Hi. It's me, Steph.: Still Burning. Still Baking.

(**Just a quick note: I've borrowed some photos for this blog post. That's okay, right? I mean, as long as I say where I got the photos from it shouldn't really be a problem. They are all from King5.com and Seattletimes.com and most of them are from this link: http://www.king5.com/news/local/Taylor-Bridge-Wildfire-Tuesday-166105116.html?gallery=y&c=y. And just to be clear, the wildfire is still burning, I am still baking. I'm not burning anything. Especially not what I'm baking.)

I am so glad that my man-in-uniform is of the firefighter variety and not the military variety. This deployment has gone on long enough! And it's only been a few days... I can't imagine having to say goodbye for months at a time and then not even really being able to text or talk on a regular basis. Steven has been SO good to me and has stayed in touch the entire time. I usually get a phone call in the morning and another just before bed and he sends me text messages whenever he has a few minutes. It's been really interesting to hear bits and pieces of what's going on over there. He's been in the neighborhoods protecting homes and he's gotten to see the helicopters and planes that are fighting the fire from the sky.

There was a report yesterday saying that the fire was 33% contained and they were hoping to have it completely under control come Sunday. They're a bit worried about the forecasted thunderstorms this weekend but as long as the lightning doesn't spark anything new, the rain and the slight drop in temperature should be a big help. After 100 degree temperatures the last couple of days, it will be a huge relief for everybody, not just those fighting the fire.

Steven wants to stay until it's over. He seems to be loving this. I think he feels like he's really doing something there, and he is! He can see the immediate results of his work when he puts out a fire that was creeping up on someone's house. He loves helping people and he loves his job and I think this is one of those times where he can really feel with each passing hour that he's doing something good that his work is having a positive impact on people. I'll try to talk him into writing a blog post when he gets back so he can share his experience with all of us. I am so proud of him! I just want to tell everyone all the time that I'm married to a firefighter and he's out fighting the Taylor Bridge Fire. I mean, how cool is that? What an incredible experience for him. He has such a good heart and he is so brave and I love that he's willing to make the sacrifices to be the best that he can be at his job. He's in it for all the right reasons and I really admire that.

I've been asking Steven all week if I could drive over and drop off some stuff for him. He forgot his pillow and has been sleeping on a pillow case stuffed with clothes, and I'm sure he's in desperate need of cookies, and he must be running out of clean clothes... He kept telling me no. He didn't want me to make the drive for what would be a very short visit. He said it didn't make sense to see each other for a few minutes just to have to say goodbye all over again. I see his point and I'm sure he's right (I would probably start sobbing when I had to say goodbye again) but I just really want to do something for him! Fortunately, another Enumclaw firefighter is on his way out to Cle Elum today and Steven said I could send a bag of stuff with him -- yay! So what do you suppose I did first? Yes, I did bake cookies. You're absolutely right. I'm in the process of packing a bag of clean clothes, a new package of socks, a box of cookies, his helmet camera, and the regular camera. I can't wait to have him home but in the meantime, it was nice to be able to do a little something for him.

Here are some photos from the fire, in case you haven't had a chance to see any of them. I think fire is fascinating and secretly wish I could've been there in person to take some of these photos myself. Most of the photos with flames are from the very first night when things were completely out of control.