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!

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