What a difference a year makes

The last few days have been fairly emotional for me. As many of your remember, on September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast and caused unbelievable damage to our home and changed our lives in a dramatic fashion. Well the anniversary of the storm hitting was Sunday, but honestly that was not the big anniversary for me, and although it was something to stop and remember, it was not the event that makes me emotional. Today is the day, one year ago today we were finally allowed into our town to see our house. You know how somethings are forever etched in your mind, the first kiss, the loss of a family member, well for me it was the afternoon of September 15, 2008. The husband and I got a phone call from his sister that we could finally get to the house. When we jumped in the truck we were filled with relief that we would finally know what happened and at the same time filled with dread of what we would find.

As we drove to the house from my parents, the husband was on the phone with his sister (who got to the house first) and was told that it was bad, but he did not tell me what she said. Instead, he stopped our truck right before we were about to turn down our road and told me that no matter what happened and no matter what we saw when we got to our house, that the most important thing was that we were both fine and we would make it through whatever we found. This is only one of the thousands of reasons that I love him. And then he told me that we did have a little water in the house. Talk about the understatement of the century!

So as you are all aware, we did get to our house and had about 4 1/2 feet of water and sewage in the house during the storm. I don't know that there are words for what I felt at the moment we walked into the house. I think it was a mixture of sadness, shock, and worry about what to do first. I remember crying immediately and just about falling down. As we walked through the house trying to see where everything stood, we got to the extra bedroom where the cherry blanket chest my father, brother, and grandfather made for me as a wedding gift was kept. I think that was the second worst moment of that day and honestly, I had not gotten over the first moment. But that is when my husband became an incredibly strong man and carried it out of the house to the truck, all by himself! He was convinced that if he could not fix anything else that day, that he would save my blanket chest...and he did. Again, just yet one more reason I am lucky to have him. We got it back to my parents and he and my dad clamped it together and after several months in traction it is back to nearly perfect. It was a very important thing for me because of the sentimentality attached to it with the wedding and the effort that went into it, but now it is even more important because of the additional memories associated with it.

As I sit here writing this, I am crying, not so much from sadness but as a memory of all of the things that the husband and I have been through in such a short time. We were married 18 months ago today, 12 months ago today we lost nearly all of our earthly possessions to a horrific natural disaster, 6 months ago today our fantastic contractor gave us the keys to our home and we stayed in our brand new old house for the first time (sleeping on a futon-one of the three pieces of furniture that was delivered in time) , and today we are sitting in a beautiful home with furniture and memories forever thankful that we have each other to support and take care of each other.

So needless to say, it has been quite a year. Thank you for indulging me in the memories, it just seemed like this day needed to be commented on and honestly, I think I needed to talk about it but just don't want to talk, so here is to blogging my way through.

I don't know that any words will ever be able to express our gratitude to the friends, family, and strangers that did so much for us during the very difficult times following the hurricane. From offering us a place to stay during the evacuation, to helping us throw away everything in our house, to helping us try to save the few things we had left, to helping us find a contractor, giving us a place to live, helping to make our new house feel like home, or just supporting us on the hard days and helping us find the good days. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, and please know that if you ever need anything, I only hope that I can be there for you as you were for us.

And last but not least , I want to say something just to my husband. I am so thankful that I had you there to be my rock, I can't imagine how I would ever get through something like that without you. And I am thankful everyday that I will never have to know. I love you!

Progress

Enough said!

Week 5 and counting

Hopefully this will be a short and sweet email regarding our progress. Things are finally starting to really move along. So here is the quick story of progress:

• Since I last wrote we have turned in our elevation certificate to the city and it was approved.
• We have "patiently" (not really but we are trying) waited for the flood adjuster to come back to the house. He finally made it out to the house on Monday. We scheduled an appointment for 3pm and at 2:50 they called to reschedule for the next day. FOr those that know me, I am sure you can imagine my response. I informed them that there would be no rescheduling, that The husband and I would be waiting at the house, with flashlights if necessary, to meet with them on Monday. They did finally make it to the house at almost 5pm. We completed the walk through, so now we are waiting on them to provide us the draft scope which is where we will start to see the amount of money insurance will give us to rebuild...we are trying to be patient. The adjusters seemed very pleased with all of the efforts we have taken, but did ask to have the ceiling sprayed with the anti-microbial stuff. Not something I had thought about, but we are going to do it in the next week since I agree that it is a great idea!
• Monday we also had an appointment with a plumber. He came out, looked around, and we are waiting for his estimate. He assures us that the price will include a "Hurricane Ike" discount. It is really great to see how people are willing to help and work with you.
• Wednesday we met with the Air Conditioning guy about replacing our 4 month old unit. He seems really nice and was very easy to work with. He is also going to get us prices on about 3 different systems, so that we can decide what we want. The AC will be one of the last pieces, since we don't want all of the debris and dust from the construction process getting sucked up into the new system. So we are waiting for the paperwork and then we will have him do the work in two parts, removal of the current system (to allow better access for drywall work) and installation of the new.
• Wednesday we also met with our contractor, Ray. Ray is chomping at the bit to get started and I think he is as excited as we are that we get to rebuild. We went over all of the information from the plumber and AC with him and I think we are all in agreement.
• Thursday we met with the electrician. He feels pretty confident that he can pull and replace all of the necessary wire in a week. So we are going to pull the permit next week and hopefully by the following weekend we will have new wire. He is also going to replace the circuit box. He is the husband of one of the people I work with, so he is being great about the price. He will come back after drywall is done to install the actual switches... the idea is to leave them off for a while so that they don't get messed up during the construction process.
• One last thing is about the cars. I have found a used Infiniti to replace my car. I have requested that it be sent from Austin and hopefully it will be here today! So I should soon be in my new car.
• Oh, and we went out and got a new MacBook so we now have a computer all our own. We are very excited to back in the technology world, without having to wait our turn at the computer.

I think that is what is going on in a nut shell. I know I keep saying it but really appreciate all of you kinds call and thoughts. We are finally staring to see the light at the tunnel and I am almost convinced that it is daylight and not a train! We will keep you in the loop on progress. On a final note, Ray says if we get started in the next week or so we should be in the house by the end of January.

The next chapter

Let me first start off with an apology. I know many of you have tried to get in touch with us or have been patiently waiting for an email with an update, but to no avail. We are sorry it has taken so long to get to you but to say it has been crazy has been an understatement and I am sure you can all understand. The husband and I are still doing fine, but this has been two very long and difficult weeks. And to be blatantly honest, I just did not have the strength to write what was going on for most of the time. I will not go through the blow by blow, but below is a quick account of what has been going on:
-We met with FEMA, the gentlemen was very nice and told us to expect our denial letter within 7 to 10 days. Apparently FEMA has way too much time on its hands and denies all claims the first time and then once they receive the appeal they actually review the claim. We are still waiting for our denial letter, but are more than ready to fight the denial.
-The car insurance person came to see the cars. Only my car was covered by the policy because we only carried a limited amount of coverage on the Corvette. The insurance company totaled out my car (for obvious reasons) and is paying more than I owe, which means I have a down payment. My car was towed off last Monday and I got the check in the mail today. So we should be able to start car shopping soon. As for the Corvette, the husband decided to sell it on Craig's List due to the lack of time and money to fix it right now. He sold it today and I think it has gone to a good home. The people that bought it plan to restore it and give it to their 87 year old mother. They promised we could go visit it! And just because life is fun, my rental car had a completely flat tire last Monday on the driver side and now has a slow leak on the passenger side...will the fun never stop!
-The flood insurance adjuster made it out to the house Friday a week ago. He is a delightful gentleman that informed us that it would be between 60 and 90 days minimum to get an insurance check and that there was a good chance our house would have to be demolished and rebuilt at a higher elevation (more on this later). He finished the assessment part of his work and then headed out. He informed us that he would be in touch in 7 to 10 days to schedule the scope portion of his work. He further stated that we were not to do any more work on the house until he returned. Needless to say he has not returned and we have done no further work. Our house was deemed "unlivable," shocking I know, but unfortunately given everything that was not a foregone conclusion. We are also entitled to emergency funds to help cover immediate costs...we are still waiting (I am not sure what the exact definition of immediate is, but I am certain it is shorter than 22 days.)
-The wind insurance adjuster came to the house last Monday with no appointment and apparently did the whole inspection without us. We spoke with him this weekend and he is going to provide money to replace 100 feet of fence, 5 days of mandatory evacuation, and food loss due to power outage. So now we are just waiting for that check.

So that I think catches us up on all of the people that have been to visit the house. We are still at the same point with the house; it is down to the studs and has been drying for about 2 weeks...so now we just wait for the flood person.

On to the discussion of having to tear down the house and start over. Apparently following the devastating hurricanes in Florida and Louisiana prior to 2007 there were some changes in the laws regarding base flood elevation. I am not going to get into the details, but if your house is below base flood elevation and has substantial damage (damages are greater than 50% of the value of the home) then you must elevate to at or able the base flood elevation. The base flood elevation is determined by a flood map from the National Flood Insurance Program and the elevation of the homes are determined by survey and recorded on an Elevation Certificate. To make a long story short the base elevation for our area is 12 feet and our house is 12.74 feet. So we are good to go. But there was a lot of back and forth about what year the certificate had to be and whether the benchmark changed...and so it has been nearly two weeks of not knowing whether the house could be rebuilt or if we would have to demolish the house and start over.

So today we got the good news that our elevation certificate was accepted by the city and now we just have to get permits when we are ready for electrical, plumbing or air conditioning. Needless to say a great weight has been lifted.

The husband and I want to say thank you to all of our friends and family for your willingness to help, listen, and offer kinds words and big hearts. This has been a very traumatic time, but it is much better surrounded by some many people that love us.
We will be in touch!

A week in review

Hello everyone! Well it has been a little over a week since we first got to the house. It has been a ridiculously busy week. I thought we would post a quick update and a link to some of the photos so that people can start to see what the house looked like. I think it is best to just start at the beginning and go day by day. The beginning will be a small recap for the new people.

Monday
The husband and I were able to finally get into the house late Monday afternoon, where we found out that we had about 4.5 feet of water and sewage in the house. The water had all drained from the house, but left a disaster in its wake.
We were able to get to the house and begin removing furniture and trying to grab the things we could save. We called the insurance and registered with FEMA (who ever thought we would be doing that.) Thank you to Detroit friends for helping us register long distance.
Tuesday
We started bright and early removing the rest of the furniture and most of the carpet, tile, and trim board. We also met some of our neighbors that had made contact with a contractor that was willing to work solely for our street. We were able to get the contractors name and called him to discuss the possibility of helping with our house. He indicated he would be in the area early the next morning.
Wednesday
The contractor called early on Wednesday and we met him around 7am. The contractor and his crew started to work and helped us get the last stuff out of the house. We started to tear out drywall and insulation and our interior doors were all removed.
The contractor also took the Husband and I to Lowe’s to start picking out things for the “new” house. We selected very pretty granite known as “St Cecilia Ext”, it is a yellow granite with black, brown, and copper flecks, a beautiful beige tile, and cabinetry. I think it is all going to look really good together…it is just crazy to make all of those decisions in less than an hour!
Thursday
The contractor and his crew got an early start and were able to remove all of the drywall up to 6 feet and all of the cabinets and appliances. By the end of the day we had decided to take the drywall off all the way to the ceiling…just to be safe with the mold concerns.
Friday
We got the house and the contractor had his crew working to remove the last of the drywall and insulation. The Husband then power washed all of the exposed 2x4 to remove any remaining debris. The contractor then came in to spray the first round of anti-microbial material.
Saturday
The contractor sprayed the house for a second time with the anti-microbial material. The car insurance guy came and totaled out my car. Friends from Little Elm came down and helped get the last bit of work finished with the shed and the entire yard. We were able to get everything onto the debris pile. Saturday night, the Husband spoke with the flood insurance people. The insurance people said we could get rid of the pile and that they would be out on Friday morning.
Sunday
We rested!!!!
Monday
I returned to work and the Husband returned to his volleyball practice. He was able to stop by the house and get started on salvaging some of the hand tools. He was also able to remove the big sign that read “DO NOT REMOVE DEBRIS” which is very exciting!
I spoke with the car insurance company and will hopefully be able to get into a new car by early October.
Mom started with dishes and we are going to be able to save most of our everyday dishes and china.
Tuesday
So as of today the contractor was spraying the house for a third and final time and spraying the shed. The contractor was also going to get the building permit, so that as soon as the flood insurance people finish he can start hanging drywall.

I think we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am almost convinced it is not the train! We have slowly started to go through the clothes that so many wonderful friends and nearly strangers were able to wash for us. Many things are not going to be salvageable but it is nice to at least have some of our clothes still be good. We were able to go shopping on Sunday for some new shoes and clothes.

Overall things are looking up and we hope to continue to bring good news as we start to rebuild our home and our memories.

The link to the pictures is:http://www.flickr.com/gp/26839164@N04/988c3j

Thank you all for your love and support. We have truly appreciated your kind words, willingness to listen, hugs, drying of tears, and gifts. We will be in touch soon with more news!