It has been almost 4 months since I last posted a blog here, however, we continue to plug along. Back in August & September, we posted several times regarding Amanda's health. It has been a very slow process getting her recuperated enough to come back to work. She is beginning to feel better but each week is still filled with appointments with doctor visits and tests. She now has a tentative diagnosis but has been told that they may never be able to confirm it. They are doing the best to treat her symptoms, one at a time. We're all just very happy she is feeling better and did well over the holidays. Going forward, one of our biggest hurdles will be to prevent overwhelming & stressing Amanda out. The doctor is concerned about even a "normal" stress load, let alone what Amanda has been living with and we all know that restoring an old house is a very stressful process. So, we will be looking for ways to make the entire process smoother for us and hopefully have some tips for others as well.
During the past 4 months, we've also had more "drama". Our general contractor has gone out of business and will no longer be working with us. Amanda has been trying to find another contractor and has had several good interviews. Hopefully, she'll find someone within the next couple weeks. And their current residence suffered some appreciable hail damage that needs to be fixed prior to going up for sale. Who knew that there are a limited number of contractors willing to do insurance work? We thought we could get a single company to work on both the Horner House & her other house. Not so. This results in a search for not 1 but 2 (yes 2) general contractors. Why is it never as simple as you initially think?
And speaking of drama, there have been a fair number of break-in alarms lately. Although there was some damage late last year (including some new gang signs in one of the second floor bedrooms in the Horner House), it appears that most of the alarms have either scared them off or were false alarms. We've been very blessed that the police seem understanding and have not gotten impatient with the number of false alarms.
Ron has continued to move forward with his work on the bungalow when possible. He has completed a majority of the work required to repair all the damage done when the scavengers broke into the basement last summer. Additionally, demolition on the kitchen & 2nd floor bath are complete. They both need to have cabinets, plumbing, painting & flooring completed. We hope to get things completed to the point where Amanda & Eric can move in this spring.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg in regard to what all we've been doing. I (Mary) have finally found a new dog. Her name is Summer and she is from the same litter as Amanda and Eric's Hagen. She was placed in a home in Texas, but was not treated well there so she was taken back by the breeder. We feel very blessed to have Summer as a part of our family.
Due to work constraints and other projects, I can only promise to post once a week for the first half of 2013, although I'll try to post more if there is a lot going on at the Horner House. Eric & Amanda will be contributing as their time permits also.
As posted on my Facebook on New Year's eve: While 2012 could have been much worse, it could also have been much better. So I'm wishing all my family & friends an early but awesome New Year. Praying that your 2013 blessings will be as abundant as last week's snowfall and your heartaches will be as scarce as last summer's rain.
-Mary
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