Hi everyone,

As I’ve been inundated by messages from concerned friends and followers all over the world, I’m posting the update from my Facebook Author page here as well.

I am NOT glorifying the moment or milking a bad situation for my own gain – which is why I’m not metatagging this post – I am simply passing on an update as so many people are asking.

Firstly – we are safe. We are situated in a “safe” town for the moment and I do say it like that simply because we are currently safe from this fire. If the possible thunderstorms come through and we get more lightning strikes and new fires, we might not be as safe… so yeah, we’re alert and watching.

Sadly my family has been affected. My 85 year old grandfather lives over in the fire zone and we’ve had a tense few days of no contact from him… while seeing part of his farm on fire on the news.

Thankfully we’ve had some good news on the situation this morning and now know he’s fine, the house still stands and he has only minor injuries but his dog is missing. The family will be heading over there to help him as soon as the authorities let us through. We have to wait for them to ensure the roads are safe to travel and this could take up to a week as the fire is, as I write this, still uncontained and out of control. So please keep those prayers and good wishes coming for him, the dog and everyone else caught up in this terrible moment.

We’re helping friends out after they were evacuated from their own town (closer to the fires) and we hope to take donations to our local town oval where more people are currently camped out with their horses and other life stock. It’s a bit odd to think of all these wonderful people as evacuees, but it’s fantastic hearing all the reports of how well they’re being looked after and welcomed into our town. So they might not need us as everyone else is also rushing over to help!

As scary as this all is, it’s showing how awesome Adelaide is and we’re all pulling together to help out however we can. If you want to help, I’d say donate to the fabulous CFS (Country Fire Service) as a thank you for all their hard work. Or, if you’re a local like me, make up some sandwiches, cakes, muffins, etc, grab some feed for horses and head to an oval near you to remind those sheltering there we’re thinking about them.

As I’ve had a lot of friends overseas asking if there is anything they can do to help… firstly let me say you’re awesome and your big hearts do you credit. If you really do want to help the CFS are accepting donations as they are a mostly volunteer based organisation who runs on donations from the community. They have been tireless in their efforts to save as many homes and life stock as possible and I am very grateful to their dedication and will be donating to them myself.

To donate, please go visit their site here. If we all donated the equivalent of one dollar… just think of the money they would receive to help them keep being heroes and keeping us safe. No, I’m not only donating one dollar, we’ll be donating more than that as they’re one of the charities I donate to every year.

Can I just thank every single person who has contacted me with their concern, well wishes, prayers and positives thoughts. It makes this big old world of ours feel a lot closer and cosier. We appreciate knowing you’re concerned and really feeling the love right now. Thank you.

Stay safe, stay alert and pray for rain.

Janis. XXOO