The Rebuild

We cannot say enough good things about our local insurance company (Jerry Anderson, Allstate) and our home builder (Froehling Homes). This entry will sound a little like a commercial, but we were so happy with the service we received from both of these companies that if they can get any business from it, we are glad to pass the word along. Our insurance agent came to our house shortly after the accident and came by several times in the next few days. His office was always quick to help us and kept track of our "story" so we didn't have to explain everything over and over no matter who we talked to. We were also lucky enough to be able to work with our original builder rather than finding a renovation contractor. Apparently, College Station is a "small" area for Allstate, so they do not have specific contractors who we were required to work with. Even though Mr. Froehling had never done a "rebuild" before, he and his wife were also very quick to respond and even pulled crews from their other houses to work on ours as quickly as possible. They remembered Cade from when we build our house 3 years ago, and said "we need to get the candy-vore back in his house"!

The following series of pictures chronicles the relatively-quick journey through the rebuilding process. We visited the house almost every day to check on things and spent most Sunday afternoons playing in the backyard and grilling.

February 4 - organized rubble



February 16 - brick was delivered (a great day, because at first we were not sure if we would be able to get the same brick) and the window was installed. Cade took the picture from the inside looking out and was so proud of himself



February 18 - The going got tough this day. I mentioned some tears and frustrations, and they all came out this day. For the most part, Chance and I split the responsibilities of working with insurance people and builders - I did most of the phone calls and Chance took care of the daily visits to the house during work hours. About 3 weeks into this adventure, tempers were high and patience was short, and Chance and I had a bit of a disagreement over the importance of tarps that would keep the construction dust out of the rest of the house. My wonderful co-workers "may" have gotten an earful about this, I "may" have told Chance that I would just get a ladder and hang the *%?% tarps myself, and I "may" have been a little tired. Imagine my delight (and happy tears) when I visited the house that night and found this:



The beautiful blue tarp, which Chance convinced our builder to hang ASAP, combined with the fact that they also salvaged our original address numbers and inserted them into the brick, gave me a much more secure feeling that everything was going to be OK. Well, that, plus the coffee and chocolate that were brought to me the next morning by my wonderful friends at work.



That weekend, we started trying to make good use of all of the leftover materials. We kept all of the original brick and rocks, and used some of the rocks to line our front landscaping. It felt good to actually do something, since our physical role in the rebuild was really pretty minimal.



February 24 - we have walls!



One of the hardest things to lose was the wall where we marked the kids' heights every few months. There was no way to save it, and I had to be realistic about my time management when I considered a project where I would preserve the sheetrock somehow, so we just had to let it go. We knew the kids would keep growing and that the new wall would be filled with memories soon. As soon as the paint was dry, we were eager to make our mark. On February 26, Chance measured Cade and Annie and began our tradition again.



Apparently, Annie lived in that princess dress during this time away from home. Interestingly, she hasn't asked to wear it once since we moved back in.

March 4 - we have light! I had to go home to New Braunfels for a few days at the beginning of March, and Chance's text with this picture was great news for everyone! Our requirements for moving back home were electricity and a new refrigerator, and this got us one step closer. And please notice the lovely new light fixture... I actually never really liked the original one we had, and this was one heck of a way to get a new one!



March 7 - one of our last visits to the house - checking out the repairs on the cabinets and starting to make plans for new landscaping



The next day, our new refrigerator was delivered and Grass Gator started replacing the landscaping. We also had a make-ready cleaning done, which made the whole house sparkle! And on March 9, we were home!