Conflicting Dates

Yesterday we had a bit of panic.  I had not heard from the construction company since an email on Sept 22.  I reached out on the morning of Sept 26 but received no response.  Jon called our insurance adjuster yesterday before he left work and played phone tag with her, eventually receiving a message.  The message relayed to us that according to the construction manager, we would not be home until late November.  He had said that there was an issue with permits or something so the work would be delayed.  We were nearly crushed by this information, as it would mean 2 more months on top of the nearly month we've already been here.  We're already wearing thin and I'm not sure how we'd make it until Thanksgiving.

Before dinner Jon started leaving a round of messages, trying to get in touch with the village guy or construction company.  After dinner he left another round for the insurance adjuster and construction company.  We did hear from the construction company, and received a conflicting report.  He apologized, stating that the superintendent had a death in the family.  Then said we should receive a call today from the superintendent so he can come out to look at the house.  Honestly, I'm getting sick of people coming out to look at the house at this point.  I just want them to start doing something.  Tear up the floor, start taking down the ceiling.  Heck, start moving the furniture out of the room.  Surely that wouldn't require a permit or a discussion with the insurance company!  Demo should start later this week or Monday.  From there the project should take 3 weeks, assuming no surprises.  Seeing the destruction, I am anticipating some surprises.  So it likely will be November before we're home.

Of course, it doesn't help that the trees were blowing as we walked into the hotel last night.  James looked at me and said he was scared.  I scooped him up and we talked about the height of our room compared to the height of the trees.  But I don't think it worked - it took him 2 hours to get to bed.

I'm just tired at this point.  I miss my bed and the space of our house.  I miss cooking for my family.  I miss meals at our kitchen table.  The kids miss their freedom.

God, give us the patience to make it through this.  Give Jon and I the wisdom to give our kids what they need from us.  Be a comfort to them.  Give the construction company the wisdom to make our safe again as quickly as possible.  We trust in You and know that everything will be okay in your time.

No progress

After a big start to the week, the rest has been pretty disappointing.  I haven't heard back from the contractor (emailed this morning) since Monday.  I had been naively hoping they would have been able to start the demolition by the end of this week.  I guess this is why he put Oct 22 on the contract even though he thinks the reconstruction will only take 2.5 weeks.  At this point, though, it looks like we'll be pushing even that date unless they get started soon.  It's amazing to me how incredibly slow this process has taken.  If there weren't all of these delays, we could have been home by now.

James continues to struggle a bit with everything.  He is having a hard time missing a lot of the time we used to just snuggle and read.  And I'm not sure what he dreams about and/or thinks about as he tries to go to bed at night.  He's been doing better with nap time the last couple days, snuggling with me probably helps that.  But no matter how tired he is (last night it was 8 before the layed down) it takes 1-1.5 hours for him to go to bed.  Given that I had a nightmare about another tree falling on the house last night, I wouldn't be surprised if that is happening to him as well.  There's nothing we can do for him either other than offer lots of extra hugs.  It seems that he has a meltdown each down around lunch time, although putting him into his bed when he starts the hitting/kicking seems to be working really well.  Yesterday I only had to do that once and then he came for snuggles instead.  I almost wonder if the jostling of being put onto the bed helps him reset himself.  But I'm optimistic that his recovery time in the middle of the day is getting quicker.

Carolyn is getting tired.  She had a meltdown yesterday about finding her hair scrunchie and rubber band for gymnastics.  Just stood and screamed for a good 15 minutes, when it was sitting on her bedside table.  Turns out she covered it up with something she put away while looking for the hair stuff.  She's never been great at finding things, but I can tell she's starting to get a bit run down.

I wish I could scoop both kids up and plop them in their own beds, tell them to sleep as long as they want and come into my room for snuggles and books in the morning.  Alas, it looks like it will be later than sooner for that one.  So for now, we'll go to the park by the house after school today, out for dinner, and then to the GBS football game tonight.  Tomorrow Carolyn will have soccer and then we'll relax and Jon's parents while doing laundry.  I think we need some time to just relax and this weekend will be just that.  Sunday is nothing, so we might even get to spend some time in the pool.  I really miss my kitchen right now, what I would give for a couple hours to bake some banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.

Thank you God for the continued support of those around us.  We had great opportunities for meals with others this week, including another neighbor.  I am looking forward to a chance to say thanks by having a celebration dinner once we are back in our house.  I know that this will all come together, help me to have the patience necessary as the work begins.  Help me and Jon to continue to have the patience necessary to help the kids through this time.  Give us the wisdom necessary to respond to our children in the way needed at each turn.  Please bless our time today at MOPs!  All is well and God is in control.

Met the Contractor

I (finally) met the contractor yesterday.  He spent a lot of time at the house and took copious notes on what needs to be torn down and fixed.  He inspected the house even closer and asked if various cracks were there before.  A lot of them I couldn't say definitely.  But after talking to Jon, I'm starting to think we're going to have some issues with damage to the steel beam.  There are cracks in the wall that neither of us remember being there along where the steel beam is.  He did let us know that they will want to tear out the walls from the inside to inspect the framing.  It does sound like this may even include some walls in the kitchen due to the cracked siding on the front of the house. We discussed the flooring and we're going to try and match what's in the bedroom, but keep the threshold as we're not looking to spend extra money to extend it into there.  Looking at the carpet in the playroom he also said they would clean it, since there's dirt all over it due to the firemen and various people that have come through the seldom used door to inspect the house.

I asked about a timeline and on the contract and it says everything should be completed by Oct 22.  Obviously, though, this date depends on so many different people that we can't be sure.  Next steps from here are to have the different trades of the company stop by the house to investigate their pieces.  Then the demolition begins.  Once the demolition is complete, the roof will be fixed.  Then they can move inside and fix the rest.  I still hand on to some hope that we could move back in before the inside is completely finished.  However, if they have to tear out walls in the kitchen, that may make things quite difficult.  He said that we likely won't be home until it's all done.

So for now we pray for God to help the construction company to move quickly to complete the repairs needed.  We pray that the engineer that inspects the house finds everything needed to fully fix any damages to ensure our house is completely safe.  We pray that the kids (especially James) can settle into a new normal for the next 3-4 weeks.  We say thanks again for keeping all of us safe and giving us wonderful friends and family to help us through this time.

Ready for our busy Tuesday!

Hardest Day so far

Yesterday was a hard day in terms of being a parent.  We dropped Carolyn off at school and James chose to return to the hotel and go swimming.  We had a great time goofing around in the pool and then enjoying the hot tub.  We came upstairs, showered, and got dressed again.  Then we lay down to read some books.  I read 5 books and then needed a break, at which point James lost it.  This was probably the first time he's had a chance to just fully relax and he was feeling some very strong emotions.

Four year olds have trouble handling their emotions, especially mine.  I believe he was feeling sad and scared and didn't know how to tell me.  After 15-20 minutes of going back and forth with him pushing me away and then trying to snuggled, he crawled into my lap.  I told him I was sorry that he's not at home and agreed that this sucks.  I let him know that work should start on the house next week so we can go home.  And then I told him it's okay to cry when you are sad, and that's just what he did.  This made me cry, because there was absolutely nothing I could do to help him.  Feeling helpless as a parent is really hard.  I know everything is going to be fine, but I do wish I could just make the house better so we could go home.

We finished our lunch and layed down so I could work and James could try to nap.  At least I was able to get some work done.  Then we headed to the house to go to the park.  James got to ride his bike and found some friends to play with.  We got Carolyn from the bus stop and then headed back.  It was really nice to relax at the park and let the kids just play.  Great way to end the week.

The house is still depressing to look at, but it's comforting to know that we're meeting with the construction company Monday.  All is well and God is in control.  Thanks again to everyone for their wonderful support.

Initial Estimate

Life has really been busy this week!  On Tuesday we received the initial estimate from the field adjuster... $25k worth of removal and replacement costs.  Of course, that's what I assume the R&R on the estimate means.  This is before the structural engineer checks anything out.  It appears that the floor and ceiling will be ripped out and replaced as expected.  The west wall of the living room, where the tree leaned into as it fell, will also be torn out and replaced.  I assume this is so that they can expect the wall for any damages.  There is some stuff on there about the siding, but I can't quite tell what they intend to do there.  Looks like a lot of work, especially as the roof reframing is listed at 32 hours alone!  And that I'm pretty sure is number 1 on the list of what needs to be done before we can move back home.  That will need to be done before the electric can be restored I assume and it's what needs to be done to ensure the structural integrity of that room.  I'm not sure what other things need to be done before we're home.

Tuesday afternoon I received a call from the contractor that will be overseeing the repairs, since we're using the people the insurance company suggests.  She said she would call back Wednesday morning to schedule someone to meet with me at the house so they can assess the damages and figure out as a contractor what needs to be done.  Alas, I received no phone call yesterday.  So it's looking like it'll be next week before they'll even get out to the house, which makes me think we won't be home by 9/30.  My real hope is still Halloween, and with all of these delays it seems that may be close to reality.

We had a wonderful dinner last night with a neighbor.  They have spent some time redoing their backyard and it is gorgeous!  The husband did all of the work and built a brick oven, in which he cooked pizza for us.  Jon is jealous that he missed this at conference night.  The kids had a wonderful time playing together and of course didn't want to leave.  I think that's the hardest thing... there's just not much time to play anymore.  When we add in all the extra time spent in the car, we remove all the short bits of time where the kids could play with friends during the week.  We're planning to go to the park near the house after school on Friday though.

All is well and God is in control.  Seeing the potential for severe storms on Saturday has me a little nervous.  But I know that's just how it will be for a while.  My mind knows it will all be fine, but my body gets nervous.

Ready for another full day - take Carolyn to school, get an oil change, do laundry, work, take Carolyn to gymnastics, then the ice cream social.  I'm sure we'll all fall asleep quickly tonight.

More delays

I am very glad I didn't plan my day around meeting a structural engineer yesterday.  Instead I took Carolyn to school, grabbed a few things from the house, then took James to the library.  I did venture into the damaged area and discovered 3 library books - 2 of them water logged.  I'm hoping there aren't any more underneath the ceiling drywall that is on the floor.  Definitely something we'll be giving the receipt to insurance for!  After the library we played at the newly renovated park in downtown Glenview, it is awesome.  We stopped by Jon's parents to grab their crockpot and then came back to the hotel.

Around noon Jon called the field adjuster, who told him that due to the extensive damage he has to do some extra work and talk to extra people before anyone else comes out.  But we can expect to hear today or tomorrow.  He did submit part of the report - where he gave the worst of the damage at 10 ceiling beams needing replacement.  This was enough to convince the office adjuster to extend our hotel stay for 2 weeks.  There are not any places with kitchens in a convenient location, so we will stay at the Embassy Suites until Sept 30 unless there is some huge change.  We get a wonderful breakfast each morning, access to a snack machine, and light snacks in the evening.  As long as the kids can sort out sleeping again (last night was rough), we'll be good.

I found out yesterday why Jon was so uneasy last week when the office adjuster called me.  She sounded almost skeptical of the initial report, stating a concern that no pictures were yet included.  It almost sounded like she didn't believe he'd been in the house yet was making his estimate with very severe damage.  I let her know that yes, he was inside and took many pictures.  I was very tempted to offer to send her mine.  And I wanted to scream at her - we're not lying, our whole roof/ceiling is caved in and needs to be fixed.  I know her job is probably to keep costs low, but we are not trying to pull a fast one here.  We just want our house back so our kids can get back to normal life.

As Joel Osteen said in his sermon this weekend, "All is well."  Although these are frustrating delays and the kids didn't sleep well, everything really is okay.  We are safe and have access to some wonderful things.  And it will all work out for the best in the end.  Thank you again to all the wonderful people that are helping us with dinner - we ate with my Dad and Patty Saturday night and with Jon's parents Sunday night.  The kids are looking forward to eating with a neighbor tomorrow night.  Feeling the love of everyone around us makes all of this easier.

Field Adjuster

So yesterday we finally met with the field adjuster.  He actually apologized for taking so long to get us, then explained that his schedule had been filled with minor insurance claims issues.  So people, stop calling your insurance after a storm because 1 shingle lifted on your property!  There may be others out there with real damage that need help.

Walking up to the house he said, this doesn't look so bad, the village condemned it?  He asked, does it look worse from the inside?  What he saw was the tarped roof.  I promptly pulled out my phone to show the event that took place and he was shocked.  Shocking a "catastrophe team" adjuster is kind of amazing.  We went around to the side to look at where the tree came up and he wasn't surprised by the concrete slabs.  And then we went inside.  When the adjuster's response as you walk towards the damaged area is "oh geez," you know things aren't good.  He looked at the living room and I told him about the steel beam likely making it safe in 2/3 of the house.  After looking over the damage he told me that 2 things likely saved my life.

1)  The tree was very close to the house, so it did not have as much time to build speed as it fell.
2)  The steel beam/older constructed home made it so the house could support the falling tree.

He asked us if the steel beam was bent.  I hadn't even considered that.  But when I consider that we found cracks in the siding by our front windows (past the steel beam), I realized it's a possibility.  The siding is likely cedar wood, so not a real easy feat.  I had been thinking that just the 1 ceiling beam we could see was damaged.  He declared that obviously the one (2x6) was split, but then that likely 6 ceiling beams will need to be replaced.  And he admitted more might be found once drywall is pulled from the ceiling.  I had been thinking the rafters were 2x4 and found it amazing the rafter was split.  Of course, I know nothing about house construction.  He measured and it's a 2x6!  This is split across the 6" part.  I can only imagine the amount of force needed to break that.  He took tons of measurements, including of the concrete slabs in the back.  Then he turned to us and said he was not going to write an estimate on site.  He said he typically does, but there is just too much damage.

The adjuster declared that this is the worst damage he's seen in the Chicago area and the only thing worse he's seen as an adjuster was houses half-flattened by tornadoes.  He asked if we had any contractors and we said no, we're fine using whoever they suggest.  We don't have any hidden agendas here, we just want a livable home to take our kids back to.  So he said that's great and should help things move more quickly since they can discuss things themselves.  We should not be alarmed if the contractor's estimate comes back higher than his, since who knows what will be found once they start pulling things out/down.

His final statement as he went to leave left us both feeling much better.  He let us know that things will be put back the way they were, with us only out our deductible.  After the last 8 days, this was the most reassuring thing he could say.  So from here, we wait to hear from the structural engineer on Monday.  And after that we should have a better idea of timeline and what the scope of the repairs will truly be.

Our stay at this hotel has been extended until Tuesday morning.  The thinking seems to be that once the engineer comes through we'll have an idea of the length of time displaced.  At that point we can get into an extended stay place which will be cheaper for insurance and better for us as a family.  My dad pointed out last night that there are perks to the one paying if the stay is 4 weeks or longer, so that may be why they were hesitant to move us there until they understood how bad things are.

Thank you God for keeping us safe and only having property damaged.  We know that this story could have been much different with just a couple changes.  Please continue to guide us and help us as we navigate this journey.  Thank you for wonderful friends and family that are incredibly supportive.