They watched their house burn down for the second time.

Down a quiet country road next to a small church, sat the Lambdin family, seemingly calm as they gazed at old memories turning to ash. The boys sat on a cooler in the front yard eating chocolate pudding while their father sat in a green rocking chair. A local police officer stood next to the family as if they were all watching a movie. But this was no movie. This was real, the walls that once kept them safe tumbled and collapsed before their eyes.

“Where else do you got to go,” Larry Lambdin said shortly after the last wall of his house hit the ground from an electrical fire.

The fire started around 9 p.m. Friday while the Lambdin family was at McDonald’s.

They came home to flames instead of beds that evening.

The Nelson County Fire Department was able to calm the fire until Sunday when it reignited the house. The fire was too rough to fight, so the family sat there drinking soda and watching it burn.

“I’ve seen it burn twice,” relative Matt Shofner said. “Like it didn’t get enough the first time. It had to come back the second time.”

Keepsakes were saved, mainly photographs, from Friday’s fire. Family snapshots of happier times were dispersed over the back lawn. The children were able to laugh and reminisce despite the burning of their home.

The Lambdin’s have the help of family and friends. The Red Cross is providing them with temporary housing arrangements as they reassemble the pieces of their lives.

“In about 45 minutes my whole life changed,” Larry Lambdin said.

Amber Sigman is a senior photojournalism major from Los Angeles. She can be reached at [email protected].