“There's no place like home”
might seem like a cheesy quote from a movie to some, but to us it's
now the story of our lives. Tuesday, January 7, 2014 we were having
our nightly dinner together in our kitchen that was just
starting to come together after living in our home for nearly 5
years. My custom built spice rack that my husband made me (I collect
spices... and salt & pepper shakers...) adorned the wall, my
brand new KitchenAid (in raspberry ice color) that I'd been saving up
for, for what seemed like forever sat proudly atop the counter, and
we had just finished saying the blessing when we heard what sounded
like a huge metal appliance falling upstairs.
Immediately,
I rushed upstairs to look around thinking either: my 10 year old son
left something too close to the edge, or worse – there were
burglars scaling our home and knocking things over to gain access.
Oddly enough, I found nothing out of place and all windows secure.
Very strange, but we moved on with our dinner and our night, even
trying the “boiling water experiment” that we saw on Youtube
earlier that day, as it was the perfect night for it – absolutely
freezing outside.
Little did we know, the freezing temperatures were up to much
sinister acts than just turning a measuring cup of water into a puff
of fog on our front lawn.
Fast
forward to the morning of Thursday, January 9, 4:13AM. I awoke
suddenly, and just couldn't fall back asleep. This wasn't a huge
freak occurrence, as I toss and turn sometimes, although, I kept
hearing little noises that kept me stirring. I heard a dripping
sound, with the occasional popping sound thrown in, and although I've
told this story at least a dozen times, I have chills writing it out,
and my eyes are welling with tears. In my half-asleep stupor, I
convinced myself I was hearing things. At the very least, maybe my
mother (who lives with us) was up making coffee (she loves her
coffee) and messing about in the kitchen.
I
couldn't shake this strange feeling though, and to my horror, would
soon find out why. I checked my phone close to 5:00am, and was
elated to see a “Best Offer” bid on the car we had been trying to
sell on eBay. I was thrilled because we were hoping to sell our car
and use the money for tires and other much needed repairs on our
family vehicle. Not even 2 minutes later, I was startled by the
loudest series of noises I'd ever heard. I can't explain the sound,
except that it was probably the most frightening thing I've ever
heard in my life. All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind, as my
husband startled awake and we both looked at one another for a moment
before he jumped out of bed to turn off our air purifier (which we
use as white noise mostly, to help us sleep) and listen closer.
Terrified,
I asked my husband what was happening, and moved my daughter over as
I slipped out of bed to follow behind him and inspect the house. As
we opened our bedroom door, I could hear what sounded like a
waterfall and immediately I felt both relief and horror. Relief
that, it probably wasn't someone (or something, like a car or
airplane?) breaking into our home, and horror because my first
thought was that our dishwasher had fallen out of place (it wasn't
all that secure to begin with, and sometimes when my toddler would
lean on it, I would fear the bolts coming loose), and there was going
to be some gushing water to stop and clean up, and I may have to wash
dishes by hand for the next few weeks.
Most
nights, when my husband goes to bed after me, he leaves every light
in the house on (“Were you born in a barn?!” is an recurring
expression around here.) Tonight though, I am thankful that he left
the lights on, because what I felt and saw would have been tenfold
more frightening in the dark. My feet became wet as I walked down
our short hallway, and I paused, horrified at the entrance to our
once beautiful kitchen. I instantly regretted hoping it wasn't the
dishwasher, as that would have been a cake-walk compared to what we
are dealing with now.
“The
sky is falling” immediately came to mind, as the majority of our
kitchen ceiling was now on the floor, and there was a cascade of
water flowing from above. Everything from there on felt like some
sort of dream, and my memory is still fuzzy. I called 911, and we
quickly got everyone out of the house, and ran back inside to grab
some important documents/items before the local police arrived and
very sternly shouted “Everyone out of the house, now!” as another
big piece of ceiling crashed down out in the kitchen. My
mother-in-law thankfully lives right down the road, and our car
battery was frozen from the cold, so we called her to pick us up and
get the children out of the cold, early-morning air.
After
talking to the police, a plumber, and a few other people, we found
out that a hot-water pipe (used for heating our home) had burst
(probably the other night, when we heard the first loud noise) and
our whole first story ceiling had been filling up with water up until
it gave way under the pressure. We have been furnished a 30 day
hotel stay by our home insurance company, and are thankful for that
and also for our family who have been very supportive, but we feel a
great deal of sadness and loss for our home. I am praying that this
is fixable, and that we can have our beautiful home back, but in the
mean time we are dealing with a wide range of emotions and confusion.
The
most important thing is that we all made it our with our lives. I
know that God was protecting us, because that water could have broken
through anywhere, it could have been in our bedroom, which is not
even 10 feet from the kitchen. We have plaster walls/ceilings, and
plaster is very hard, and could have easily killed or badly injured
someone. The plaster that fell dented our microwave, and several
other kitchen items, and yanked our ceiling fan and lights from where
they were suspended.
We
immediately called to have our water and electricity shut off, so
that we could avoid a possible electrical fire or further damage.
Our insurance company informed us that there was a great deal of
burst pipes and damage in our area, as temperatures reached the
lowest they'd been since 1994 this week and have been causing many
problems. I have to wonder though, was everyone's damage this bad?
Our home is uninhabitable at this point, and we don't truly know the
full extent of the damage as I write this letter. I am hoping that
the insurance company will be able to make things right, and that all
repairs will go smoothly, so that we can be back in our home soon.
I
don't know how everything is going to pan out, or what's going to
happen to our home. I know for certain our entire downstairs ceiling
is likely going to be torn out, along with our flooring in the
kitchen, hallway, and possibly living room. We are unsure about the
walls yet, or what other areas might have been compromised, as there
was water in our basement also last time we checked, and the ceiling
by our stairs going upstairs has a hairline crack with water leaking
as well. My husband is between jobs right now, currently laid off,
and everything is stacking up against us. Our faith, however, is
unwavering, and we are praying and waiting for a miracle.
