We raised our girls at our place in town. When we found it we were thrilled! Jim had lost his job the year before after his boss died and we moved from our 3 bedroom home to a 2 bedroom apartment closer to his new job and our new church. After 7 challenging months in that tiny place, God provided us with a bigger house to live in. The house was great … so much bigger than the apartment, but still small, maybe 1100 square feet but it was home to us and we had a happy life there. The yard was tremendous! The girls played outside for hours every day!

It was a dream to someday own our own home. We use to take drives and talk about places where we could potentially live. There were two spots out in the country where we stood at different times looking and planning … dreaming about the possibilities of a home of our own (with a 30-year mortgage of course!)

 

The girls were all grown and we were in our forties by the time we actually began the process. Our oldest daughter had the idea that she and her husband and her Dad and I could go in on a piece of property together and both build homes. She found a ten-acre parcel that was selling for an incredible deal. We all loved it and so the process began. And, it just happened to be in the same area as Jim and use to dream about living.

It was an exciting time and gave us the opportunity to focus on a real project instead of the fact that all three of our girls were settling into adult life apart from us at the same time. And we were going to be on top of a mountain with 360-degree views.

Six months and our home was built. We started with the driveway (it feels more like a road) and then the well. We had one major hitch but God worked it out for us and everything else seemed to go so smoothly.

We’ve been here for 13 years now … and loving it.