VACATIONING to ND. We took a trip over the 4th of July weekend to visit Angela’s extended family. It was such a great relaxing trip and we were able to see relatives that we haven’t seen for quite a long time. Together we celebrated the early 95th birthday of great grandma Amy.
The cousins had a great time together playing, and taking in all the sights – including the annual Independence Day Parade. There is something really special about small towns!
SEEING our house take shape. Once the foundation was finished, things really started to go more quickly and now they are finishing up the framing! This has been the most exciting part of the process to date, as it is finally starting to look like a house!
CHOOSING items for the house. With the building in full swing, we are busy choosing the finishes and fixtures we want to be installed in the home. There are so many choices to make, including flooring, lighting, and even toilets!
At the same time, we are fixing up/refinishing items that will be going in the new house – such as this cast iron sink!
RUNNING with a goal. Craig had the idea to improve his mile time this summer. His overall goal was to run a mile under 7 minutes. And he reached it! He has since gone on to run it in 6:50. And his new goal is to get Angela under 7. We shall see about that…
This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our family YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!
Join me today as I give a virtual tour of our minimalist cottage! This is the home we hope to spend the rest of our lives in, and we have worked diligently to design it to meet all of our needs, now and in the future.
With framing in full swing, I thought it might be a good idea to do a quick virtual tour. This could prove helpful for anyone following along with our real life progress updates. I share day to day on Instagram Stories. And also give detailed updates every couple weeks on Youtube. It will be fun to look back and see how close to the original design intent the house ends up.
When this blog was originally started, about two years ago, we were under the impression that the house would be built within the first year. But, as you know, that wasn’t the case. And, though the delays were frustrating, I am able to look back with gratefulness for the extra design time.
DESIGN CHANGES
For reference, THIS is my very first post regarding the design of the house. It was quite a bit larger then. We realized fairly early on that we needed to make major square footage cuts to keep the budget in check.
In fact, it seemed that as time went on we continued to simplify the design MORE and MORE. But with each revision we became increasingly satisfied with the house. There hasn’t been a single change, or simplification, that we have regretted – including THIS surprise last minute revision that created a more open concept main level. Every single change has led us to where we are today.
And where exactly are we? Home. A structure so perfectly suited for our family of seven that I hesitate to call it a house. It genuinely already feels like home, and we can’t wait to move in!
OUR MINIMALIST COTTAGE
The design of Arrow Hill Cottage has forced us to look closely at the way our family lives. And to explore our spacial needs both now and in the future. We realized during this process that, in many ways, we are quite minimal. It is more important for us to have time together within the same spaces, rather than retreat to our own rooms. And the storing of rarely used items is not a priority for us either.
We were able to settle on a comfortable floor plan that is just over 2,000 finished square feet. This includes the basement, main and upper levels. It should meet our needs now, with five growing children, and also accommodate my husband and I with main floor living, as we age. There is even potential, when all the kids are grown and moved out, to rent out the lower level for additional income.
TAKE THE VIRTUAL TOUR
I encourage you to watch the video of our cottage. It is quite a bit longer than the typical video I put out, but there is a ton of information! And, I think it gives great insight into why certain design decisions were made. I hope you enjoy!
Be sure to keep checking back for more house progress updates in the near future!
The foundation for our new house and attached garage/front porch is finished! It has taken a while to gather all of the footage and photos to document this portion of the build, but today I am ready to share with all of you this exciting step!
I have heard from those who have gone before us in this building process – that the foundation portion is perhaps the most slow moving. And, so far, that has been the case for us as well. I think it has to do with the fact that the process has to be done in multiple steps. First, the footings. Then, the foundation walls for the basement (if any), and finally the garage and porch foundation.
For our property we had an additional couple of steps because of the walkout portion of the basement.
OUR FOUNDATION
When it comes to foundations, there are a variety of options available. We chose to utilize a somewhat new technique called ICF foundations. Insulated Concrete Forms are becoming more of a standard in home construction. Though they are a bit more costly material wise, but the final product provides a very thick and sturdy foundation wall.
The main difference between an ICF foundation and a traditional poured foundation is that the forms they set before filling with concrete are permanent. They become a part of the foundation itself. With insulation on both sides, there is no need to add any after the fact. You can read more about Insulated Concrete Forms here.
PHOTOS OF THE FOUNDATION PROCESS
The very first step of foundation work is to set the footings. They are slightly wider than the foundation walls, and need to rest below the frost level. Here in good ol’ Minnesota, that means a minimum of five feet below finished grade. That is one of the reasons that most homes in our area have finished basements. The excavators are already digging so deep, that it isn’t a lot of extra work to add them!
Our basement includes one wall that is a walkout. This will be great for evenings out on the patio, and for the kids when they have friends over. Because the finished grade on the walkout side is lower than the rest of the site, they started the digging there.
They set the footing forms out of wood, then poured them with rebar inserted. You can see from this picture how the lower level is ‘stepped’ to include the walkout wall.
This picture shows the same walkout wall, now poured up to the finished basement floor height, in line with the rest of the basement.
The walls went up rather quickly using the ICF’s. This is, again, the walkout side of the house. We are really loving the privacy back here!
Viewing the foundation from the street-side though, I had a bit of a panic attack. One of my goals all along was to minimize the height of the house, to help it blend in with the neighborhood surroundings. And to me, the foundation looked like it was sitting so high out of the ground!
This happened in part because of our sewer dilemma. In order to avoid needing a sewage lift station in our basement, they raised the entire foundation by six inches. We discussed options to make up for these extra inches, including using shallower floor trusses. Ultimately though, we were reassured that the grading would help everything blend in nicely, and so we decided to just carry on.
BASEMENT PLUMBING
The plumbing crew came in and added the basement connections. They also added a radon mitigation system, which will run from below grade to above the roof. This is a new requirement for residential construction. Essentially it will help to release any radon gas that accumulates below grade, making it a safer place for us to occupy.
Once that was finished, they also connected the house to the city water and sewer system, which will run under the driveway. This created another freak out moment for me when I noticed a large PVC pipe sticking out of the ground right where the front of the porch would be!
Turns out this is the sewer clean-out. I was again reassured that grading would put this pipe at grade, and that it could be disguised with landscaping.
PORCH AND GARAGE FOUNDATION
The crew moved onto the porch and garage footings and foundation. Because there is no lower level below them, they didn’t need to dig quite as deep.
Meanwhile, they prepped the basement level for our in floor heating system. We are very excited to enjoy this feature in the cold winter months!
The crew was able to pour the porch and garage footings and the basement floor on the same day. That was very exciting! They came back the next day to set the foundation walls and poured them soon after.
This image shows the finished foundation walls. Standing in front of the porch and looking toward the house. The garage is set back, on the left.
PRELIMINARY GRADING
The excavating crew came back to smooth things out and, I have to say, they worked some magic. I was quite pleased to see that the grade did indeed help minimize the height of the foundation. It is still a bit higher than I would have liked, but ultimately there wasn’t much that could have been done. Looking on the bright side – being the highest house in the neighborhood should mean we will never have any water problems!
View from the street/ drive entrance looking toward house. You can use the pipe sticking out of the ground for reference. Watch the video below to see a more panoramic view of our site with the foundation finished.
UPDATE NO. 4 VIDEO
See our property take shape in this video!
That’s all for this update! I hope to be back in just a couple of weeks with the next step in our construction process- wood framing. We are super excited for this step, for a couple of reasons. One, it is supposed to go rather quickly. And two, because things will finally start taking the shape of a house! I know the kids are especially excited to walk around in the house and explore all the nooks and crannies!
ENJOYING the first part of summer break! As soon as school was out, the kids had a bunch of fun activity ideas – including playing with shaving cream on the picnic table!
Some got a bit more into it than others!
{L} also started his summer with surgery. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed. And although the healing process was a bit tough, he is doing so well now and is sleeping great with NO snoring!
WATCHING our dreams come to life. The building of Arrow Hill Cottage is in full swing!
The crew has already poured the footings and foundations, and done some site grading.
Meanwhile, we are working hard at making material selections. It is tough when faced with thousands of options!
We spend some time almost every single day out at the site, just enjoying the process – and feeling so blessed that we are embarking on this very special journey as a family.
You can read the latest house building update HERE.
TRYING new things. Summer is a time of exploration and discovery, especially for kids. It has been fun to see them try new things and learn from the experiences.
{I} took a three week beginner orchestra camp, learning how to play the violin. He enjoyed it and is excited to continue lessons during the school year.
The older boys had their first experience using the grill. They were pretty proud of their ability to cook hot dogs without burning them.
And little {M} surprised us big time, by learning how to ride a bike! Her brothers were so attentive and encouraging, even borrowing her the same bike that they learned to ride on.
SHOWERING this guy with love and appreciation. This Father’s Day we continued the tradition of seeing if Craig could ‘bear the weight’ of all of his kids at once. He succeeded… but next year might be tricky!
This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our family YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!
Funny story. Do you remember nine months ago when I made a major redesign to the main level? I was pleased with the change at the time and thought for sure I was done designing. Joke’s on me… apparently I wasn’t!
If you’ve been following along, you know that our building project has begun. We’ve cleared out trees, dealt with sewer issues, and the crew prepared the site. In fact, just this week the foundation for the house was poured! I will have an update on that over the next couple of weeks.
It’s all very exciting and welcomed progress, yet as soon as I saw the footings laid out on the site, I felt a nudge. You see, our site has some gorgeous views. It’s a gem of a property. And when I stood in the spot that would be our future living room, imagining the three large windows facing the beautiful woods, I couldn’t help but want to open up the view even more.
I looked at the 3D images that I had drawn, and thought. Was it possible?
Truth be told, I kept these thoughts to myself for a while. Surely my patient husband didn’t need the added stress of his wife redesigning a house that was currently being built. But I couldn’t shake the idea from my mind.
And then… a lightbulb moment
All along I had been holding onto the idea of our restored vintage cabinets, flanking a very formal front entry. But then I realized that this setup actually created quite a bit of rarely used square footage. Did we really want to allocate nearly a tenth of our main floor footprint to something that wouldn’t be needed on a daily basis? My simple answer was ‘no’.
main floor before
Taking the formal entryway out of the picture, the space absolutely opened up. I was able to maintain a small area by the front door for coat hooks and a small bench to be used by guests and visitors. The beautiful cabinets were then positioned to frame an opening to the kitchen.
main floor after
Speaking of the kitchen. I am SO in love with this new concept, which puts the amazing cast iron sink on center stage!
That large window will be sized to fit perfectly over our vintage sink.
Overall, the public parts of the main level are now open to one another and will be graced with ton of natural daylight. And, of course, the spectacular view is expanded.
Additional benefits of the redesign
Apart from the increased view, this redesign has a couple other benefits. With a large space opened up, there is now room for an even larger dining room table. It has always been my dream to have a table that can seat at least ten. This space will accommodate a table that size, or even bigger! As a bonus, there will be room for an additional piece of furniture near the table.
Perhaps a china hutch, or a fun and interesting vintage piece such as an old apothecary cabinet.
In the kitchen, we can include a larger fridge. I had always thought we would use a counter depth model, until we found that they were quite a bit more expensive than the deeper versions. It seems silly to pay more for something that has less space, but that is just the way it is. Counter depths are considered an ‘upgrade’. Surely our growing family will fill up a standard depth fridge with no problem!
The home is also made more handicap accessible, should any of our family members find ourselves in a wheelchair at some point. There is a natural wide pseudo hallway running the entire distance of the open room, and the kitchen includes plenty of space to turn.
What the redesign entails
All of this seems to add up to a major change, but in reality it isn’t a big deal! It shouldn’t send our contractor or the crews scrambling around too much anyway! Essentially, we will need to purchase two additional windows for the house – a large one for above the sink, and another for the living room. Our front door will change, from one with sidelights to a door only.
The exterior will also look a bit different too, with the removal of the small gable dormer above the porch and the addition of a column set.
Though I’ll admit that I do like the exterior look of the original design a bit better, the revised version is a manageable trade-off for the increased function and livability inside. And, I am giddy at the thought of two planters!
So, there you have it. Our surprise redesign. I have said for years that I work best under pressure. Apparently that includes adding design tweaks mere weeks before the house needs to be built. A few of the construction document sheets will need to be re-printed. But it will be worth it.
I would love to know your thoughts on this last minute redesign. But, hey. If you have any additional improvement ideas- please keep them to yourself. There isn’t time to go back to the drawing board again after this! Ha!
Though not as glamorous as other portions of the project, site work is an important step in new home construction. Since we now have the okay to build, I plan to write an update every couple of weeks to document this process. I hope that you will follow along from wherever you are reading!
Update number three is all about the site work that has gone into preparing our land for a new home.
DEALING WITH THE TREES
As I mentioned previously, We had begun the site preparation ourselves by cutting down quite a few of the huge oak trees on our property. Craig’s parents were willing to help us with the tree removal in trade for firewood, which they use as a winter heat source.
We reserved quite a few of the straight log pieces. Asking around, we were able to find someone willing to mill them into lumber. With this lumber we hope to add some special accents to our home, including our dining room table.
The man who is going to do the milling for us collected the logs and brought them to his shop. We are hoping to have the kiln dried lumber from him by the end of the summer.
EROSION CONTROL MEASURES
With all the trees removed from the building area, the excavating crew set to work. First, the crew added some environmental protection measures. Our city has in place ordinances to prevent erosion during the construction process.
One measure is to add large gravel rocks to the portion of the driveway closest to the street. Because large trucks are in and out of a seemingly muddy construction site many times per day, these rocks help to loosen the mud before it is tracked onto the road.
Another way to prevent erosion is by adding a temporary silt fence around the portion of the site where the work will take place. In the event that sediment becomes loose on our building site, this fence will stop it from reaching the nearby pond. This will protect the pond’s water quality.
SCRAPING THE SITE
Approximately six inches of topsoil was scraped and pushed aside on the site, for future use. Because this topsoil contains quite a bit of organic material, it is not stable to build on top of. Small plants or brush might grow into the concrete foundation if the topsoil is not removed. In addition, topsoil holds in moisture. If pressed onto a concrete foundation, it may hinder it from curing properly.
This soil is, however, a wonderful material that will be spread back into place once the house is finished. It will be the perfect base in which to plant grass seed.
PLANNING THE EXACT HOUSE LOCATION
The excavation crew called me to the site to determine where exactly the house would be positioned. Although we had a basic idea of the location previously, the site looked a lot different with fewer trees. I have to say that, to date, this has been the most stressful part of the building process for me. It just seemed like the first real permanent decision. And that decision can’t be changed further on in the process if we are unhappy.
Our site is not a standard city lot where all houses are facing in the same direction toward the street. Because of this, we had quite a bit more flexibility on how to orient the house. Factors such as natural daylight, slope, views, and sight-lines all came into play and eventually we settled on what we think will be a good location.
Tape measures were run, laser levels were activated, and the crew was able to stake out the corners of the house and garage. I think it is pretty amazing how these modern day tools speed up the process.
DIGGING THE HOLE
Finally, the entire site was prepared and the crew could begin digging the hole for the basement. Above all, this is the portion of site work that I was most looking forward to. Seeing the large machinery in action was truly incredible.
We found that our site has quite sandy soil, with a bit of gravel content. This is actually favorable for house building. It basically ensures that, as long as the ground is graded properly, we will never have water issues in our basement. Compacted sand also provides a great base to build upon.
A portion of the soil was taken off site. The rest was left, to fill in around the footings and foundation.
SITE WORK COMPLETE
After hours of digging, and packing down the soil, the site started to take shape. And oh was it ever exciting!
This picture shows the outline of the house, marked in orange. It will be easier to see once the footings and foundation are set up. We are really excited for that next step! I have heard that once the foundation is complete, the rest of the building process seems to go very quickly!
SITE WORK | HOUSE BUILDING UPDATE NO. 3
This video shows the crew working hard to prepare our site for construction!
It’s pretty excited to finally be seeing a bit more progress, and things will really start to go quickly once the foundation gets started. We hope to be able to share that update next! Be sure to subscribe to the Arrow Hill Cottage YouTube channel, where I will be posting an entire video series on our new house build.
EXCITED to see some progress on our house building! The appraisal came back better than we expected, and we closed on our construction loan at the beginning of the month.
Since then, we have taken down quite a few more trees, experienced some sewer drama, and watched the crew begin site prep. Watch the linked videos for more info on all of that!
Still so far to go, but we are anxious to finally be seeing some movement!
PREPARING for some projects of our own.
While the crew takes care of the house building, we will be finishing up some of the projects that are small enough for us to tackle. We still have projects from last year’s summer bucket list to finish. Eight of the dining room chairs still need to be painted black, the girl’s bed frames need to be sanded and repainted, and these lovely cast iron sinks could use a good scrubbing and some TLC.
FINISHING up the school year. This has been the craziest month to date in terms of activities. Track meets, field trips, and concerts. Even preschool graduation!
We have had a wonderful school year, but are very much looking forward to summer and all the fun that’s in store!
STEPPING into summer with grateful hearts. Every year on Mother’s Day I ask for just one special gift. Family photos and a picture of myself with all of our babies.
So blessed to call this family mine. And looking forward to spending more time together in the coming months!
This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our family YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!
It has been a whirlwind to say the least. In the last update I gave you, we were busy clearing trees from the property in the hopes that we would be able to build. We had to wait for our appraisal report, to find out if it would financially make sense to build at this moment in time.
Sorry to leave you hanging like that, but a lot has happened since that point – and I am ready to share all of that with you today!
A seasoned blogger might put their reader in suspense. Maybe make them scroll through the entire post to get to the news that they came for. Lucky for you, I’m not a seasoned blogger. I feel like sharing this news right away!
The answer is…YES!
We are going to be building our simple dream house!
To be honest, I doubted this many times over the past couple of weeks. I questioned our motives. Wondered if we were being foolish or greedy. It isn’t easy to take on a dream that has been in the back of your mind for so many years. You question why that dream came to be in the first place. Lose a bit of your resolve.
But, through many heart felt conversations with family and friends, and silent prayer seeking His truth, we felt hopeful. And just last week it was confirmed.
We signed on the dotted line, our intention to make this dream a reality. And we couldn’t be more excited (or nervous) about it.
If you think it has been all sunshine and roses since closing day though, think again. In fact there has been a whole lot of drama. Hence the title of today’s update post.
So much has happened in the past coupe of weeks, in fact, that it is hard to explain. I knew it would be much easier for me to sort it out in video format instead of typing every last word. Though the video is a bit long, I encourage you to watch through the entire sixteen minutes, to get up to speed to where we are at! Information given in the video may become relevant in future new home construction updates.
HOUSE BUILDING UPDATE NO.2
Whew! If you watched through the video you know that the roller coaster ride has just begun. We were aware that new home construction presented some drama, I think we just were surprised to see it happening so soon! I hope you will come along for the ride and share all the highs and lows with us!
At this point it is my plan to give house building updates at least once every couple of weeks, perhaps once per week if there is enough to share. I also hope to continue blogging about simple living tips and resources, as time allows.
Let’s be honest though, this summer is mainly going to be ALL about the house! Other posts regarding our new home construction can be found HERE.
As step one in the construction of our new, custom designed cottage, we are starting site clearing. Our building site is essentially covered with mature trees, some of which are possibly over one hundred years old.
Arrow Hill Cottage Construction | Week 1
For future construction updates, please visit this link
It feels a little surreal to be writing this post documenting the start of a construction process, after ten plus years of dreaming, planning, and calculating. And, in full disclosure, we aren’t even fully sure that everything will be going ahead just yet.
We are currently in a holding pattern, waiting on appraisal results. The bank wants to know what the value of our property, with the house we are proposing, will be worth when completed. This appraisal valuation will determine the amount of money they are willing to loan us for the construction.
Ideally, we would not have to go through the bank at all. Yet, as you are probably aware, building a brand new house is quite the investment. Knowing that we are planning to live in this house for hopefully the rest of our lives, we are willing to put more money toward it upfront.
However, as mentioned in a recent post about how to save money, we are a frugal pair. Spending this large sum of money is scary for us, and we want to be sure we are doing things in a financially wise way. Being guided by emotions alone could get us in trouble.
So, for now, we wait to hear back. In the meantime, we want to be productive and moving in a forward direction. And so, this past weekend we started clearing the site.
NATURAL FEATURES OF THE SITE
Our building site features over two and a half acres of mature trees. Mainly, species of oak, maple and aspen. The land slopes toward a 6 acre pond. It is an incredible setting, and we absolutely want to be mindful of the unique natural features during construction.
The photo above was taken many years ago, when we first purchased the property. Standing on the frozen pond and looking toward the land, one can get a clear view of the site’s beauty.
You can read about why we chose the name Arrow Hill Cottage for our property in this post. Take a virtual tour of the site by checking out this post.
SITE CLEARING FOR OUR NEW HOUSE
Though it is sad to think of having to take down any tree, removing a hundred year old tree is that much more painful. However, there is simply no way around the fact that some trees will need to be lost in order to build a house on this particular site.
I was very careful, during the design process, to minimize the house footprint. This decision will reduce the number of trees that will need to be removed.
We walked the property with our contractor and the excavator, to determine a general position for the house. They marked the trees that they felt would be within the footprint, or would be too close to the finished house. Then Craig and his dad set to work.
CUTTING TREES DURING SITE CLEARING
Thankfully, Craig’s dad has a lot of experience with cutting down large trees. Craig’s parents continue to heat their house through the winter by using a wood burning furnace. It definitely isn’t the most convenient method of heating a home, but the warmth is unsurpassed.
Instead of paying a tree removal company to come and cut down the trees, we were able to do a trade of service. By helping us remove the trees, we compensated Craig’s parents with wood that can be used to heat their house. A win for everyone involved.
A few of the very large oak trees have long, straight trunks. We hope to find someone who is able to mill these into boards. These boards would then create a very special feature piece for the finished house – a harvest dining table.
CLEARING THE SITE VIDEO
Though it was sad to cut down such large trees, it was an amazing site (and sound) to watch.
GETTING THE KIDS INVOLVED
This process is so special for our family. Our boys especially are very interested in how the house will come together. They want to be involved as much as possible, and clearing the site offered a wonderful opportunity. Our oldest and youngest son joined us this time, while our middle son helped out by watching the girls.
They got a kick out of trying to use semi-dulled axes to cut at a few of the smaller trees. Hauling away the branches and loading the logs into grandpa’s truck were a couple other things that kept them busy while the adults were doing the heavy work.
Of course, there is always time for a short hot cocoa break! Showing our children the hard work that is involved in building a house is invaluable. We hope that these memories will stay with them throughout their lives. And I will cherish these photos.
COMING UP NEXT
After a few more trees are cleared, and we are able to mark out the property lines and the setbacks, we will be able to position the house. There is still a bit of a question as to the most suitable angle for the house.
On paper, it made sense to angle the cottage so that the porch was oriented toward the road. When standing on the site, however, there is an argument to be made in favor of rotating it so that the long dimension faces the pond. This would give the best pond view out of the living room window. It would also, according to the excavator, be less expensive when it comes to positioning the walkout and the amount of retaining wall that would need to be used.
The trade off of this rotation is that the view from the kitchen sink wouldn’t be ideal. It’s likely we will end up splitting the difference between both rotations.
The positioning of the cottage is going to be pretty important. It isn’t like a wall color that can be changed in a few years!
OTHER SIMPLE HOUSES BEING BUILT
If you enjoy following people who build their dream homes, consider checking out these fun blogs!
SUPPORTING our small Christian school by helping to create some fun projects for the Gala live auction. The Wood burned ‘signs of the cross’ mirror was created by the 7th and 8th grade students. Even though they were nervous to work with the wood burning tool at first, they were able to finish a beautiful work of art!
This adorable ‘God’s work of art’ chair was something all 100+ students from grades K-8 had a part in. Each was given a small teardrop shape to decorate any way they wanted. It turned out amazing!
RUNNING on a daily basis. The weather has finally been cooperative enough for the adults to run outside two to three days per week. School track practice has also begun.
{D} is running for his first year with the middle school, and is really being pushed hard. He is in the middle distance group, which means he focuses on the 400m and 800m races. High jump is also something he is learning. At his first track meet of the season, {D} was able to race to a 2nd place finish in the 400, and a 6th place finish in the 800.
We are proud of his commitment to the sport, even though he claims to not like running very much.
Angela is also once again helping to coach track at our school. It is a much smaller program that focuses on the younger grades, teaching them the basics of proper running and jumping form, and learning how to encourage one another. There are about twelve participants, including {I}.
PREPARING the land to build. We had a bit of a shock at the beginning of April, when our house building estimates came back much higher than we anticipated. After talking with our contractor, material supplier, and the bank, we were able to get the overall numbers down to a reasonable level.
There is still one more major hurdle to cross before we can break ground though. The appraisal will need to meet a certain dollar value for this project to make sense. And, although we need to wait another week for the results of the report, we are moving forward with the hope that we will be able to break ground mid May, as scheduled. In the meantime, we have been out to the site and have begun clearing trees.
We do have a peace about the entire situation, and if the numbers don’t come back as we hope, we will be going back to the drawing board to work it all out. We are committed to building something on this site of ours!
CELEBRATING Easter! Our family had such a blessed Easter together. In the week leading up to Easter, we were able to view our church’s Passion Drama and really take in the true meaning of this all important holiday.
Easter morning we woke early for the sunrise church service. It is always such a beautiful service. The church is filled with white lilies and the brass quartet plays all of the amazing victorious hymns.
After the service we attended a brunch of egg bake and fruit, served by the youth. Once home, we had a small egg hunt for the kids. They all seemed to really enjoy working together to gather them all! In the evening we visited grandpa and grandma Jackson at their house for a delicious ham dinner.
It was such a special day!
This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our family YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!
