Drop Back and Punt

With football season looming in the not-so-distant future, today's conversastion with our would-be concrete man left me feeling just this way. Just swell. There is no denying the fact that a statement my husband made today to our builder-friend Dave is SO true:

"This house is going to be built on faith.

No 2 ways about it."

Dave gave us alot of good pointers, offered a hand of fellowship and help when we go to do the actual wall-raising, and pointed us in the direction of a reputable concrete foundation company. It was a very productive conversation, though the end results was different than we had planned. It helped that he and his wife and 6 children live in a 10x32' (or thereabouts) travel trailer while they wait to be able to build their own house. A shot of "you can do this" was just what we needed. His best piece of advice came in the words, "You guys are gonna have fun doin' this. Just don't let the devil steal your joy." How very true!

It was difficult not to let that happen though, as we discovered that our concrete slab was going to cost about twice what we had figured. Meaning labor was going to cost us as much as materials. We don't have that much to spend. So we are now back to the original plan - a wooden pier foundation. It is exactly what we wanted to do in the first place, for several reasons other than cost. Here are a few places to look at what we're talking about (in case this is all Greek to you!)

• An Explaination of Wood Post Foundation Piers
• Our cabin will be built a bit like this one.
• This site has an awesome description of the how & why's of pier-foundations.
• This site is full of owner-built homes with pictures and stories of each "cabin". It's amazing what a little inginuity, hard-work, thinking outside the box and determination can accomplish!

An exhausting, exhilerating day in all. And we have yet to even pick up a hammer.

Why are we doing this?

A good question, and one we intended to share anyway so here goes.

We believe whole-heartedly that being debt-free is a biblical mandate. Not only is it profitable spiritually, but as with all of God's "rules", it has HUGE physical benefits as well. Shawn feels a call to be more active in the children's lives, to be a better father, a better husband. Part of what has kept him from those tasks in the past is a huge debt burden and thus, the need to work long arduous hours. When we build this home and as soon as our town house sells, our debt will be less than half of what it is currently. A move in the right direction don't you think?

And though we could have probably down-sized or something right here in town, there is more to the situation. We want our children to grow up unencumbered, free to play, pretend, etc. and living in town just does not facilitate such development. I mean, they can't really dig a trench in the back yard to play army in can they? Or build a medeival castle from plywood then burn it for a bonfire and roast hotdogs when it gets old. And we have to buy milk for our youngest son instead of milking our own goat to get it. We've stretched the town ordinances to allow us to have chickens but we are on a first-name basis with the Animal Patrol Officer! It's not worth it. Not for us. We could list 1,000 other reasons for wanting to move to the country but I think you get the drift. :o)

Ooooo! Our first glitch!!!

It's sortof pathetic that even the glitches are exciting at this point! hehehehe We need an address before the electric company can come and set our pole, and we can't get an address yet. Why? Because our property lays across 2 different sections. Meaning our address would be one thing if the house is built on one portion and a different address if it's built on the other. We're talking a difference of jsut a few feet would change our address. So now, rather than just calling in with the legal description and getting our address, we have to wait until the county assessor can measure, double-check, and call us back. And he works over a 3 county area so it might be awhile. :o)

NEWS!!!!

News...We have our funding approved to begin building! YEAH!!!! PRAISE THE LORD! This has been His hand all along and in so many ways I coudln't list them all. I will be posting our groundbreaking photos as soon as possible. Because we are doing almost all of the building ourselves I don't know how often I will be on here to do updates, photos, etc. but I will - trust me!

Our Cabin Plans

Here are the plans for our cabin!

"But it's so small!"

"Yeah, we know."

"And you have 4 kids right?"

"Last time we did a head count yeah. 4. That's right."

"Wow..."

"That's what we think too!"