701 days of worry.

701 days of work.

701 days of stress.

She changed our lives in ways we never imagined.  We went through a lot in our first year of marriage, a new baby, Ty’s adoption, Katrina stole everything but our health, thankfully we have that.  Thankfully, we were young and able.  Able to rebuild.  Able to find the strength in our marriage to make it through.  Able to lean on one another when we needed to.  Able to put on a brave face for the sake of our children when they needed it.

We’re done.  The house is done.  No more construction, no more working into the night or having people working in our home.  No more living in a mess of unfinished projects.  A few cosmetic things to do before it’s ready to show, but the last check has been written, about 5 minutes ago.  What a relief.  It’s been such a long, difficult road.  Two years ago, as we watched the massive storm on tv with the rest of the world, we never imagined what a difficult road was ahead of us.  How hard it would be on us, on our children.  Or that it would take this long.

There is this little voice in the back of my mind that says "Stay away storms, we don’t want you here.  Our house is done.  We earned this.  Leave us alone.  Just stay away."  Here’s hoping the rest of hurricane season is quiet.  We deserve that.