Hello Iowa

Wow.

Lots of things have happened. Clearly, I have been way too overwhelmed to post or really do much of anything. Here are some short but sweet bullet points.

::We drove from Homer to Lynnville, IA in 77 hours. It was nuts. We pulled over once to nap because neither of us could keep our eyes open. We saw 108 degrees in South Dakota. We got to my parent's home at 3 am.

::We finished our inventory yesterday and we are now waiting 7 to 10 days for processing. Not helpful when we need to move into our home in 2 weeks. We still are not quite sure how the replacement insurance works, and all we want is the money we are owed and nothing more. Here's hoping.

::I miss the ocean and cooler weather.

::Our little house is quite cute. It just needs some love around the yard, which we can definitely offer.

::Today is really difficult. Today is the day we were supposed to leave Alaska. Today is one month date wise since the fire. Today is hard, hard, hard.

::I think there is some major theological confusion going on. I do not, in any way, believe the fire was the fault of God. I believe in free will, therefore, the person to blame is the person upstairs. The end. The rage that we feel is at the circumstances, the situation, the everything. I really believe that rage is justified. Do not, do not tell me to be joyful. Believe me, there are moments when I am. But tragedy causes sorrow and anger. Everyone grieves differently. Leave it alone, ok? Love ya!

::Maybe don't send Bible verses. I know them already. Thanks for the thought, really, it just Is. Not. Helpful.

::We are ok. We are tired. We will survive. We will thrive, even. We are starting to come out of the fog. We feel lonely and a bit bereft, a bit strange being here in Iowa with no stuff, but you know. We are figuring it out.

::Some people have asked what we need. Please email or call if you would like to talk about it. The donation account is also still an option. Our emails and phone numbers remain the same. Thank you, sincerely,from the bottom of our being. Also, if you are in Iowa or near minneapolis please let us know. We would love to see you in the next few weeks. We will be in Minnesota for a few days and could definitely meet you somewhere.

::Parents are wonderful. The end.