Well the glimmer of hope turned out to be false.  Even though we lost more this month than we make in a month including all food, our dining room and the cost of evacuating we were not included in the food stamp program because our parish did not have enough damage.    What a shame….well we are home now and declared mold free.  We are a LONG way from having a dining room (especially since there are no inside walls at the moment) but my fridge is full and I am happy to be home.

We’ve had a lot of friends who lost a LOT in Ike and it is hard to see everyone struggling so much just to make it but we will survive.  We survived Rita and we can survive the Gustave/Ike combo. 

Hey! Are you here for the birthday blog hop???? Great!!!  Here’s my link!  Rachael is a great designer!  You should check out her store here!  She has great kits for great prices! THANKS for stopping by!!  Now that we are home I will try to start posting again.

This morning was our first chance to REALLY work in our house.  So I left to drop off the boys at mom’s on my way to the house.  After dropping off the kiddos, I get a call from an insurance adjuster who is 5 minutes from my house.  I hurried home and just barely made it there before him.  He surveyed the home, dining room and roof.  After looking at the entire house he decided that our damage was from a flood and that the insurance company would most likely provide no assistance in our repairs.  Although I really knew this, it was so hard to be assured that we were on our own.  This notice opens one last door from some help MAYBE from FEMA.  After he left and the men arrived, we tore out the interior walls in the dining room from about 2 feet down to the floor.  Some sheetrock was wet, some were mildewed or moldy and all needed to be replaced.  We then cut and pulled out all of the insulation in the open spots between the studs.  We also moved all of the heavy furniture possible out of the room to provide space for the men to work and to protect it from future storms.   After working indoors all morning the men dug a deep ditch leading away from our house in hopes of helping the water drain better.

Once we finished at the house we came home to my in-laws to learn that Ike should be in the Gulf by Thursday morn.  We are NOT in the cone at this point but it is still far out so I am hoping and praying that someone else gets it this time. 

My glimmer of hope……Tonight while searching for help in repairing our home I found out that food stamps will be given out to evacuees who are displaced starting on Tuesday.  At least I know I can replace all of my lost food!!  Another glimmer of hope was that FEMA actually approved our hotel assistance today.  If we need to, we will be allowed to rent a hotel room for 30 days.  At least we know that we have options if we need them. 

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a list of things I miss…..

1.  Late night ice cream

2.  Water you can drink or even use for that matter

3.  Long hot bubble baths in my HEATED bathroom

4.  My rose garden and backyard

5.  the carefree days of summer

Have a great day tomorrow!!  I’m excited because we get to go to church and be with friends for the first time in two weeks!!!

Well we came home excited Tuesday afternoon because we already had power.  Never before had I gotten power back SO soon after a hurricane.  We drove about 7 and a half hours on a trip that takes us 3 hours on any normal day.  After traveling all day we arrived home at about 9 p.m. after curfew for our parish and had one of our vehicles in our caravan stopped by the sherriff’s office.  The people in the car explained the reasons for us being there so late and showed our ids and they let us through.  We all went our separate ways to check on our houses. 

As I walked into my house, I noticed this horrible stench.  Our dining room has had at least an inch of water in it with mildew and mold in the walls.  We can’t live there right now so we are staying with family.  FEMA denied our claim because we have insurance and the insurance says that it probably won’t pay because it’s “flood” damage so we have to wait and see.  In the meantime, we are cleaning up and trying to move on.  Thankfully we had no other damage in the house!