Rebuild the Hillis House

Dear friends,

Some of you may wonder why we have been silent for so long...mostly because we have been waiting on the insurance money, which JUST CAME THROUGH!  We are now officially starting to rebuild our home.  Shortly after the flood I was reading in the Message in Isaiah and Jeremiah and the Lord gave me 3 promises:

1. I will rebuild you (on my!)

2. I will come in and compassionately rebuild houses.

3. I will rebuild your ruins (I see this as some of the old ruins of orphanage hurt that still plagues some of our kids).

We praise Him for His goodness to us all - and that in all of this we have lacked NOTHING!  I have surprized myself by entering the bloggers world...am now contributing at HopeatHomeblog.blogspot.com.  Check it out!

- Blessings!!!
Susan 

Hi friends,

Thanks again to everyone who has kept remembering and asking about my family's house.  Here's the most recent news:

Our house was destroyed in the flood in Sept 09, so almost a year ago.  The battle with the insurance company continues to drag out.  They had been saying they would pay 1/3 of the cost to rebuild, and now (thanks to our lawyers) they're saying they'll pay 1/2 the cost to rebuild.  Which clearly still isn't enough.  However, we have a great group of volunteers through a program sort of similar to habitat who have volunteered to do all of the labor for free if we supply the materials, so that could significantly cut down cost.

However, in the time that we've been going back and forth with the insurance company, the house has had to sit through a hot, humid Georgia summer and has grown mold.  We've had it looked at by a bunch of experts, and half of them tell us it's dangerous and impossible to get rid of and the other half say that it's not dangerous and that you could get rid of it.  

So right now my parents are having to make the hard decision of whether or not to try to rebuild that house, or to cut their losses and put the money from the insurance company towards a new house.  Please pray for them that they would have wisdom and unity on this, since it is quite a big decision.  Also, they need to make some decisions soon since FEMA will pay for 18 months of a rental house, and they have already been in the rental house for 10 months.

Thanks again everyone!

-Cristi

Dear friends and family,

Thanks so much for all of your continued love and care for our family. 

I wanted to give those who have been asking an update on our family's home situation.

As I mentioned in the last post, the insurance company agreed to settle.  However, the amount they offered to give our family was way less than the actual amount of damage, so now we're in the process of legal negotiations between our lawyers and the insurance company.  So far, we have not received any funds from the insurance company, and so have not been able to start rebuilding.

Please pray that we receive a fair settlement soon so that we can begin rebuilding.  FEMA will pay for our rental house for a year and a half, and we've already been here over 6 months.  We would really love to be able to start rebuilding soon so that we can have the house all finished before the FEMA funds run out for our rental house!

Thanks so much, we'll keep you posted,

Cristi

Hello all -

Thank each and every one ofyou for your amazing help during the time since we lost our home in the  flood!!!!! Brian just got a call from USAA, our insurance company,saying that they have changed their minds and will help cover costs of the damages caused by the flood!

We lived the 'it takes a village'reality that helped us so much…friends from church, our neighborhood,our kids' schools, and work just surfaced everywhere!! Every one of youdid something important to help us…working, praying, listening, feedingus, giving us a warm bed, tight hug, words of encouragement, enduring friendship, a funny joke, wise advice….

Thank you SOOOOO much!!!  We are very grateful….

Susan

Hey All--

So sorry for the length of time we;'ve gone without updating!  Things have been pretty much frozen, so there hasn't been much to update about unfortunately.  We're really hoping for some movement these next weeks and months, so please do keep checking back!

We have some good news!  Our last application to Extreme Home Make Over was not accepted, but thanks to videographer Matt Gibson we have a newly edited video application, and we have a lot of hope for it!  Please click below to watch it!!

http://vimeo.com/8519995

Cristi

Friends and family,

Thank you so much for your continued support as our family tries to rebuild our home.

Unfortunately, there is still no forward movement with our insurance company.  They still say we have no case.  We (and our lawyers) are still hoping that they will see otherwise.  So right now, things are at a standstill.  We are praying for wisdom on next steps.

We are settling into our rental home for now, and trying to make it seem as much like home as possible for Christmas.  We'll have all of our family home in one place on Christmas day, so we're looking forward to that.

Blessings,

The Hillises

First, Merry Christmas!  It has been definitely stretching for us to lose our house in the flood. I feel a little melancholy as I walk around this rental house that does not feel like home, remembering all the handmade family decorations we would have up by now in our flooded home, had it not been destroyed.  I am thankful, oh, so thankful for God's mercies which are new most mornings in my experience (I wish Icould say every morning but sadly it is just not true). 

Like yesterday- no Christmas decorations as they either were all destroyed OR some unknown person of many is storing them; I considered going to buy some but did not have time, so I prayed "Lord, would you just send someone to give us something today to decorate our house?" Late last night it arrived by surprise when two of our daughters, Katya and Anya, walked in from a play with a beautiful wreath and small decorative tree with lights 'Mom, Miss Linda gave us these."  To them it was small and to me it was MONUMENTAL.  What is perhaps also somewhat monumental is the realization that it only occurred to me to be mindful of asking when I could not accomplish the goal on my own.  

We are still hoping and praying that somehow our application for Extreme Home Makeover would get before the decision makers at the show.  Our lawyers continue to work towards helping us with attempts to procure insurance coverage, for which we are grateful. 

-- Susan

Friends and family,

Thanks to all who have come out and helped with workdays in the past!  This weekend you get another chance to lend a hand!

This Saturday, Nov 28th, from 9:30 AM- 1:00 PM!

Please come join us at 1799 Rangewood Drive, Lilburn, GA 30047

No need to alert us ahead of time-- feel free to just show up!

Please bring hammers, needle-nose pliers, brooms, and floor-scrapers if you have them!

We have further news that seems like we are headed backwards when we should be headed forwards.  In light of the determination by USAA to'amend' our Flood Policy Effective date, changing it from 5 days beforeto the day after the flood, we had been optimistic that we wouldqualify for a FEMA federal government loan at low interest. 

We received notice yesterday from FEMA that they are denying the loanbecause 'you should have had flood insurance.'  However, in reviewing our mortgage documents, they clearly show the house NOT to be in a flood plain at the time we purchased it.  We do not have any idea really how we will be able to rebuild but we are at peace that we will go step by step, as we are able. To ALL you who have contributed to the benevolence fund, THANK YOU!  We have enough now for putting in electricity and sewage, as well as water. 

Blessings! Susan

Thanks to all who prayed for Mom's trip to Russia-- she had a wonderful trip and was really encouraged by all the Russians believers are doing to care for orphans.

However, her return home was overwhelming.  Yesterday she and Dad met for 6 hours with our lawyers to figure out everything that needs to be done to prepare for a lawsuit against the insurance company, who has given their final word that they won't cover anything.  Both Mom and Dad are overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork, photographic evidence, etc that goes into preparing for a lawsuit.  We would all appreciate prayer that this whole process goes smoothly and that we are able to come to an agreement with the insurance compant.  Or even better, that Extreme Home Makeover would choose our family!   We submitted a video application to them last week.

Thanks so much as well to everyone who has offered their support in so many different ways over the past 6 weeks.  We've really appreciated it.

-Cristi for the Hillises