Hide, Seek and Save

The last few weeks we have been waiting for the weather to clear.  After the destruction of the tornado in Moore last week we are more thankful than ever to have a roof over our heads during this time of transition.
At this stage of the build, we have to have fairly dry ground so that concrete trucks don't get stuck (again) in all the muck.  During the (very) wet and rainy days we have taken the opportunity to check some more items off our list.  We visited a few lumber yards to set up our construction accounts, did an initial review of our door and window orders, and made our decision on which framer to use.
We also cleaned up a few of the trees on the property and took time as a family to just play.  We are so blessed to have this beautiful land where we can build our home and love taking every opportunity to start building memories NOW.  The boys love running around the front yard!  And who doesn't love a good game of hide and seek?!?

Levi was long overdue for a trip to Texas, so on Friday we all loaded up and made our way to Gigi and Papa's.  While the boys played and napped at the house, we (Phil, Larry and I) made our way to a marvelous place known as ReStore.  It is a Habitat for Humanity resale shop.  We have one here in the city, but I have never had great luck finding anything.  We hit the JACKPOT at the Dallas location.  We have $4/sf in our budget for wall tile in our showers.  On Saturday we found a 6X6 white tile for both baths for $.63.  That is more than 80% UNDER budget! I still get giddy thinking about it.  We stopped by another store and found the accent tile for both baths.  The accent tile we decided on is a grey penny round for the boys bath and a white penny round for the master.  I expected to pay over budget for the accent tile, but again...UNDER budget.  Only a 25% savings, but every little bit helps. :)

On a side note, our dear friend Christa is saving my sanity right now.  She is a super busy, super awesome woman who takes time to answer my texts and phone calls when I am freaking out about one decision or another.  She reminds me that it is okay to pick things that aren't "the norm" and isn't afraid to tell me when I am totally crazy. We are slowly checking design items off the list, but the journey is far from over and I am so thankful I have a friend like her to help me.

Bible Study and a Track-hoe

Thursday was scheduled to be the start of our footings. The outline of the house was drawn on Tuesday and we were excited to get some more dirt moving so it looked like we were actually building a house. Months ago, I had scheduled to host Men's Bible study, a perfect time to show off our property. So, a campfire (don't worry it was approved per fire code... but that's another blog post), food, friends, and Bible study was on the plan for Thursday evening.

With the rain on Wednesday night, the ground was a bit wet so digging of the footings needed to wait until it dried out a bit. As 6:30pm hit, Tara was getting some hotdogs and s'mores together for Bible study and Dustin was unloading his track-hoe to dig the footings before dark. Great timing, right?

We still had Bible study, and Dustin still dug for the footings. I only had to excuse myself from Bible study a couple of times to check on the work, and once to invite Dustin to the backyard for a hotdog and a coke when he was done. He almost accepted the offer for a s'more, but maybe the desire to get home at the end of a day was stronger.

We finished Bible study and the footings were poured on Friday. It is starting to look like a home will be there soon! I'm happy to already be able to share our home with friends and be able to reach out to those we meet.

Watching the Track-hoe from the safety of the truck.

Bible study

Pouring footings

Completed footings. 

Half-Way House

When we decided to build our house we knew that we would be living with my parents.  I say "living with" loosely.  Behind my parents house is a fully functioning 1 bedroom apartment.  It isn't huge, but is lovely.  The main room is massive and it has its own entry.  People always ask if they can rent it.  And the answer is always "no".  Why?  Because my parents prefer to use it for people (like us) who need a temporary home as they transition through different phases of their lives.  I have lost count of how many people they have shared the space with.  Some people stay for a night, a week, or a few months.  Most are my friends, who my parents now consider to be part of our family.

There are a few benefits that encouraged this choice.  We could save more while we were building.  My parents REFUSE for anyone to pay while living here.  We sneak things in, like buying toilet paper, and try to help out in other ways by mowing the yard or doing laundry for them once in a while.  We could also be literally a minute away from our build site.  If a contractor needs to ask a question I don't have to load the boys up in the car.  I just strap Nate into Levi's mini F-150 (thanks Grandmother) and walk beside them to the property.  And yes, my parents would be here to help us with our kids.  I have said it before and you will hear it again, but our children have been blessed with wonderful grandparents on both sides.  So yes, having childcare 10 feet away is a benefit.  Did you think I would leave that one out? :)

We have lived here before (this is actually my THIRD "lease").  Back when I was pregnant with Levi we knew that God had called me to be a stay-at-home mom.  So Phil put in for a transfer with EMSA and we sold our house in Broken Arrow.  We then moved into my parents "half-way house."  At the time we tried to bring as much of our stuff as we could comfortably fit in the apartment.  We didn't know how long we would be here.  Our original plan was 6 months.  Levi was a year old before we ended up moving.  

This time we opted for a more minimalist approach.  We brought most of the boys things and set them up in the one bedroom.  We purged our clothing and brought only what we wear.  I share the ONLY closet with the boys (yes, that is sometimes a struggle) and Phil uses a wardrobe in the living room.  Phil and I are living studio style and have a (full) bed tucked behind the couch in the living room.  Everything else got put in storage.  And honestly, it is so liberating.  I am so excited to come to the end of this journey and have a home that can be a hub for family gatherings, church activites and someday a hang-out for our kids and their friends.  But until then, we are loving our little place.  

Roller Coaster Day

Today was a busy day filled with so many emotions.  I woke up to a fussy baby and a super excited toddler.  My morning was full of commitments, so I loved on Nate and dropped Levi off at my best friend's house for a play date (thank you Tracy!).

I then made my way home to meet the dirt crew to prep our site.  They showed up at 9 am (right on time) to start breaking ground in preparation for our foundation.  We knew we didn't need any fill dirt, but I hadn't expected to feel so lost.  This was one of those "wow, what have we gotten ourselves into?" moments.  They had so many questions and I felt like I had no answers.  I mean how hard can it be to prep a site, for crying out loud?  But after multiple phone calls, explanations and a self-imposed dose of perspective I made the decisions necessary and moved on to the most important and moving part of my day.
Phil and I were blessed to know a sweet young lady named Montana, and were honored to attend her memorial service today.  Montana's loving spirit and her faithful family have impacted our family and many others.  As I sat there remembering her life I again prayed that God would guide our family through this process.  To remind us that everyone we encounter needs to know the love of Jesus and that we can be that messenger.
I am so thankful for the journey ahead of us.  I love seeing the joy on our kids' faces that we have started the process.  I am pretty sure Levi was beginning to think it was all a hoax.  Phil and my parents were looking at the lot after dinner.  When Levi saw them he started chanting "Who is it?  What are they doing? Are they building our house?" over, and over, and over.  Sweet little dude, it has just started.  And the best is yet to come...in more ways than one.

By the light of the moon

Or, by the light of the truck.

We are scheduled to break ground tomorrow (YAY!) so the old fence had to come down. We removed the fence panels about a week ago (replaced with construction fence) but the posts were still in the way.

So at 8pm tonight Harlan and I did some digging, prying, and grunting for about 2 hours. The picture is after the work was done, and my truck was on its last bit of battery. A quick jump and the truck was ready to head back to the apartment. Let's all hope every night doesn't involve such minor hiccups!