Reno, no

January was off to a slow start with the insurance company. They had still not gotten back to us regarding restoration, so we were in a "holding pattern." We chose to take any weekends available to embark on some short road trips, embrace living at the farm, have nightly campfires & spend as much time as possible with friends and family.

The kids were settling into their room together and into a new routine. They decided who got the top and bottom bunk. We began organizing to the extent we could and found places for what we needed. We figured out how to stagger showers so there would be enough hot water. The dogs took up their new sitting spots in the living room.

February started with plans to begin the house renovation now that the insurance company had finally completed the evaluation. As we walked through the house, we began to see other changes we "may as well do while the drywall dust is flying." Before the flood, we had our home on the market for the spring and summer anticipating our build. A consistent bit of feedback given during that time was that people did not like the master bedroom on the second floor. We loved our master upstairs and near our kids' rooms, but apparently, most people do not. So, we elected to move our master bedroom down to where the current guest room was and take over that space in addition to the guest bath, office, and part of the recreation room. We also decided we would have all the old ceilings scraped that contained popcorn, a long-overdue improvement. Our two-story entry foyer was huge, so we thought we would take a portion of that space and add a wall to make a tiny office and keep the wall running to the second story to add space to the bedroom above. The last change we decided to make was to knock out two walls in the kitchen to open into our living room.

Gratefully, we have a friend that volunteered to help us when our home became damaged. She is an architect and redrew the house with the new floorplans for us. She also helped us find a contractor to do the renovations and remodel. She completed her drawings, and it was time to begin!

Superbowl Sunday changed everything.

"They will fear no bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord." Psalm 112:7