Fire ~ Update and photos on 2nd page

[k9Karen]

Hope they find the little one soon. Please keep us posted.

[Tambrey]

I just thought I would link this information.....a little over a year ago, a girl on my SHE forums parents had a terrible fire at their home...one cat was found the next day, but one was gone for a month before he was found.....well....here is an update of information

I was going to just link, but you need to be a member to read the Joys and Concerns thread...so I will just quote some of the posts here...

OK, my parents are finally getting around to sending me some of the zillions of pictures they have, so now I can share them and show you all just what your prayers helped build!

Here's the "before"... (this is me taking out the master bath showerstall with an axe, last October)


And here are some "after."


This is the entryway from the front door coming into the living room...(the ceiling collapsed in here, I don't have a "before" yet but it was bad, the soggy wet ceiling, all the attic insulation, piled on top of wet carpet and everything that was in the room normally). The door still need painted, as you can see, and the fireplace bricks still need cleaned off, but I think this turned out really nice.


This is the picture hanging on the wall next to the front door that you can't see in the previous picture. My parents went to a local art show just this weekend and picked it out, along with the 3-panelled one in the previous shot.


This is the living room from the other direction, looking out toward the back patio through the sliding glass doors (yes, they still need most of the window treatments). Past the couch you can just see a little of the dining room.


This is the couch in the previous picture, and a little more of the dining room is visible. The doorway goes into the "business end" of the kitchen (as opposed to the "eat-in end," LOL) and you can kind of see the wall cut-outs/plant ledges up top.


Here is one corner of the kitchen, with the range and microwave on the side. [Don't worry, the counters were cleared off for the photo. My Mom is actually a total SHE. ]


This is the sunken family room, more commonly referred to as "the pit." The photo was taken standing in the hallway that is just visible leading off to the right in the first picture. The corner of bricks you can just see is the hearth of the other side of the fireplace that is visible in some of the previous pictures. The step up in the "top" of the picture is straight into the dining room. They had a heck of a time getting the tile in here because the floor and walls were not level or square (off by 3-4" in some places!), as we discovered after I ripped out the very thick carpeting that was disguising it! After the hallway it was the first carpet I pulled out, and it was a PITA lemme tell you! No ceiling collapsed in here, but still some debris, and the carpet was nailed down around that step to within an inch of its life. And I'll always remember the lizard I found in the corner, covered in soot. I thought it was dead, and almost I started to cry standing there in my protective gear with my carpet knife, because it just seemed so pointless that it had crawled inside and died from the chemicals or whatever, or died in the fire itself, and I went to scoop it up to take outside, and it moved, so I think it might have been just dirty!


This is the other side of the living room (that you can't see in the previous pictures). The hallway on the right leads off to the bedrooms and bathrooms. On the left you can just see the corner of the piano that survived so much...first the fire, then the fire HOSE, then the ceiling falling on it, then DF and I got it cleaned up from THAT, then the stupid cable technician fell through the ceiling onto it in the rental house! It sounds good as new though!


This is the bathroom at the end of the hallway...still need a mirror. But Mom assures me that she's FINALLY found a shower curtain, so now she can pick out a paint color (also FINALLY!)!


This is my parents' bedroom...totally unrecognizable. I don't remember if the ceiling fell in here or not, I think part of it did, but everything in here got very badly scorched and I remember literally picking up odds and ends of what was left of my parents' possessions in this room with a shovel and a wheelbarrow, and carrying out to the dumpster. The two windows open out to the back of the house. The one on the left overlooks the patio that was through the sliding glass door in one of the previous pictures.


And HERE is that master bathroom showerstall from the "before" picture!! Quite a change, huh? I still need to touch up the paint around the edges of this room, and the master bedroom. And hmmmm, I should get a picture of the walk-in closet that is behind me in the "before" picture. They moved the doorway from opening into the bathroom to directly off the bedroom, and installed a cool closet organizer system.

Not pictured are my sister's room, guest room/office (this is where all the "stuff" was dumped for the pictures and the party!), or the garage (ditto!). Like I said, my Mom's a SHE. But they're getting there! There's still much work to be done, such as painting everything but the kitchen and their two bedrooms and one bathroom. The other rooms have primer and a base coat of white, but I think they are going to pick a color, too. And they finally got the driveway repaired, but the yard needs graded and resodded in a lot of places. And the septic tank needs pumped because it's been a bit iffy ever since sitting idle for nine months.

But anyway...you get the idea. I never could have imagined a year ago (it was one year on October 14th!) that it would look like this. God is so good!!!!!!

[Tambrey]

Bumping this up because one year ago today I was speeding down the highway to get back to town, sobbing at the top of my lungs because I'd just heard from DH and DM and Albert had finally been found. *sniff* I'm tearing up now just thinking about it. I talked to DM today and asked if Albert was celebrating by purring and shedding and drooling (he drools when he purrs loud ) and she said at the moment, he was laying in the garage next to the window and baking in the sun. So I guess he's celebrating by getting a tan. AND ~ praise God! ~ the li'l fuzzbutt has had no long-term ill effects (at one point there was a fear of kidney damage) from his month in the wild, that either they or the vet can see

Here is my post from the old thread, one year ago today:

THEY FOUND HIM!!!!!!!!!


I just met my Mom at the vet; he is dirty and has lost a lot of weight but dvet says he'll be just fine. Thank you THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone for your prayers, and of course thanks be to God for answering.

Need to run now and pick up DH from the imaging center after more tests...

Thanks for holding my hand through this journey, dear friends!! (((((((((((((((())))))))))))))s

[Tambrey]

Thanks for celebrating with us, my dSHEpals.

AAAaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnd.....since mamabear mentioned them....... (actually I wanted to post these first but I remembered I didn't have copies and I had to wait for DSis to send 'em to me)





The little missy on the left is Kate, who was recaptured the day after the fire. And on the right is the famous Albert, who was out roaming for an entire MONTH, having never lived outside before, but came home thanks to all your prayers and God's grace. Heeheehee...I think they're pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

[Traci]

Thanks for the updates, Tambrey, those are two very special little ones, that's for sure!!

I love the home pics, as you know, remodelling has become my pastime They have a beautiful home, I especially love the dark woods in the kitchen, is that cherrywood?

[Tambrey]

I do believe that she said they used cherrywood throughout the home....it is gorgeous!!
and the cats are too!!