Luckily Al Moua was awake just before midnight on Thursday, August 28. The Woodbury night owl was able to get his wife and two boys out of bed and out of the house as the fire spread.

The house in the Fox Run area was not so lucky. It was badly damaged, and the contents were destroyed. Everything is gone except the smoke-damaged contents of the garage.

The cause of the blaze  is unknown and as Vanisha Yang, Moua’s wife, acknowledged, it will be weeks before the Fire Marshall’s investigative report is available.

The couple was delighted when their hard work allowed them to become homeowners just two years ago. With their dream house now literally up in smoke, they are very open about how overwhelming their unexpected path is.

Family members have stepped up to help both to meet immediate needs and to provide some childcare for the couple’s five-year-old and 21-month-old. When Yang’s aunt heard of the tragedy, she immediately  drove up from Missouri. The aunt persuaded the proud couple that it was all right to lean on others for help, and she set up a  gofundme  page for them. 

The family is temporarily staying in a hotel, but as Yang explained they are looking for housing in Woodbury, where their oldest son just started kindergarten. The five-year-old already loves school so much that he is sad there are no classes on the weekend. These caring parents want to maintain as much normalcy as possible for the little boy, who just lost his toys, his clothes, and his house, but not his family.