Beauty from Ashes

Here are a few pictures from our fire in December. The 8th will mark 3 months we've been trying to restore what the enemy tried to take away. Thankfully, God proved faithful and saved our structure. Oh yeah, and did I mention we've done a total remodel of the 80s ranch-style house (the main level)? That's a God-thing too. The restoration company says it's the worst smoke damage they've every seen, so our upstairs has been compleletly redone. We've done updates that we were hoping to do over the next 30 years of living here. It is such a blessing to see the progress,and the insurance company is even "subsidizing" our remodel:). Not exactly what we had planned for how it should happen, but hey, at this point, we realize things could've been A LOT worse, so we are thankful for how things are [slowly] working out.

However, I will admit that I've felt as if Conrad and I have been stripped. God is helping us through that, and I don't get as emotional about the whole ordeal as I used to. Though uploading these pics brought me back a bit! And, even thinking about the smell of our home while we were in St. Lucia literally made me nauseous. Actually, it still does. The drama of the restoration company and dealing with the finances of it all has been trying...I'm so thankful for Conrad, who can deal with the logistics while I deal with the emotions of it all!!

A few humbling moments of the process; the reality of your mother-in-law washing your underwear (we lived with them 1 1/2 weeks after the fire and I had to work a ton), strangers packing up/itemizing every item in your home with no attachment, waking up to strange men in your home unannounced on your day off, having to shower in a bathroom without doors with forementioned strange men working literally feet away, to name a few.

We are not totally done. We are hoping by April to be moved in upstairs, with our stuff back. The bottom picture shows one of the many updates we did in the process. This encourages me! Also, contrary to my original thoughts of horror that the charred webs in every edge of my home were cobwebs indicating my lack in the housekeeping department, they are smoke webs, indicating the extreme heat that our home endured. Just had to clarify:)