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January 21, 2003
January 21, 2004
Hi everyone! Well, this isn’t the entry that I was planning on writing today. I was PLANNING on writing about our wonderful Christmas vacation we just got back from. Unfortunately, there have been some “developments” in our lives that I want to write about before I can do that.
As you know, we’ve been living on Long Island since September while my DH studies to get his Ph.D. in History at a local university. We’ve been living in a two-story, 5 bedroom, 2 bath home that we found on a list of rentals for Toby’s school. The upside to this place is that it’s spacious, it’s in a quiet neighborhood, and it’s close to a great grocery store, gym and PIZZA parlor. =) The downside is this sucker is O-L-D. It’s been in the owner’s family for multiple generations, and I swear it hasn’t been refurbished since the late 60’s. Honest to goodness, I thought I had time-warped back to my Grandma’s old home when I saw the PINK downstairs bathroom for the first time. Not only does it have pink floor tiles and pink butterfly shower curtains, but it also came complete with one of those knit doll things that you stick over your extra rolls of toilet paper! LOL
Last year our home was rented by a handful of college guys who literally turned the place into their fraternity home! From what we’ve heard from the neighbors (some of whom still won’t speak to our landlord, they’re so mad about last year), the parties used to START at 3am. The house got pretty thrashed as a result. We found gum ground into the downstairs carpet, there are a handful of dents/cracks in the walls and doors, and as of December, I STILL hadn’t gotten all of the filth cleaned out from underneath the toilets. (Sorry … TMI)
Before it sounds like I’m totally complaining about the house, I have to say that I have felt like this house has been a true provision from God for our family. Because it has so many rooms, we’ve been able to have lots of friends and family come and stay with us on multiple occasions. At Thanksgiving, my parents and brother, Toby’s sister and her husband, and a close friend from San Diego were ALL able to come and stay with us for a week and no one had to sleep on the floor. While the house isn’t brand-new, it has met our needs exactly, and we have truly been grateful for it … most of the time. =)
That being said, I think I’ve told some of you that we hadn’t been looking forward to going back to our house, after being on vacation for so long. After a month of being with family and friends, it was going to be LONELY all by ourselves! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), going home is not an option now anyhow. We received a message two nights ago from our landlord that the pipes burst (we're not sure when) and the house is uninhabitable. Apparently, the exterminator that was hired to come around once a month came by late last week and saw that there was water all inside the house. He called the owner, who went to the house and checked out the situation. When he called, he told Toby that he couldn't even open the front door and had to go in through the basement, b/c the floor of the kitchen had come up. He also said the ceiling tiles had come down and the walls were buckling. An “adjuster” looked at the house yesterday, and said that it was the pipes in the upstairs bathroom that burst.
We’re going to go out tomorrow and see the house for the first time, to take pictures for our insurance and also to see if there’s anything that can be saved or needs to be moved. We have peace about the whole situation, as grim as it may seem. We were actually laughing last night, b/c we HATED the linoleum, carpet, ceiling tiles and fake wood paneling in that house!! =) Hopefully it will all be replaced by something more appealing.
In terms of our belongings, we have very few irreplaceable possessions. We can get new couches, kitchen items and clothing if we need to. The only things I’m truly worried about are Aidan’s baby album and our wedding pictures. We also have a nice painting that we bought on our honeymoon that can’t be replaced, but other than that, we don’t have very much that we’re really attached to. Of course, I may change my mind when we get there tomorrow and see what exactly has been destroyed, but I’m trying to have peace about it right now. We were also very lucky that b/c we were gone for over a month on vacation, ALL of our favorite clothes, shoes and other items like that were with us and are safe. Even Toby’s laptop is with us and is o.k.. How wonderful is that?!
We're incredibly blessed to be able to stay with my SIL and her husband in Manhattan until things get settled. I can’t begin to explain what a blessing they have been to us since we moved to NY, and while the situation obviously isn’t ideal, we’re actually looking forward to the extra time we get to spend with them. In fact, my BIL just told us tonight that they’re really glad that we’re staying with them, and are loving being with us. We're definitely going to owe them one by the time this is all over with!
I think the most exciting prospect at this point is that we’re hoping to be able to break our lease early and move to Brooklyn! Our lease will be up at the end of May, and everyone we’ve talked to so far has said they don’t think we’d be able to get back into the house in less than a month and a half. It doesn’t make any sense to us to move all of our undamaged stuff out of the house, put it in storage (or another rental) for over a month, move it BACK into the house for just over a month and then move it all back out again. SO, while we don’t know for certain that we’ll be able to get out of our lease, we’ve already made an appointment to see a couple of apartments in Brooklyn on Friday. I’m so excited!! We’re dying to get closer to the City, especially so that we can live closer to my brother and sister-in-law, and we’re really hoping that this is the catalyst God is using to make that possible.
So, that’s where we’re at right now. I’m nervous about what we’ll find when we get there tomorrow, but hopeful that not everything is totally destroyed. I'll keep you posted on what happens. Please keep us in your prayers!
God Bless!
Rebekah
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