Chapter 6 Settled

The next few weeks were a whirlwind.  Friends and neighbors came to our home that evening to support us.  So many people reached out to us, we were amazed at the kindness they showed.  Through the litany of calls and meetings with insurance people, investigators, evaluators, I kept praying that God would make a way for us to be ok, for us to be restored, for our family to be able to home school. The to-do list they prepared kept me running from pillar to post for days on end. 

Then there was the lady assigned to help us find housing “I assume you will want to find housing in your school district?” she queried.

I looked at Drason; he shrugged “I think we are planning on homeschooling next year, so the school district isn’t really all that important.”

The inner me jumped for joy!

Next there was the adjuster who came out to the house.  He looked to be about 12 years old.  I could not believe THIS was the person who would be deciding how much we would receive for our belongings.  Shaking my head I followed him inside the house.  We came to a bookcase of charred scholastic books I had purchased over the past few years.  He diligently counted each one.  “One hundred and seventy-two” he announced.  Then he reached out and plucked a random book from the shelf, turned it over and read the price

 “$12.99”  he added some notes to his paper and moved on.  When we received the check for 172 books at $12.99 each, I was astounded.  I can’t ever remember paying more than three or four dollars at the most for any of those books.  He must have picked up the most expensive book I ever purchased from scholastic.  Our check would more than cover the cost of curriculum. 

The home school convention was just around the corner.  Had I known about the fire, I never would have signed up, but we had received our tickets in the mail, so we decided to go.  I don’t remember attending any sessions that year, but each day Drason and I went booth to booth reviewing curriculum, taking notes, asking questions, and then checking out the next booth. 

Over the years I have heard many a mom tell me how she chose her curriculum and I can not think of a better way than going with your husband to look though it all together.  Because of the fire we were already eating out for every meal, staying at a hotel, and spending hours taking notes and researching the value of items.  Spending two days away from the children and looking through curriculum just didn’t seem like that much of a burden. 

When we left the convention we had picked out some wonderful items, we had been blessed with the money to spend on the curriculum, and we BOTH had a feeling of peace at having found the right items for our family. 

We moved into a lovely home out in the country and a few weeks later the rest of our curriculum was delivered well before the new school year.  We were able to replace many of our belongings and with the help of some friends I put together my first home school notification. 

So many things were still up in the air, and we still hadn’t received a settlement on our house, but God had provided all the things we needed. 

Life was still hectic, but we were settled.