We have a kitchen garden!

Now we just need a kitchen to go with it. :)

We love our summer garden and decided to go ahead and start one at the back of our new property. May seem silly to some, but we are really excited to have the small part of our "home" ready to use. It will also give the boys and I something to do as we wait on contractors, deliveries and the like.

Big steps

We officially moved from the planning to the construction phase today! It's time to get to work!

...That Who Built?

The first thing that most people ask is, "who is your builder?" The simplest answer is that we are our own builder. Yes, there will be others (maybe you?) involved, but we will be the general contractor. Acting as the general contractor gives us full control and allows us to save a ton of money. The downside of being our own GC is the time, energy, stress, and decisions involved.

To help with some of the stress and decisions, we have hired UBuildIt to help us through the process. UBuildIt is a team of builders that act as consultants throughout the building process. UBI (for short) has all sorts of options and we would be happy to share with you the details.

But for now, it is time for us to finalize decisions and start spending a lot of time with sub-contractors, vendors, shovels, hammers, saws, paperwork, budgets, and all kinds of other stuff.

Phil

That Jack Built

If you didn't catch it, our blog is named for the classic nursery rhyme "This is the House that Jack Built."  If you have never heard it before, shame on you.  I will be happy to refresh your memory.

This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
     - Mother Goose

Why Mother Goose?  Well, A) She is awesome.  B) I at times I feel like I am caught in that nursery rhyme.  Everything is interconnected, busy and often confusing.  

But if Jack can build a house, so can we.

Tara

Perspective

After Levi's soccer game we headed over to a landscaping store to get a load of dirt for our garden.  I'll be the first to admit that I was "in a funk,"as we call it in our house.  No good reason for my bad mood, but there it is.  I had been snippy with my family and really just an unpleasant person to be around.

As we pull into the parking lot we come face to face with a truck that has rolled completely on its side.  If you didn't know, Phil worked for EMSA for years.  I could tell just by looking at his reaction to the scene that it wasn't a small incident.  He asked me to stay with the boys while he went and saw how he could help.  I watched him help remove the unconscious man from the truck, make him comfortable and talk to him as he held his wounds.  That man couldn't hear a word he said.  Phil stayed until they loaded him in the ambulance and then came back to me.  In his eyes I saw sadness.  A deep sorrow for a person whose life hangs in the balance.

And you know what I thought in that moment?  We have a heavenly Father who loves us and the love of each other...does anything else really matter? We will be stressed about our house a lot in the next few months.  But, God willing, we will continue to be stressed together.

Phil will probably be unhappy that I am posting this, but I want our boys to read this story one day and know what an incredible daddy they have.  He is a man with courage, strength, compassion and character.  God gave me an incredible gift when he gave him to me.  And I want to remind our boys to always keep things in the right PERSPECTIVE.

Tara

We're Homeless!

Just kidding.  But as of yesterday we don't have a home LOAN.  And we no longer have a "house."  Here's why...

A year and a half ago wildfires ripped through my parents neighborhood and left a lot vacant.  My parents love to buy land...and I do mean LOVE.  I would almost call it a "hobby" on my mom's side of the family.  So, when the opportunity came for them to buy the above-mentioned lot they jumped on it. For a while they couldn't decide if they would build on it or not.  Finally, they decided that they would rather "will" the property to us.  My parents are incredibly giving.  It is one of the things I love about them and pray that I have learned from them.  They basically told us, "you can have the lot now and enjoy it, or wait until we die and then you will get it then." HA!  I love them.  However, Phil had just started a new job and the timing just wasn't right to build.  So we waited.

Then about 4 months ago, due to the great real estate market and low interest rates we decided to explore whether or not we could afford to build "the house of our dreams."  In order to do that we made a short list for ourselves:  look into financing and basic planning, sell our house, design the new house, close on our house, and move.  Things moved at lightning speed from there.

We found out that yes, we COULD afford the house we want.  Check.  Then we decided to get ready to list the house.  Less than two weeks later, before we had even listed our house we got an amazing (as-is) offer...which we of course ACCEPTED.  Check.  We finalized our house plans (post to come later). Check.  At this point we started to feel a little overwhelmed.  All of this had happened in a matter of weeks.  God decided to send us a reprieve, in the form of a bank.  The buyer's bank required additional paperwork, setting closing back 2 weeks.  At the time I was frustrated, but looking back I see that the extra time was a huge blessing.  It gave us more time for our move (more about where we are living later) and more time to make decisions on the new house.  Wednesday night, Phil and I finished cleaning out the house.  Check.  Yesterday, we officially closed.  House sold.  Check.

So now the real adventure begins.  We close on our construction loan on Monday.  We hope to be in the new place by Christmas.  Stay tuned for our successes, failures, joys and frustrations.  I make no promises on how often I will post.  I want this to be a memoir for our family, something to look back at in 20 years and remember the craziness.

Tara