Where we are and a bit on gratitude.

Just a little update. i was hoping to do a better job of blogging our journey, but honestly it has just been so overwhelming and exhausting. We spent the last month putting together our personal possessions claim.  This was incredible difficult, not only because of the amount of stuff we had...but because we had to try and remember it all. Up until this point, i had kind of blocked it all out. i knew we lost everything, but i hadn't really put that much thought into what 'everything' was.
   So every day i would mentally 'walk' though my house, opening drawers, cabinets and closets and writing down everything that i could possibly remember. i carried a notebook with me because i always seem to remember things at the most random times. This process took a lot out of us.  Once we had the lists completed we then had to look up the retail prices and replacement cost for each and every item.  We had something like 55 pages of items to go through.

We just finally finished that up about two weeks ago and now the focus has been on where we will go next. We are only guaranteed to be here until the end of April.  We live in a very rural area and so there are very few rental options.  There really is nothing that's close to our property. Moving into an apartment in Floyd just isn't an option.

i just want to go home. It's not even a want at this point, i need to go home.  With our animals at our other property we are driving back and forth daily to check them. Most of my favorite chickens are dead and i worry that my dogs will eventually run away and not return, get hit by a car, or get shot for chasing the cows down the road. Despite having both the chickens in a fenced pen, and the dogs in a kennel, they always find a way out. 

We have talked about a few different possibilities for temporary housing.  My first thought was a trailer, but our property isn't flat and there is just no good place to put it with out it being in the way of the construction crew.  So then we talked about a yurt or an RV.

As much i love the idea of a yurt, once we started to pricing them we quickly decided it wasn't go to work for us.  The basic yurt cost is low, but once you add the platform, and insulation (since we'd need it in the winter) it starts to get rather expensive.  We would also have to buy appliances and furnish it and it was just really more than we were willing to spend.  So then we started to seriously look at RVs.

We looked at a lot of RVs. We drove to Roanoke, Christiansburg, Galax and Mount Airy (NC). 

 

We spent weeks searching through the craigslist ads, visiting RV lots and trying to narrow down what we would need in an RV.

One of the really nice things about an RV is that it is furnished. We will still have to buy pots and pans, flatware, dishes, bedding etc.  but it coomes with the major stuff.  This one was our favorite (in our price range) has a full size sofa that pulls out into a sofa bed. A dinette set, which also turns into a bed. A masters suite with a queen sized bed, closet, built in dresser with tons of cabinets. 

 It has a lots of storage/cabinets which is really nice since there isn't a whole lots of space.  The kitchen space has a fridge w/freezer, gas stove top and oven, a microwave, sink, lots of cabinets and food pantry!  There are also two bar stools on the other size of the counter.  There really is an amazing amount of space in it.

There are built in bunk beds for the kids, and even a closet!   The bathroom is to the right, and it has a sink toilet, and mini bath tub w/ shower.  We should be able to hook it all up to our well/septic and electricity at the house site.  Once we get through this step of finding our next temporary home, we are hoping we will be able to relax a bit, and start to focus and plan for the rebuild.

We cannot give enough THANKS to all of those that have helped with donations of money, physical items, love, kind thoughts and prayers. We appreciate every bit of it more than can be expressed in words.

There truly have been SO many people that have helped us out in SO many ways. It is hard to imagine what it have been like to go through this without the support of so many loving individuals.

Once i finally get back to blogging a little more regularly.  i really hope to do a series on Gratitude. There are many individuals and businesses both big and small that i would like to recognize for their gestures of kindness and love. THANK YOU, not only for helping us but for the beauty, light, kindness and positive energy you all add to the world.

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Gandalf” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit