So Fleeting…

Man oh man! It’s difficult to believe Abe has already left to return to Iraq. His time here at home seemed so short but we all know he’ll be back home for good SO SOON!

While Abe was home we accomplished a lot; however, we’ve hit a few snags so we’ve not made much progress the past week or so. We’ve not been granted a building permit due to the amount of damage… and insurance won’t cover the cost to raise our house to code. SOOO we’re just sort of feeling out what needs to be done here. I’ll be sure to keep all of you updated on that front. AAAANND can I just send out the most heartfelt, warm, thankful PRAISE to GOD and to ALL OF YOU who volunteered to come out and help at the house – in whatever form it was – while we were doing demo… YOU ARE ALL SO AMAZING!!! Thanks sooo much! You’ll all be receiving notes in the mail… I feel like it’s such a small gesture but we wanted to give all of you a personal ‘thank you’ for your efforts… and it’s not like we have a house to throw a BBQ for everyone, so there Kidding… kind of.

Anyhow. I’ll be sure to keep all of you updated on Abe’s safe return back to Iraq as well as keeping you up-to-date on the house and such things. What a rollercoaster ride this life is!!! Abe and I are soooo soooo SOOOOOOO blessed with amazing FAMILY and FRIENDS. We’ve been realizing that SO MUCH the past couple weeks. You are all so awesome and such a gift. THANK YOU!

LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!

A few updates :)

Helloooo, everyone! I cannot believe it’s already been about a week since I last posted. It’s gone by entirely too fast…

In the past week, we’ve finished most of the demo on the house. By we, I mean countless volunteers who were willing to drop what they were doing to donate countless hours of hard physical labor. This is what our house looks like now…

A testament to all the hard work:

All I can say is that I am both very happy and very sad to see the house the way it is. Stripped all the way down to the bare studs and sub floors. It’s honestly a bizarre experience and I still don’t know that I’ve completely wrapped my mind around it.

We’ve hit a few snagged that have halted labor for a few days… which could be a blessing in disguise We’re waiting on estimates from our contractor to figure out what the next step is. If you live in Columbus, you’ve probably heard about the flood laws; if you’re not local and don’t know what’s going on, just keep us and all the other homeowners in Columbus in your thoughts and prayers. Some of us may have quite the battle ahead of us!

I realized that I didn’t really mention Ted Ted in my previous posts about the flood. No need to worry He’s right here with me, livin’ at the folks’ house. I gotta say, I think he really loves having all the space he has to run now! He loves the alfalfa field!

He’s such a happy boy Which makes Abe and me happy puppy parents!

Speaking of the two of us… here we are!

We were able to take off today to picnic in Brown County State Park with our favorite wine, some bread, chicken salad, cheese, strawberries and some pie. It was GREAT! It was such a beautiful day and I’m so thankful that we got to spend that time together just relaxing, laughing and enjoying one another!!! Love you, babe!

…and one FINAL (I promise!!!) little blurb here. I never got to post any photos at all from the zoo trip with the family! Obviously, we were all a little preoccupied with the fact that our homes were in danger, mine and Abe’s house flooding, and dealing with the aftermath but I couldn’t resist posting the following two pictures! They were my favorites from the trip

I looooove this shot of Hayden because it isn’t posed. Though my shutter speed was a bit slow, causing the photo to blur a bit, I still just absolutely adore this picture It makes me smile! It’s just soooo Hayden!

We went to an area of the zoo so the little ones could feed some exotic birds… well, they took more of a liking to Rob than the tiny cups of nectar the kids were offering them! The entire time we were in the “bird place” Rob had at least one bird on his shoulder, more often than not multiple birds! Too funny He was making the perfect pirate face in this shot

ANYWAY!!! I just thought I’d write this real quick (failed miserably there) so you all didn’t think we’d fallen off the face of the earth! We love you all lots and lots and THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for all of your help the past few weeks. I need to stop writing on this blog and start writing some thank you’s!

!!!!

!!!ABE’S HOME!!!

Happy surprise, everyone Have a great weekend! I know I will

What a Difference…

…a few days make. I mean. WOW. We didn’t even really touch anything in the house that had been damaged by the flood until yesterday afternoon. The following pictures will show you all that has been done in just a couple days. It is MIND BLOWING! And let me just tell you how much everyone has been involved in keeping progress going at a steady rate, keeping food in our bellies, keeping us from thirst, donating time and labor… AMAZING!!! I LOVE MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

This photo shows just a little bit of the snacks, drinks and cleaning supplies that have been donated to us by various organizations and friends. I love it That cooler has been stocked since we started working and we have sooo many drinks waiting to be thrown into the ice it isn’t even funny

A handful of folks working hard in the master bedroom. Because the old walls were plaster and lathe, we have to tear all of the walls – every single one of them – down and start from scratch to make sure all the walls are smooth.

Rob busting up my old closet. That man was a plaster-plowing machine all day!

At the end of yesterday, the pile was about this big… all from one day of demo.

Another view… just comparing the size of the pile to the size of the house. Craziness.

That pile took up the ENTIRE driveway… we actually had to move the old Maxx out of the way to make space for everything that we tore out of the house.

I like the feel of our new, open floor plan Here, I am standing against the wall furthest to the south – the dining room. You can see all the way through the house and out the master bedroom window on the north side of the house! Craziness. Can you locate the crooked house bone?

The thing that was the most difficult for me to watch/participate in was the demolition of the dining room and kitchen… Abe, Rob and I put soooo much work into that space and we were so proud of it. Having to tear down everything we’d worked so hard to build was heartbreaking, even though it was necessary. We are saving the top cabinets and the counter tops… we’ll just have to order new base cabinets. We will have to uninstall the upper cabinets and store them while the new drywall is installed. Hopefully there will be a contractor installing all of the cabinets this time!!!

The base cabinets were already molding underneath GROSS!

Bye-bye, fun, yellow dining room.

After all the new walls and floors are installed, I’d like to keep the kitchen and dining room in the same color family, though I may use something a little lighter. I can’t wait to have my green living room again and my pretty purple office… that I never got around to setting up. It’ll be nice to have my house back to normal someday!

ANYHOW… thanks everyone SO MUCH for all the help you’ve been giving… I’m sure we’ll continue to lean on all of you until and probably even after all the house renovations are over. Right now it seems sooo overwhelming, not gonna lie, but we can totally do it! Thanks again We’re blessed to know all of you and the fact that we get to claim you is even better

Hi!

Sooo… I just wanted to write a quick update for all of you regarding the house.

Today, an insurance adjuster met my dad, Sandy and me over at the house. We walked through, pointed out a few areas of concern, talked about what needed to be done, where we go from here, etc. Because we have a few concerns regarding the integrity of the foundation, the insurance company is going to send out a structural engineer to check things out. Our porch sank a few inches, the roof looks kinda shaky, the floor in the kitchen is “just not right” (according to dad) and a few other things. It’s amazing, AMAZING, the amount of damage water can do.

We’ve been instructed to get everything out of the house. SO all of you who’ve asked the past few days if we need help moving things – YES! We do! We’re going to start pulling things out of the house tomorrow and will be working on it till we’re done! I’m sure it’ll take a few days… So, give me a call, send an email or just show up! I think we’ll have people there beginning in the early afternoon tomorrow and I’ll be there after I get off of work, around 5:30. It’s an extremely daunting task we have ahead of us, but WE CAN DO IT!

ALSO… a TON of people have been asking what kinds of things we need right now. Well, in all honesty, right now we don’t have room for “things” as I’m living with my parents. So, if you still want to pitch in and help out – because we WILL be needing to replace the washer and dryer, the fridge, the freezer, ALL of the furniture, out of pocket or close to, depending on a few things we have yet to discuss with our homeowners’ insurance – gift cards for places such as Menard’s, Lowe’s, Target, Sam’s Club, and if you’re moved to donate cash, whatever you want or don’t want to do, is fine. Or if you want to wait till the house is back up and running, that’s fine. Or if you don’t want to do anything at all, that’s fine I thought I’d just address that question since we’ve been asked so many times!

Anyhow… that’s about all I have to update you on. Stick around for a special post sometime this weekend Not going to spoil the secret but I’m sure you’ll all be very surprised