As you may know, the Corey family moved in February because we found a one-level home in Xander's school district. It had just been remodeled ("flipped" we later learned, which is not a good thing). Despite the few red flags that popped up during our first tour, we loved the layout and location, and we needed a house that wouldn't require Mara to use stairs every day as her Multiple Sclerosis has gotten more challenging.

Since making the decision to purchase the house, we have had nightmare after nightmare. It started small with the movers cancelling our move unless we could move two days earlier. When we arrived at the new house, the garage door was frozen closed.

A few days later on Sunday night at 9:00, the furnace went out. We had to call emergency services to get the heat working again so we wouldn't freeze.

Soon after, we discovered that the fuses could blow at any time. Running the dryer one day shut down the fuse. Just the dryer. Charging a phone and running a fan also blew a fuse. It became a daily issue. Which fuse would go out today? But worse, sometimes when a fuse would go out, some random other electrical source would also go out. We lost all of the overhead lights in the bedroom after the shredder blew the dining room fuse. They never came back. Same thing with the lights in the basement family room. They went out and never came back.

We had been told the house was rewired, but it isn't. The wiring upstairs is the same wiring as when it was built in 1953. Some of the wiring in the basement is new, but where they didn't have to replace wiring, they didn't bother. They replaced the fuse box, but they didn't spread out the wires. There are several wires going into a single breaker while a number of breakers are unused. Also, there are wires that are connected to nothing at all.

Other electrical issues popped up, too. All of the three-way switches would go out or would need to have other switches on in order to function. The dining room light would only turn on if the outside light was also on. One of the outlets in Xander's room actually arced (continuous electrical discharge) when we had an electrician in to inspect things. The worst was when the fuse went out for the microwave (allegedly new appliance), resetting the fuse did not bring the microwave back. Nor did plugging it into another outlet. Even though we'd only used it for three months, we had to replace it since its warranty had already expired.

We won't be surprised when another appliance goes out. Though they are all recently purchased, they are nowhere near new.

On top of these issues with the house, my Hyundai Santa Fe stopped accelerating on the way to work at the beginning of June. It's been sitting at Luther Bloomington Hyundai for more than three weeks, diagnosed as needing a new engine, which would be $17,000. I've only had the SUV for four years, so I still owe money on it as well. $10,000 as of this month. We've called them and tried to reason with them, but they only tell us they're waiting to hear from the warranty department. The warranty department knows they don't have to replace the engine because I bought the car used from them.

Once we got our minds around these issues, we had flooding in our basement. Our store room and most of our family room was soaked in about four inches of water. Why? The house flippers covered up the basement drain with carpet. So when we had some tub draining issues, it turned out to be a problem with our main plumbing line under the house. All day today, we've had workers taking out wet carpet and wet carpet padding as well as wet drywall. Not covered by insurance.

While we're trying to settle into our new house, all we have been experiencing is crisis after crisis. We are out of money, out of patience, and out of hope. Anything you're willing to give to help will be appreciated. <3 <3