For a week after their Long Gully home was destroyed by fire, Ms Ryan, Cameron, Dominic and Jacob stayed with a friend in Flora Hill.

“I’m really lucky I’ve got a friend like her,” Ms Ryan said.

“She said that we could stay as long as we needed, but I didn’t want to put that strain on her.”

The family has been staying in a house provided by Loddon Mallee Housing ever since.

“They are just wonderful,” Ms Ryan said of Loddon Mallee Housing.

“They not only supplied a house, but made sure we had basic household items.”

Ms Ryan and her boys have just received the good news they would be moving into their very own home before too long.

“I was on top of the world when I got the go-ahead that I can start,” she said.

Ms Ryan, Cameron, Dominic and Jacob will now choose a block of land to have a house built on.

Instead of rebuilding on their Long Gully block, they will look for land around White Hills, closer to family.

They have been looking at display homes together and have narrowed it down to a choice of two.

“I would like to be in by Christmas but I can’t see it happening; it will be another six months probably.”

Ms Ryan said that moving into their home would be a big part of the healing process.

“At the moment the beds we sleep in don’t belong to us, and we don’t do things in the garden because we’re not going to be there long term.

“It’s like you’re living in limbo, like you don’t belong anywhere.”

Ms Ryan said she continued to be overwhelmed by the generosity of people since Black Saturday.

“The generosity of people has affected me more than losing my house,” she said.

“It just goes to prove there are a lot of really good people out there.”