You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me.

My sweet, wonderful parents decided to move the week of Christmas. Relocate. Sell and buy a new house. Take stuff from one house to the other via moving truck. 2 towns an hour away from each other.

You know, because the week of Christmas isn't busy or anything.

It has been a hectic week and I'm not even the one moving. I know my parents are tired and ready for things to be back to normal.

Not to mention that the house that they left was their dream home. 10 acres, a pond, privacy, huge front porch, 4 wheeler heaven. So their emotions were a little raw about leaving the house.

However, my dad is a pastor and is at a new church which he LOVES. The new town is about an hour closer to us and their new house is new construction. My mom got to pick out everything in the house. They are really excited about the new ministry, house, locations, etc. Just sad about leaving the old house.

They spent their first night in the house Tuesday. Wednesday was Christmas Eve, and they came to my house after their Candlelight Service. They spent Wednesday night and Thursday night with us and went home Friday. They spent most of the day Friday unpacking, mostly in their bedroom and the upstairs bedrooms, and crashed in bed Friday night, exhausted and sore.

At 4:45 Saturday morning, my mom woke to the sound of rain. Their new neighbors had been telling them about a roof leak in their house, so my mom got up to check for leaks. She opened her bedroom door and realized that water was POURING through her ceiling in the den, foyer, kitchen, dining room, and my dad's study. She screamed for my dad who went running upstairs and found a water line broken and water pouring out of the bathroom. There was now 2 inches of water in the downstairs of their house. Dad got the water turned off (can you imagine taking a freezing cold shower at 5:00 am? - Dad said it wasn't pleasant - imagine that) and began grabbing towels, tablecloths, blankets, trash cans, buckets, ANYTHING to stop the water. At 7:00 he called his insurance agent and the builder, who called the plumber. The insurance agent sent a Restoration company to their house to begin the cleanup process. They called me at 8:00 Saturday morning. Talk about feeling helpless. I got on the car and took coffee (mom) and Diet Pepsi (dad). It's all I knew to do.

So to simplify, they will need new carpet/pad/baseboards/possibly sheetrock upstairs. They will need new ceilings, crown moulding, wood floors, paint, light fixtures (water pouring out of the ceiling fans don't bode well for said ceiling fans), baseboards, and sheetrock downstairs.

And their house is less than a week old.

So, if you feel led, I know they'd appreciate your prayers. They are trying HARD to keep their spirits up. It's definitely hard.

Here are specific prayer requests:
1. That the re-build process will be QUICK.
2. That the insurance companies (the plumber's insurance company, the builder's insurance company, and my parents' insurance company) will all get along and at like adults. We all know this is often not the case.
3. That my parents will have a peace about the whole thing. My mom is a "worrier" and doesn't usually go with the flow. My dad is the exact opposite of a worrier and is really laid back - these personalities can clash in stressful situations.
4. That my parents won't be financially accountable for ANY PART of this. No co-pays, deductibles, etc. This was entirely not their responsibility.

Here are some praises already:
1. If this had happened a day earlier when my parents were at my house, the results would've been disastrous. It's a good thing they were home and my mom's a light sleeper.
2. Most of their stuff was still in boxes. The Restoration people moved dry stuff out of wet boxes and repacked them into dry boxes. As far as the unpacking goes, they aren't any further behind than they were before. They just have to wait a while to unpack.
3. My parents bought a new TV on Tuesday. BRAND NEW TV. The last time my parents bought a new TV was probably 1990. This new TV was in the ONE area of the den that stayed dry and is perfectly fine.
4. They have an amazing church family who really cares for their pastor - even though he's the "new guy." They are being wonderful.

I'll keep you updated. It's gonna be a process and will most likely take a while.

I heart you all.