So...our house got smashed by a tree.

We've been talking about starting a blog for quite a while. Moving finally gave us an excuse to do so, and we've never done this before...so it's kind of an adventure all around! To start off, we thought it would be a good idea to give you an update on the last couple of weeks:

A week and a half ago, we packed up a U-Haul with our families and headed to Georgia. The drive took 18 hours and was grueling at times, but we finally got here on a steamy hot Sunday and started unpacking. Our little house is a definite fixer-upper, but we like that. Our families happen to be great at fixing things up, so it works out perfectly. We painted two rooms, got to use lots of our new tools, and eventually got the house looking pretty cute (pictures to follow soon, hopefully).

 Our dads postulating about whether it would all fit (there was major doubt).

 It all fit!

 Finally, my dad gave it one final push (or at least pretended to).

Thomas' parents headed home almost a week ago, but my mom was able to stay for a few extra days. That was the original plan anyway. Being from Texas, we're not used to rain, or trees...both of which exist/happen to the extreme here in Georgia. During a rainstorm in the early evening last Sunday--exactly one week after we moved in here--one of our neighbor's trees was struck by lightening, splitting in half with the large (60 ft. or so) top half landing right across the back half of our house. We didn't know what had happened until we heard/felt rushing water inside and started frantically moving things out of the three back rooms of the house, both of which had been hit pretty hard and ended up with big holes poked in the roof. We were very fortunate that the tree fell on one of the main support beams (says Thomas, who knows about these manly things) and none of us were hurt. We had also gotten renter's insurance exactly three days before the incident, so that worked out perfectly too! My mom even decided to stay a few extra days to see how everything goes.

We're currently in the process of seeing what the home owner's insurance will cover as far as structural damage, and we're hoping that the roof and ceilings can be fully replaced. Sadly this all happened before we had a chance to take pictures of the house, but the rooms we spent the most time on are fine--they're just full of stuff from the others. Within the next couple of weeks we should have pictures up so you can all see what we're seeing!

So far, we really like Atlanta. The city is great, the people are friendly, and it's really nice to have family here. There's lots to do all the time, and we're both trying to focus on looking for jobs (but it is hard amidst all the craziness of a tree falling on our house).

Below are a few pictures of the damage done in the house. Most of you may have seen it already, but just in case you haven't...

 The part of the tree still standing.

Where the tree hit the house, and smashed a little shed.

The smashed shed half way through the tree removal process.

The tree extended all the way across the house and broke another tree that was standing there.

 Damage in the laundry room ceiling.

Close up of the laundry room hole. Hello leaves!

 The branch that actually came through the roof.

 The hole in Thomas' music closet.

 Tree branches in your closet are never a good sign.

Close up of the closet hole.

The leaky ceiling seam in the guest bedroom.

This will probably be the most interesting post you ever see on our blog. We're not "glad" it happened, but we do look forward to telling our kids this story. It was definitely interesting, and it looks like our adventures in Atlanta have already begun.

-T, K, & J