A Quick Update

The battle continues, and our house is the war zone. We finally have a crew of professionals out working on our house. They have pulled up all the hardwood floors, the tile in the kitchen, and almost completely removed the lower four feet of insulation and drywall from every wall in the house. It's beginning to look a bit like a skeleton. The bathrooms only have the toilet and tub remaining--everything else is gone. Today, they worked on the kitchen and removed the appliances. Unfortunately, we had one sad casualty--when they pulled out all the lower kitchen cabinets, my granite countertops broke because of the way they had been cemented in. Sad. They really tried to save them, but unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Sadly, they aren't covered by the flood insurance. Ah well...

The yard is loaded with debris, the bushes and some trees are dying, the smell persists and the mosquitoes continue to swarm--some are the size of army trucks! In it all, the grass is growing long. Too bad our mowers don't run...not sure when the yard will get attention.

I'm in a state of denial.

The weirdest thing I noticed this evening? The neighborhood is a ghost town. It was almost eerie.

I have pictures of the latest, but it's late so I won't be posting them until later this week.

The insurance adjuster sent us the estimate. It was very well outlined and we feel that the estimates of replacement costs were reasonable. Now it goes to the insurance company, and I'm sure they'll shave all kinds of expenses down. Please pray that they are equitable with us.

Yesterday (Monday) was not a good day for Dave. He had been working so hard on the house I think he'd finally "had" it. Exhaustion has set in, and the work is overwhelming.We have about six fans and two dehumidifiers running 24/7, yet the house is still very wet in places. It may take weeks to dry it out. Not good when the mold is appearing.

Dave had to visit the doctor yesterday. Well, remember he sliced his finger and had to have five stitches?! Then the stitches got infected and they put him on two antibiotics. Late Sunday afternoon he began to break out in a horrible rash all over. By Monday morning his hands were so red and swollen that he was absolutely miserable. He took quite a bit of Benadryl, but not much was happening other than sleepiness. The doctor gave him a steroid injection in his tail end and prescribed him prednisone. Thankfully, he looks and feels better. Verdict: Dave is allegic to sulfa.

And did we mention that when Dave drove the truck to work (so he could pick up some stuff from Home Depot) that the truck all of a sudden went, "thumpity-thump, thump, thump...?" One of the tires had a huge bulge spot in it. It ended up being an investment for 4 new tires--we'd been putting it off as long as we could. I guess this was the end.

When it rains it pours!

However, we are blessed:
1) the tire didn't explode
2) Dave didn't have an anaphylactic reaction to the antibiotics
3) Friends and family have continued to keep us in their prayers (thanks everyone!)
4) We have wonderful people providing us incredible service still (THANK YOU!)
5) The wonderful folks I work with surprised me with a cash gift to help---THANK YOU!!!!!!
6) The work that is needing to be done on our house is getting done.
7) It looks like we get into our rental house this weekend.

We still have moments that get us down, but when we count our blessings, we realize that our days are having more positive moments rather than negative.

And so we continue to march on this journey....thanks for the continued kind thoughts and prayers--they mean so much to us!!

Good Night.