Moving back on the land where her two sons died five weeks ago was not something Jennifer Smith wanted to do.

“She said, ‘Nope, there are too many memories there,’” said Ron Anderson, her father and grandfather of Tyler Daniel Smith, 4, and Hadyn Anderson Smith, 22 months, who died May 17 when fire swept through their mobile home.

“Then she thought about it,” Anderson said. “That’s where all the memories are. She brought both of them home there.”

So Sunday was moving day.

And Thomas “Trey,” 29, and Jennifer, 25, said they love and appreciate their new three bedroom double-wide manufactured home, and are in awe of the support their family received in the hours, days and weeks since the fire.

“I’ve got mixed emotions — scared and excited at the same time. We lived there six years; four of those we had children. That’s where they lived and played,” Jennifer said.

“After everything that’s happened, it gives us a ray of hope,” she added.

Jennifer is a coding specialist for The Street Clinic on Grove Street. Trey works at Rebel Welding and is assistant chief of the Culkin Volunteer Fire Department.

The parents were awakened by smoke early that morning and found their home at 811 Sherman Ave. engulfed in flames. Despite everything the Smiths and firefighters could do, the children could not be reached and died in their room of smoke inhalation.

As the community rallied around them, Jennifer and Trey have been living with her parents, Ron and Dutch Anderson.

“It’s been a mutual support group. That’s what we’re supposed to do,” said Ron Anderson.

Not only have they leaned on their family, but Trey and Jennifer have gotten help from churches throughout the state, Anderson said.

Trey Smith found describing the generosity of the community overwhelming and difficult.

“It’s amazing how people come together in a time of tragedy,” he said. “The people have been really supportive, but it’s by the grace of God that we’re this strong.”

Calvary Baptist Church on Old Highway 27 and Warren County Fire Volunteer sponsored a benefit June 13, hosting a gospel concert and an auction of donated items. According to Anderson, they delivered more than 1,100 pork sandwiches the Friday before as well.

Anderson’s employer, River 101.3 radio, is going to match its employees’ contributions, Anderson said. He did not know how much had been given.

Jennifer Smith said she and her husband have received donations ranging from prayers to money, to someone paying for their lunch in a restaurant.

“I’ve never been prouder to live in Vicksburg,” she said.

Also, family and friends have been praying for them from Maine to California and Germany, the couple said.

Trey and Jennifer said their sons were predestined to die young, and their deaths were “for the glory of God.”

Through tears, Jennifer said, “He had a plan for it. He wanted people to come to know Him through us and our boys.”

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com