Back to Work, House News, and The Beach

Yesterday was my first day back in the office. As expected - I didn't get much done because everyone wanted to hear about our family's adventures in brain surgery and a house fire. It's nice to work at a place where so many of the people have genuine concern and are interested in our family.

Well finally, at about 2pm, I was able to sit down and go through me e-mails. This was probably the most touching part of my day. I had been monitoring my e-mail by blackberry while I was out of the office but this moment gave me the opportunity to re-read and sift through all of the e-mails from friends, family, co-workers, church members, etc. wishing us luck and sending us their thoughts and prayers. It was nice to revisit such an outpouring of love and support. We were offered everything from a new washer, to babysitters, to food, to toys... Unfortunately, we don't have any room for "stuff" right now. My parents house is big, but we can't really put lots of additional stuff in there and our house is in the process of being emptied so that they can clean it out.

Speaking of the house - I was able to meet with the general contractor and insurance guy for a number of hours on Wednesday. It's looking like they are going to have to replace the AC unit and all of the pipes that deliver the air to the rooms in the house (we don't have duct work so it is a high pressure, piping system). They are also going to have to replace the electrical panel and all of the wiring because it got wet by the fire hoses. Those two things, along with the living room and dining room floors getting refinished are the main things in the house that they're going to have to fix. I've been meaning to take a picture of some of the stuff in the house and post it here. I'll do that in the next several days. The appliances in the basement that will have to be replaced are 2 washers, 2 dryers, an oven, and a freezer. We're hoping that our kitchen refrigerator comes out of this alive, but it was at the top of the basement steps and has a lot of black soot on it.

Geana has been at the beach with the kiddos for the past couple of days. We felt it was important to give them a little bit of a vacation after all that they've been through. Sammy can't do much, but it's better to not do much at the beach than at home is my thinking. If you are living out of a suitcase, why not do it near an ocean. It also gives my parents some time without kids at home to decompress a bit. That being said - they are coming home tomorrow and I'm super excited because I miss the kids terribly. I can't wait to see them!