We've been in our hotel now for 9 1/2 weeks. They originally told us we would be out of our house for six to eight weeks. Note to others who may ever experience a fire: Do not believe them when they tell you six to eight weeks. Oh, and try not to have a fire after a recent surgery, it will undoubtedly throw a stick in your rehabilitation process. I've included a few pictures below, sadly you can still see the "echoes" of the birthday party we had the day before the fire for Michael. What a weekend of extremes that was, one day happiness, celebration, and delight, the next sadness, shock, and disbelief. We've been doing well despite everything. So many families experience so much worse so really we are doing great.
Many of you are probably wondering on the progress. Well, the first three weeks after the fire moved pretty quickly, we inventoried the entire house, and a company came and literally emptied our house of every single item, excluding the basement (smoke rises). All of the salvageable contents of our house have been cleaned and are sitting in storage. Anything plastic that was in the house was a loss, they cannot clean plastic of the chemicals and smell of smoke. After that things came to a screeching halt. And the length of time felt like an eternity with each passing week that nothing was getting done. How long you ask? Well, today is the first day any work has been done on our house since those first three weeks, So it's been 6 1/2 weeks. There have been times of anger, fear, disbelief, frustration, and sadness. I've broken down more than a few times. The kids have handled everything amazingly well. My cousin Anna reminded me of when we were kids and lived with each other while our parents were building their houses, we look back on that time as one of the best parts of our childhood, but looking back now, our parents were probably pretty stressed out. I'm pretty sure my own kids are going to have lasting memories of this experience, I hope they are positive ones. We are most likely looking at another ten weeks or so before we will be back in the house, and if it happens sooner, you will not find a happier group of people.
The Silver Lining:
We are going to get the kitchen we were hoping to get this coming summer, a bit sooner, and the entire interior of our house will be painted. I have been dreaming, mostly in the evenings after the kids are in bed about paint colors, cabinet doors, counters, etc. If any of you know me, you know this is something I enjoy thoroughly. I am so excited that things are beginning to move again. If I've learned anything it's to keep my eyes pointed towards the positive. So although the pictures below show a home in disarray, I can only see what is to come, and it is going to be so beautiful. I hope you all will come back to see updates as things progress. If there's anything I enjoy doing it's taking something old, dirty, or broken and making it look absolutely beautiful.
