy had dreamed of building this home. His sweet wife of over 30 years, is a devoted wife and a loving mother to their two wonderful daughters. It is so heartbreaking to see this tragedy happen to them. So sad to see them worry about their future after all their sacrifices and their years of hard work.

Please pray for this family during this time. And let's show them that they are not alone. That is okay to accept help from others. And that their future is going to be okay.