Just Keep Swimming...

I have been meaning to write the post for some time, but honestly, life is beyond overwhelming right now. We're definitely burning the candle at both ends around here. Between trying to get caught up at work (for the time missed during Bodie's recent hospitalization followed by the fire), getting both kids to and from their schools, getting ready for Sierra's birthday party, Easter and Spring Break (all crescendo'ing at the same time), getting to Sierra's softball games and practices and Bodie's t-ball games (in a different league and part of town), managing Bodie's double ear infection caused by a cold that hit both kids pretty bad (not to mention his EAT flare-up that resulted), dealing with the restoration companies, meeting with the contractor and engineer we hired to do the house demo and reconstruction, and unpacking as quickly as possible, I find myself falling into bed well past midnight most nights, my to-do list largely untouched. So, if you have emailed, texted or called me, please know I'm not ignoring you - it's just that I am barely keeping my head above water right now. 

I keep reminding myself to just keep swimming...just keep swimming...with the hopes that eventually we'll find ourselves in calmer waters. Because these waters are pretty dang rough for my liking.

On the upside, our rental house is great. It's a bit bigger than our house, and we're thoroughly enjoying the extra space. And it even has a pool and jacuzzi, which is awesome for the summer! The kids are settling in. 

This was them checking out their new room.

I would say that Bodie is settling in more easily than Sierra. In general, as much as he's a complete pain the butt on the every day stuff (putting on underwear, making his bed), he tends to roll with the punches with the big, huge, horrible stuff better than Sierra. Maybe it's his age. Or maybe it's because he's had so much big, huge, horrible stuff outside of his control happen to him in his life that he already knows what box to put it in. He knows to just keep swimming; that this, too, will pass.

Sierra isn't rolling quite as well, though she's trying. We're having some acting out, some difficulty concentrating in school and lots of conversations with her about our old home, why it happened and when we'll get to move back. It's hard. It's hard to explain to a 7-year old why our house burned down, when I don't quite understand it at 37. :-( We could use some prayers for her as she processes it. This will likely frame how she views tough events the rest of her life, so we appreciate prayers for guidance as Dusk and I parent her through this and set her up with a framework for dealing with tragedy. We pray that she would learn to look to God and His strength and promises through tough times. 

Speaking of the house, this is what it's looking like these days. 

This was our dining room and kitchen. It sorta blows your mind how extensive the damage was.

Dusk's dad Alan is a plan checker for the City of Reno, and we were thrilled to have him come out for a couple of days, to walk through the house with us, check out our restoration contract and meet with the contractor. He had lots of great questions and ideas and we were so grateful he was able to come out. 

(Bodie was also super thrilled to get to hang with him and get to see the house. Bodie was most impressed with the open space in the house...and the porta-potty in the front yard. True story.)

The demo has been done and we've discussed rebuild plans with the contractor. A lot of people have asked whether we'll be making upgrades to the house and the answer is, at this point, we don't know. The insurance company will pay for the house to be rebuilt back to what it was (but to current building codes) and will pay for our rent in the rental house in the meantime. That may or may not mean room in the budget for upgrades. For instance, if a wall has to come down anyway, the insurance company has room in the budget for it to be replaced and we don't have to pay out of pocket to have it done differently than it was before. If, however, we want a wall taken down that doesn't need to come down, we're paying for it. And, if our requests delay the project beyond the estimated time to rebuild it back to what it was, then we're on the hook for the additional rental expense. So, for right now, until we have the complete bid, we don't know what upgrades we'll be able to do. But we're hopeful we'll be able to do some. :-)

In the meantime, we want to extend a huge thank-you to those of you who've prayed for us, sent us emails, texts, and called us to check in on us. Please continue to do so. Although it's been 5 weeks since the fire, it's still very fresh to us and, even though we're acting like we have it all together, we still have a lot of pieces to pick up and we continue to appreciate all the offers to help. 

And THANK YOU to Jeff, Mark, Kelly and Malik who helped us pick up and move all the donated furniture into our home last weekend! And thank you to Faith who organized all of the donations- and the amazing people who have donated or lent us dressers, nightstands, lamps, dining room tables, couches, and so much more! You have helped us make our house a home, and for that, we are so incredibly grateful.

Thank you also to Dean (one of the groomsmen in our wedding 11 years ago!) and his sweet 5-year old son, Spencer, who drove all the way up from San Diego today to help replenish our lost Costco items. 

And thank you to my parents, Gigi and Popo, for taking the kids last weekend so that Dusk and I could go to a marriage conference we had registered for last year. it was a wonderful, much needed, weekend for us and the kids had a blast!

And thank you to those of you who have continued to support us either through bringing us meals (if you'd like the link to the meal rotation, please email Amy at amykbennett@gmail.com) or by donating to the Fire Relief Fund (to make a donation, click here. We appreciate it more than we can possibly say. We covet your continued support, love and prayers as we continue to navigate this journey.

And, while you're praying, because our lives aren't crazy enough right now, please keep Bodie in your prayers. He has been scheduled for a cath (to hopefully close his fenestration) a month from tomorrow. Please pray we can keep him healthy between now and then, that we can find someone to watch him the 2 weeks before the cath (since he'll need to be in isolation and out of school to stay healthy for the cath) - and that the cath is SUCCESSFUL in bringing his 02 sats up so that he can breathe easier and not be so darn blue all the time! Please keep our precious little man in your prayers.