The A-Team has finished the lengthy 9 day job of pulling out, measuring, photoing, then cataloguing each item that came out of our home before placing it in trash bags or wrapping it in plastic and loading them on trucks. The back yard pile is gone - not even the rocks that were underneath the pile were left. What is left: blackened, scorched ground that slightly resembles the surface of the moon. Standing to the side of the area is the apple tree that has decided to blossom.
The next task for them - wiping down walls and scraping the ceilings. The next task for us - reading through 40 pages of listed items, figuring out the purchase date of each one, and the rough idea of what was paid for them. This weekend the content adjuster will sit down with us Friday-Monday to do just that.
The apartment that we are staying in has indeed been a surreal experience. A lot like being on vacation in your home town. The children, and their friends, have taken every opportunity to swim in the heated pool. Harrison and Chandler have enjoyed the carpet too. Since it isn't found in our house, they have devoted a daily block of time each day rolling across the living room floor and playing 'Blobs'. I figure the enthusiasm will begin to wane soon.
With hearts overflowing with gratitude, all of our needs have been met. Shannon even gave us 'art' to hang on our walls (architectural drawings from one of her college classes). They look quite neat, and fit well with the furniture that is being rented.
The forced purging of our home has given us much pause for thought about what is really necessary and what collected items we really aren't as attached to as previously thought. If you have items or projects that you really haven't touched in over 3 years and will 'some day get to' then chances are you aren't ever going to get to them and they should best be given away or sold. Which leads to another topic -
On Saturday a few ladies (Thank you Mom, Dinah, and Susan!) came over and helped re-scrapbook 2 full albums. It couldn't have been done nearly as quickly without them. What I did come to realize as we were going through the books: pictures being ruined or lost isn't nearly as tragic as one would expect. The wonderful ladies weren't attached or focused on the pictures, had no memories of them, and didn't care personally about them. Though they cared for me - it wasn't because of the pictures that they served our family thus. It was their love for our family that compelled them to glorify their God in this way. I realized that the pictures hadn't been looked at since I did the albums the first time around and had the fire not happened, probably wouldn't have looked at them for some time after. Though memories are fun to reminisce about our outlook isn't supposed to be on what has happened but rather on what is to come. Striving for the prize that lay ahead, not looking back like Lots wife. Though Lot's wife did so in disobedience and the passage has nothing to do about memories of the past, I have reflected that like her consequences of salthood, if my focus is on the past I can become fixed and be of no further good. If I look ahead and run the race set before me then my life will be glorifying and I can be a vessel ready for His use.
February 24, 2009
February 15, 2009
Life at the house
As of yesterday the Asbestos Abatement Team has almost completed cataloging and clearing out the rooms inside the house. The back yard still remains. For now, the workers must go through 3 different cleaning areas before they even get to the front door. I did find it amusing that the Christmas tree is still in the house though just about everything else has been removed - I always used to mock those who didn't take down their decorations before February - no more.
The front yard is filled with enclosed dumpsters that are covered in Asbestos warning labels and are chained and padlocked shut....they really don't want people scavenging, though the back yard has been gone through by some crazy loon. With all the rain it will be very interesting to see how the team intends to slog through each of the items that are needing to still be catalogued. On Monday, when the A-Team started, they were positive that they would be finished in two days - little did they know just how much can be in one room.
February 6, 2009
Update...again #4?
Today the abatement team began their work. The Lord allowed the permit to be pushed through in spite of the 14 day requirement. Pictures of ET & moon suits coming soon....
The adjusters gave us the cost estimates for the redo of the house. Our friendly contractor is going over their report to see if the estimations are lining up with reality. We should know more soon and hopefully have a better idea of a starting date for the construction. After today we will also have a better idea how long the abatement team will need to go through out the rooms they need to clean.
The adjusters gave us the cost estimates for the redo of the house. Our friendly contractor is going over their report to see if the estimations are lining up with reality. We should know more soon and hopefully have a better idea of a starting date for the construction. After today we will also have a better idea how long the abatement team will need to go through out the rooms they need to clean.
Pre-Princess Leia
A picture we found at the Natural History Museum. George Lucas must have gotten his inspiration from her.February 2, 2009
February 1, 2009 update
The latest...
We have established our new routine, well at least some of it.
1. Get up
2. Breakfast
3. School
4. Meet ____ at the house, help ____, run to the house to get____ or take pictures of ____
5. Dinner
The 'To Do' list is still rather extensive. When something gets checked off it seems like 3 more items take its place.
As of now the environmental report will be filed tomorrow with a request to have an emergency permit pulled so the abatement team can get into the house and 'clean' the dining room, living room, kitchen, hall, & master bedroom. Yes, ET is coming to our home. Portions of the house will be sealed off and the hazmat team will look more like they belong on the moon. A clean room will be set up outside and items will be either placed in wrap to be taken to be cleaned or placed in hazmat trash bags and placed in a container to be shipped to Bakersfield to be disposed of.
Pray that the emergency permit is granted so that progress can be made quickly.
Thankfully, the insurance company has agreed to have the ceilings in the kids bedrooms scraped even though those rooms aren't considered contaminated with asbestos.
On Sunday we took pictures of all the ornaments that were still on the Christmas tree. Yes, it is still up and looking quite sorry now. It is very hard not to try and clean up. The house is such a wreck and we can't do anything about it.
We have established our new routine, well at least some of it.
1. Get up
2. Breakfast
3. School
4. Meet ____ at the house, help ____, run to the house to get____ or take pictures of ____
5. Dinner
The 'To Do' list is still rather extensive. When something gets checked off it seems like 3 more items take its place.
As of now the environmental report will be filed tomorrow with a request to have an emergency permit pulled so the abatement team can get into the house and 'clean' the dining room, living room, kitchen, hall, & master bedroom. Yes, ET is coming to our home. Portions of the house will be sealed off and the hazmat team will look more like they belong on the moon. A clean room will be set up outside and items will be either placed in wrap to be taken to be cleaned or placed in hazmat trash bags and placed in a container to be shipped to Bakersfield to be disposed of.
Pray that the emergency permit is granted so that progress can be made quickly.
Thankfully, the insurance company has agreed to have the ceilings in the kids bedrooms scraped even though those rooms aren't considered contaminated with asbestos.
On Sunday we took pictures of all the ornaments that were still on the Christmas tree. Yes, it is still up and looking quite sorry now. It is very hard not to try and clean up. The house is such a wreck and we can't do anything about it.
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