We got to see our house plans!! Whoohoo!!! It's a bi-level and I love the open concept on the main floor. Main floor has living room, dining room, kitchen, full bathroom, and 3 bedrooms. The basement will have a small little rumpus room type area, 2 more bedrooms and my laundry room. The windows for the basement are HUGE 48"X48" if I remember correctly. Our house faces north, so we'll have nice sun in our backyard all day for the most part. I love that my kitchen window and dining room window have east facing windows, it will be lovely making breakfast with the morning sun streaming through! Our front has a super cute little veranda that will be covered, I can hardly wait to sit on there sipping tea with my hubby watching the community..yay!!!!
Tuesday we will meet our family partner and learn more about how we go about earning our hours and how our friends and family can. Then Saturday is the big day...FRAMING DAY!!! I can hardly wait to meet everyone, it will be just awesome! I'm a little nervous of course, but it's that nervousness that you get just before going on stage, that totally excited kind!!
I'll post either after our meeting with our Habitat family partner or later this week.
God bless, Penny!!!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Update from April 18th meeting
Well, we signed our first batch of paperwork! We also were able to meet a few more Habitat staff!
We also learned a bit more about how things work and first on the list is our sweat equity hours. These right now, are the MOST important thing to get done. We CANNOT move into our house until ALL 500 hours have been completed. It is going to be a difficult process for us simply because of our limitations (not all fitting in our van, me not driving), but I have faith the Lord will continue to provide as He has done all along. We will meet at some point next week with our family worker (he/she will be the one who helps keep track of our hours and helps line up our volunteering to get our hours....I hope he/she is creative!!)
So, here's a breakdown of how sweat equity works:
~We need a total of 500 hours
~Both Bill and I must contribute 75 hours each ON SITE building for a total of 150hrs
~200 hours can be fulfilled by family and friends through volunteering hours at the building site (ours or the other families chosen this year) or at one of the two ReStores in the city or in the Habitat Office.
~Our Children (because they are 12 and under) can also contribute 25 hours each!!
Our biggest obstacle will be when both Bill and I need to attend classes or other things together....I'll need a babysitter, which can be hard to come by. Or, there will be times when we ALL need to attend something together and I will need to pull on someone to drive with us and take a kid or two. So, this will be a humbling experience for me on a personal level, besides the obvious. I am not one to ask for help, but to make this happen, I'm going to have to pull on everyone!!!
We also were able to see a picture of the beautiful young ladies who stepped up and made this happen. Four VERY special teenagers from a Christian Church in our city stepped up and raised approx$46 000 of the necessary $110 000. The church is raising the rest by donations and fundraising from individuals and businesses. I can hardly wait to meet these ladies and thank them so very much. It was awe inspiring to look at their picture as they presented the first cheque, it brought tears to my eyes instantly!! As one of the staff members said, "We cry all the time around here!!" No Kidding!!! I don't think I've stopped!!lol
They didn't have the floorplans/bluprints there, so she will email those to me as soon as she can, but we did get to see this:
THAT'S OUR HOUSE!!!!!
Amazing huh?!?!
Bill and I didn't take a drive up there, the weather was awful. These are pics that Habitat had taken.
So, as I find out more, I'll post more!!
God bless, Penny
We also learned a bit more about how things work and first on the list is our sweat equity hours. These right now, are the MOST important thing to get done. We CANNOT move into our house until ALL 500 hours have been completed. It is going to be a difficult process for us simply because of our limitations (not all fitting in our van, me not driving), but I have faith the Lord will continue to provide as He has done all along. We will meet at some point next week with our family worker (he/she will be the one who helps keep track of our hours and helps line up our volunteering to get our hours....I hope he/she is creative!!)
So, here's a breakdown of how sweat equity works:
~We need a total of 500 hours
~Both Bill and I must contribute 75 hours each ON SITE building for a total of 150hrs
~200 hours can be fulfilled by family and friends through volunteering hours at the building site (ours or the other families chosen this year) or at one of the two ReStores in the city or in the Habitat Office.
~Our Children (because they are 12 and under) can also contribute 25 hours each!!
Our biggest obstacle will be when both Bill and I need to attend classes or other things together....I'll need a babysitter, which can be hard to come by. Or, there will be times when we ALL need to attend something together and I will need to pull on someone to drive with us and take a kid or two. So, this will be a humbling experience for me on a personal level, besides the obvious. I am not one to ask for help, but to make this happen, I'm going to have to pull on everyone!!!
We also were able to see a picture of the beautiful young ladies who stepped up and made this happen. Four VERY special teenagers from a Christian Church in our city stepped up and raised approx$46 000 of the necessary $110 000. The church is raising the rest by donations and fundraising from individuals and businesses. I can hardly wait to meet these ladies and thank them so very much. It was awe inspiring to look at their picture as they presented the first cheque, it brought tears to my eyes instantly!! As one of the staff members said, "We cry all the time around here!!" No Kidding!!! I don't think I've stopped!!lol
They didn't have the floorplans/bluprints there, so she will email those to me as soon as she can, but we did get to see this:
THAT'S OUR HOUSE!!!!!
Amazing huh?!?!
Bill and I didn't take a drive up there, the weather was awful. These are pics that Habitat had taken.
So, as I find out more, I'll post more!!
God bless, Penny
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Welcome!!! Our very first Post!!
Here you will find updates regarding the progress of our Habitat for Humanity Home.
First, I will share a bit of how we got here!
Last June in 2007 I found out that a cyberlist friend was having a Habitat home built for her and her family. They too, have a larger than average family. It got the wheels in my head turning and I thought "What if WE could do this?". Something in me really pushed to find out more about how to become a partner with Habitat.
We learned that there was going to be a meeting on September 12th (My birthday!!) explaining how Habitat works and how to apply. So, we attended! We were totally excited about how the program works and that we qualified to apply!! So, we began the process of gathering information and putting together our application.
After our application was accepted, we were invited to come into the office for a meeting with the head family worker (this is the first phase of acceptance). Our meeting went really well and we were told that there a group of townhouses that were going to be built and this is where we would live should we be accepted through the next phases.
In November, we received a call that we had been accepted and were now onto phase two, a home visit. Two workers came to our house to meet with us and the children. We talked about what obstacles were in our way in our current living situation and what we thought it meant to become a family partner with Habitat. We did a walk through the house and were surprised to discover that on top of issues we were already aware of, there are numerous other code violations in our rental house!
After that home visit we waited and waited to find out if we had been accepted as a Habitat family. I couldn't wait any longer and called Lili at the end of February. Apparently there had been a family emergency with one of the board members (they make the final decision after the home visits) and we would find out within a week.
Lili called back the first week of March, YES! We had been accepted as a family, however, our city messed with the plans and decided the garages needed to be bigger, thus eliminating the Chance of us being able to have 5 bedrooms. We were heartbroken. Lili assured us that she would keep us on file incase a lot became available before July. If not, we would need to start the whole application process again come September!
Which brings us to now. On Monday, April 14th shortly after 2:30pm the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Habitat, my heart skipped a beat as I pressed the answer button! It was Lili!! In that moment, our lives changed for the better. As her words came through the phone lines "We have a home for you!!" I was speechless..the tears started rolling. Tears of complete joy. The kids began jumping up and down and wooting. What a dream come true, what an answer to our prayers!!!
The group that is sponsoring us has no idea the joy they have brought to our hearts! I can hardly wait to meet them and give them all a huge hug! What a blessing!
PLease bear with me as I build this site, and join us on our journey as we build our HOME and our DREAM!
God bless, Penny
First, I will share a bit of how we got here!
Last June in 2007 I found out that a cyberlist friend was having a Habitat home built for her and her family. They too, have a larger than average family. It got the wheels in my head turning and I thought "What if WE could do this?". Something in me really pushed to find out more about how to become a partner with Habitat.
We learned that there was going to be a meeting on September 12th (My birthday!!) explaining how Habitat works and how to apply. So, we attended! We were totally excited about how the program works and that we qualified to apply!! So, we began the process of gathering information and putting together our application.
After our application was accepted, we were invited to come into the office for a meeting with the head family worker (this is the first phase of acceptance). Our meeting went really well and we were told that there a group of townhouses that were going to be built and this is where we would live should we be accepted through the next phases.
In November, we received a call that we had been accepted and were now onto phase two, a home visit. Two workers came to our house to meet with us and the children. We talked about what obstacles were in our way in our current living situation and what we thought it meant to become a family partner with Habitat. We did a walk through the house and were surprised to discover that on top of issues we were already aware of, there are numerous other code violations in our rental house!
After that home visit we waited and waited to find out if we had been accepted as a Habitat family. I couldn't wait any longer and called Lili at the end of February. Apparently there had been a family emergency with one of the board members (they make the final decision after the home visits) and we would find out within a week.
Lili called back the first week of March, YES! We had been accepted as a family, however, our city messed with the plans and decided the garages needed to be bigger, thus eliminating the Chance of us being able to have 5 bedrooms. We were heartbroken. Lili assured us that she would keep us on file incase a lot became available before July. If not, we would need to start the whole application process again come September!
Which brings us to now. On Monday, April 14th shortly after 2:30pm the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Habitat, my heart skipped a beat as I pressed the answer button! It was Lili!! In that moment, our lives changed for the better. As her words came through the phone lines "We have a home for you!!" I was speechless..the tears started rolling. Tears of complete joy. The kids began jumping up and down and wooting. What a dream come true, what an answer to our prayers!!!
The group that is sponsoring us has no idea the joy they have brought to our hearts! I can hardly wait to meet them and give them all a huge hug! What a blessing!
PLease bear with me as I build this site, and join us on our journey as we build our HOME and our DREAM!
God bless, Penny
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