PARIS – Lisa Martin has but one wish for her daughter this Christmas.

And it’s not for presents.

It is to give 13-year-old Lacey a roof over her head – literally.

All that’s needed to button up the roof over their fire-damaged home on Lord’s Lane is a few days of labor from a few good-hearted souls. Then they can move in, have electricity and heat restored, and do the inside repairs on their own.

Martin is praying that someone will come forward to help, if not before Christmas, at least before New Year’s Day.

“I’m trying to give her her space,” she said of Lacey, who is looking forward to having a new second-floor bedroom and bath all her own. “She deserves it after all she’s been through.”

Since the July 14 fire destroyed the back of her house and the roof, Martin and her daughter at first stayed in tents, then in a small camper in their back yard. Over the weekend, the cold forced them to move out. They are staying temporarily with Martin’s boyfriend, but as Martin says, “me and Lacey, we need to have roots. We need somewhere to come home to, a place to call home, where we know we’re safe.”

The repairs have gone slowly, despite the generosity of local lumber companies and help from Martin’s friends, family and members of her parish at the First Baptist Church of Norway.

Martin said she is without means to pay up front for the work or take out a loan. She said she is putting every cent into making the house livable again.

Martin said she has been touched by the generosity of so many people and businesses, who have donated lumber, insulation, shingles, kitchen cabinets and bathroom appliances. “It’s been amazing the stuff I’m accumulating. We even have a pedestal sink.”

She and Lacey have begun to visualize life in their “new” home. They’ll have a new, larger kitchen and bathroom downstairs. Part of the second floor will be set aside as a craft room.

But the strain of being homeless for five months is taking its toll.

“I’m human. I get a little saddened,” said Martin. “We just want the sense of being normal.”

Those who want to help may phone Martin at 739-2393, or call her friend Betty Bailey at 743-7715.