House Site Dug!

With the excavation done, we were ready to prepare for the foundation! A backhoe, a laser level, and an evening are all it took to dig up the new house site. In future posts this may become more clear, but to create the crawl space for the foundation, we dug down 24 inches. So it's ok if it looks like we are in a hole...because we are! The site dug is a bit bigger than the foundation, 40' x 64', to allow room for working.

Above: A taking his turn at our ground breaking ceremony.
Below: R really got into it and would have dug an entire hole if we had let her!

Above: J workin' the shovel.
Below: Mom had her turn too!

Ben chose to take the role of photographer for the event. Little Miss decided she didn't want to be left out and tried to join Mommy, but didn't maneuver the dirt very well and rolled in (literally!)...precious moments!

Excavation

After sitting for more than a month, excavation finally began! After tirelessly hunting for a builder and finalizing a plan for placement of the new building, we were ready to clean up the land and prepare it for the future.

I have been journalling a lot through this journey and am struck by the similarities between this process and the Christian life. When I step into covenant with God, He has to break up and remove all the old "me" to make room for His life in me. As we dug up and removed the old foundations on the property, things looked messed up, out of control and worse than when we started.




When God is working in me, in my life, I feel messed up, like things are out of sorts, out of control, like things are getting worse. But if I stop there, if I don't let Him continue, that is exactly what will happen. Only when I trust in His master plan, in His blueprint for me, and allow Him to finish His work, do things begin to take shape.


As the excavation continued, bit by bit, our plan became visible! It was so exciting to see in real life what we had been planning in our minds. But those who didn't know our plan, still couldn't see it...Only the people we had shared the blueprints and designs with could see what we could see. To everyone else, it was still a mess.

When God is finished tearing out the old, the new may still not be visible to me. Sometimes I get a glimpse of His blueprints, but sometimes I have to cling to hope that He is not done, that He will continue His plan and that it is a good one!

In life, this process can happen many times, as "old" is uncovered and more of "me" is "under construction"...but we only have simple plans for this little piece of property and don't see any more major renovations in the future!

Part of my journal included a good bye letter to our house...the building that had been our beloved home for so many years. As the foundation was buried, I buried the letter too. I found extreme healing in letting go and moving on!

Planning

It is interesting to me that the planning for this new home, really began many years ago...when we were first married. We dreamed about the kind of home we would some day own. We looked at layouts and kitchen designs and home theater setups and bathroom options. Then we got real, and designed a home we thought we could really build and enjoy. When we found the corn crib and the decision was made to remodel it, we let a piece of this dream go and morphed it into a new one.

Now that we had four kiddos, two of them girls, the need for a bit more space and a second bathroom (or at least a double sink!) became reality in our discussions. We started plans for an addition that we had planned to start in the fall of 2012. I planned a new layout and started picking out flooring and tile and cabinets. Then we lost the corn crib and the addition was no longer a possibility...another piece of our dream had to change to fit our new reality.

Above: view from our future front door.
Below: location of our future front door.

As the new reality set in, we took what we loved from the corn crib and morphed them into our original house design from more than a decade ago. What we came up with in the course of six weeks is a beautiful composition of both of us, our unique styles, our family's needs and entertaining fun! The plan includes a second bathroom, of course, and an office for Ben to edit video. An island for baking and craft projects with room for all the kiddos and several adults to join in! Plenty of room for football and large parties, but small enough we feel we can manage it even when the kiddos have all grown and move out.

I must say, I am absolutely in love with our new home...or at least the plan for our new home. While I never would have wished this trauma and crisis on our family, I believe God is using this raw material to bless us and allow us to bless others more than we could have imagined.

Above: view of the front of our future home.
Below: the kids participating in a step in the process.

There have been many times through this process that I have been very aware of God's hand of guidance. Some coincidences are just too much to accept as a mere coincidence. One such was at a Walmart after we moved into the rental and were working on getting our plan into a format we could share with builders. We ran into one of Ben's coworkers and got to talking about the clean up and moving and what our next few steps were...he just happens to have blueprint knowledge and capabilities! Then we learned he had needed something that only this Walmart had in stock at the time, but was not the closest to his house...he should not have been on that side of town, at that Walmart, at that time! Heading out to the vehicle to show him our hand drawn plans...we discovered he had parked literally right in front of us! Wow! What an amazing answer to our need!

(Oh, and he ended up being a tremendous help getting the layout in the computer the way we wanted it and talking us through some of the potential issues and possible solutions that still kept what was most important to us.)

Next...excavating!

Processing

Today is Thanksgiving, so my post today will focus on my thankfulness!

I have spent the month writing thank you notes...65 and counting! Sixty five people, families and groups that came and helped, did laundry, provided meals, sent money, brought furnishings for the house, sent diapers and clothes, babysat, opened their homes and gave us a place to stay, and most importantly prayed for us!

I have been filled with such overwhelming gratitude for all that has been said, done and given for our family. The port-a-potty sent, the travel trailer with air conditioning, the tractor and skid loaders, working in such unbearable heat! Each person so eager to help, offering what they had, and blessing us beyond words!

Within hours of the storm, my brother was on our property pulling items out. He stayed until dark to make sure we got as much as we could before the rain that came Tuesday. He helped us locate the photo albums and the box of negatives. I am so grateful!

My sister-in-law came and helped pull out laundry, clothing, sheets and took 21 loads to clean for us. A friend took 8 more loads. Another friend took items to be dry cleaned. What a blessing!

Ben's cousin and her hubby helped us uncover the boxes of paperwork, our taxes, medical info, that kind of stuff. What a relief to know, if we get audited, I have most of the paperwork I would need!

A volunteer fire fighter, someone we had never met before, brought up a truck and watered my garden! It was overtaken with weeds, but we got some pretty tomatoes and onions anyway!

Monday, July 18th, two churches from the area brought over 25 people and lots of machines. They got us torn down to the concrete in under four hours! Below is a picture of the foundation with the house completely removed. They saved us a lot of time and work!

There was so much devastation in the area, it was emotional just driving anywhere. Several other houses were badly damaged. Many roofs damaged. Every farm lost at least one grain bin or barn. And every tree line (wind break) was devastated! A building can be rebuilt in a few months, a tree takes many decades. The tree in this picture was ripped apart by steel siding from an outbuilding.

But the tangible thing I am most thankful for, is the lack of injury. Our area effectively endured a 15 mile wide EF2 tornado for 12 minutes over four counties...and not one person was injured! Not only did no one loose their life, but no one needed medical treatment of any kind! No broken bones, no concussions, nothing! That is a miracle in my opinion and I thank God for it every day!

The community is rebuilding and we will recover, but not without the love and support of our family, friends and neighbors!

Moving

Our insurance company offered the services of their housing assistance, which locates and furnishes temporary housing. It was a weight lifted, since I wasn't even sure how to go about finding something that didn't require a 12 month contract. Day 1, they found nothing. Day 2, they found nothing. Day 3, they called quite excited! They found the perfect house for us! I called to schedule a walk through and was surprised to find out it was located on the eastern outskirts of Cedar Rapids. A solid ninety minutes from our property, where we would need to spend a lot of time rebuilding. Oh, yes, and the landlord was surprised to learn we had four children. He thought this house would way too small for six people. I didn't even bother looking at it. I called the assistance back and asked them to try again.

In the mean time, a class mate of Ben's sister learned of our situation and mentioned she and her husband had a rental house that was available. They were interested in working with the length of the contract so we could have a place to live. Ben and I went to look at it on day 4, July 15th, and felt perfect peace about moving our family here. It was a bit small, only 1300 square feet, about half what the corn crib was. But it was right off the interstate, 15 minutes to Ben's work and under an hour to the house site (what we are calling our property).

The agency seemed a bit put off that we didn't use their services and warned me about trying to furnish the house on our own. Hehe! If only she knew how amazing my God is! We moved in on the 21st, just six days after looking at it, and had beds for everyone of us! We had a couple chairs and a table and some dressers. Inside of two weeks, we had a fully furnished house!

Above: the front of the house from the road.
Below: the backyard with play set!

Above: the back of the house, including lower and upper decks!
Below: the fire pit, not quite the same as fires at our place, but close enough for comfort!

Between the 16th and the 21st, we were offered two more houses with flexible contracts. One in Keystone and one about four miles west of our property. We actually had our pick of homes! Who'd of thought!

We chose this one for the kids and I. My brain was so overwhelmed, that planning dinner was more than I could handle. Having a grocery store right down the street made this time much easier. Also, having a Walmart and Target so close helped with the general house items. Every morning I would get up and start a list of things we needed. Run out to the store. Arrive home and start a list for the next day. I am still identifying items that need replacing...four months later! This house has been quite a blessing, although we are very eager to get back to our property, I believe God put us here!

Demolition

Layer by layer, we pulled off the pieces of our home, packed up the items that could be salvaged, documented everything else for insurance and through it all out. We removed the steel roofing and siding for recycling, took the appliances to the dump for appropriate disposal, burned the wood and paper, and put the rest in a dumpster.


The first item pulled out, was the small safe we had which held all my backup files, including our digital photos. The second item salvaged, was our flag. I bought this many years ago and really only put it out for holidays and occasionally when I would think of it. But that day, on July 11th, it struck me with such emotion that I felt I needed to put it up. The mount which had been on the side of the house was no where to be found, so I propped it up in a flower container. To me it said we are shaken and battle worn, but not defeated!


I'm not sure I can explain the emotional state I was in Monday and Tuesday, pulling together childcare and housing. Making sure we ate and drank enough to keep us standing. Grabbing lunch at McDonald's and listening to this young woman complain about how bad her day was and laughing as I thought, if you only knew dear! How many times have I grumbled about the mundane when someone within earshot was grieving a loss. Wow! Eye opening!


How do you explain to every person or business you are calling for help or assistance exactly what happened? My house blew over? My house was destroyed? I no longer have a home phone you can call, no that address is my permanent address, but I cannot receive packages there. I actually went hoarse that week and had to upgrade plans on my cell phone because of all the phone calls.


As the layers came off, I found great healing in climbing up on the current floor and taking in the scene. I had such emotional moments remembering building and decorating that particular room and now watching it be taken apart and disposed of. The whole process took eight days. Eight days to take apart what we had built together in eleven years! We referred to it as demolition, but really the derecho demolished the house for us, we just cleaned up the mess it made.

The field directly east of our property...I identified a light fixture from the west wall of the entry way about 80 yards into the rubble.

The Aftermath

As we began to catch our breath and form thoughts for the next step, it is as though we were on auto pilot, as though we were prepared and had planned for this. We simply identified the most pressing need and found a way to meet it. And then the next most pressing, then the next and the next. For the first two weeks, it was difficult to look beyond this moment and the needs that moment held.

The Bathroom.

Temporary housing. Food. Childcare. Water. Very large garbage container. Equipment to load lots of damaged house parts and possessions into garbage container. Insurance info. Finances. Internet. Utilities. More permanent temporary housing. Bills. Paperwork. Mail. Documentation for said insurance. Furnishings for the rental. Moving into the rental. More fun with the insurance company.

The Office/Kitchen.

Each step brought new needs and new ways for those needs to be met. Moment by moment, people were coming in and out of our lives with another piece of the project. Complete strangers stopped to help sort through the rubble. An entire church took a Monday off to come and lend a lot of hands, some equipment and lunch! Family devoted hour after hour into digging through the house, watching our babies and doing countless little things for us. Friends offered housing, food, help, money. We even had a cousin send us a port a potty, which was a real blessing 8 miles from the nearest bathroom! ...it really was overwhelming!

The Living Room.

One evening, some of Ben's cousins came to help and uncovered two of the true 2x12's from the old bins. It meant so much to have something saved from the old house to use for the new house. I have plans for a yard sign with one and Ben is contemplating options for the other.

The lawn mower in the garage.

If we had stayed, our goal would have been to get to the garage, ground level and away from windows. This sight really griped me...we would have been crushed!

Another shot of the Living Room.

We feel truly blessed by all the outpouring of love and support we received, literally from across the country! There are no words big enough for the gratitude we feel. This process has been such a huge challenge and yet such an enriching gift. I would not have asked for this to happen, but I am so amazed by God's hand throughout and all the ways He has been made so real to me! I am excited to share the process of cleanup and rebuilding, because God is found in every step of that process as well!

July 11, 2011

"We pray for blessings, we pray for peace, comfort for family, protection while we sleep..." (Blessings by Laura Story)

Every night when I tuck my little ones into bed, I pray for sweet dreams, good night's rest and that they would be watched over and kept safe. July 10th, when I tucked them in, I prayed just that, not knowing how much they would need that protection on that particular night.

Looking west, this is remnants of the west wall in the entry way.

We live in the country, so we have a weather radio to alert us to potentially dangerous weather. From May to July, it goes off several times a week, letting us know severe weather is possible, or is moving nearby, or that we should stay inside for safety. Most times, we listen to the warning, turn it off and go back to whatever it is we were doing. Most times, it is nothing serious.

Twice that night, the alarm went off, there was a potential for severe weather and we should stay in doors for safety. Winds were expected to gust up to 70 mph (which is strong, but not a concern). The second time Ben turned off the alarm, he decided to pull the suv inside the garage, just in case. On his way back to bed, he double checked a couple weather sites, just to be sure. Everything looked fine, just a severe thunderstorm. Then he checked one other site, one I honestly had never heard of, weather underground. There was a report from a Tama county sheriff's deputy (the county to our west) of winds of 100 mph. No other report backed up this claim, but it was enough to prompt Ben to move us. I believe this was God...

He woke me and we got the kids in the suv (which was safely tucked out of the winds and rain) and drove to his folk's place (about 3 miles east). We did all of this inside of 15 minutes, which if you've ever tried to wake and transport four youngsters, you understand the marvel of that feat. We had all dressed, Ben had grabbed his laptop, I grabbed my purse, and the car was left outside. I believe this was God...

Ben woke his dad, while I took the kids to the basement. Then we lost power. As Ben's dad was coming down the stairs, a tree fell and broke a window. I knew then that this storm was a nasty one, that Ben had made the right decision and that we should be prepared for damage at our place. I believe this was God...

Thirty minutes later, the winds were still ravaging the house. After an hour, Ben finally felt it was safe to take a peek outside. A lot of trees down, a couple windows broken, but things looked ok. Then the phone rang, a neighbor was standing in our driveway freaking out, trying to find us...our house was gone! I believe this was God...

What was our front door.

Step by step that morning, it is evident to me that God was walking us through. Every step. Every piece. We were not alone! That morning, my babies were saved from almost certain death because God prompted Ben...and Ben listened! I am so extremely grateful to my husband and my God! Here is His Glory revealed! In the midst of such great loss, I was overwhelmed by His protection. We did not lose all...for He is all we need!

Little Miss's crib, about 40 yards from the house.

"...We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise"

The Last Chapter of CCA as we know it...

I wanted to share a few stories and memories from the last few months in our corn crib home. While the property will always be known as Corn Crib Acres, this is the end of a book and the preparation for the sequel.

We had never done a maternity shoot with my pregnancies, in fact, I have very few photos of me pregnant at all. So I thought it would be fun to do something new with this fourth pregnancy and even used the photos for our Christmas card:


On Christmas Eve, we got some much snow, getting to Ben's folk's place was a challenge with our 4-wheel drive suv! But we managed to get Mavis picked up and into town to make lefsa with the extended family. While loading the kiddos up, we set up the tripod and took a family photo in the snow on our property. I love this shot!


This past spring, Ben rented a skid loader for another weekend and set about clearing more of the farm debris from the property. He took out a menacing mulberry tree and the left overs of a rock foundation.


The kids and I painted an old box and made a plane for the living room. We made passports and got matching shirts and safari hats. We "flew" to different continents and learned about animals and people and habitats and so much more! I have been informed, we need a new plane!


One of our family's favorite traditions is home made pizza, crust and all! This night, the kids each wanted different toppings, so we made three mini pizzas: cheese, olive and peanut butter (oh my!).


Speaking of food, July 10th, Ben and his dad went golfing and the kids and I had a day around the house, just working on odds and ends. I marinated and grilled up some steaks I had in the freezer and invited Ben's dad to join us for dinner, since Ben's mom wasn't home. We had such a delightful time! Visiting, sharing laughing, enjoying amazing food and watched a movie on our home theater! I could not have planned a better last night in our home.

In January, I talked about dieing with regrets, or rather living with them. I was unaware our house would be "dieing" the next day, but I have no regrets about the last night. It was truly a wonderful sendoff for our beautiful home...

Next...July 11, 2011

Birthin' Baby A (the second)

Our precious fourth child joined our family in September of 2010, four and a half years after number three. I thought God had called me to mother three beautiful children and felt totally honored that He decided to bless us with one more!

I again struggled with the medical profession throughout my pregnancy, but still had an uneventful nine months. As early labor started and stopped on and off for two weeks, I came to a place of peace about the possibility of delivering in the hospital, if necessary. I had never before felt comfortable with that prospect, but prayed that God will give me joy in this delivery, wherever it took place.

For the first time, we had an ultrasound with this pregnancy, at which time they confirmed my suspicions that baby was a girl! Since I had already parted with most of our baby things, it was so fun to be able to buy pink instead of green and yellow like we had for the first three babies.

At my last appointment, 40 weeks, 1 day, the nurse-midwife confirmed baby was in good position and ready for delivery "any day now". She talked about plans for what would happen if I got to 41 weeks, but I told her we weren't going there yet. I went to a maternity photo shoot with Ben and the kiddos, another first for this pregnancy. I enjoyed marking this time in my life and hers.

After sleeping a couple hours that night, I woke up with more consistent contractions. About 4 am I was convinced this was it and made the calls to summon my support team. Everyone arrived between 5:50 and 6:15 and Little Miss (our second A) made her arrival at 7:07am. R was so excited to finally meet her little sister. She adapted very quickly to holding her and caring for Little Miss.

What joy and happiness this day brought...including dinner prepared, delivered and served by my brother-in-law, Jonathan H. Yumm!

The Making of CCA part 10

Feeling pretty good about the state of the inside of the house, we decided to focus this summer (2009) on the outside...

We rented a skid loader for a long weekend, invited some fam up to help, and went at the yard with a vengeance! There were several slabs of concrete from various farm buildings, long since torn down. Ben worked tirelessly to tear out as much as possible...with a little help from A.

They did an amazing job on the front yard...


...and completely took out the old burn pile, left by previous owners, which gave our property much prettier curb appeal! :)

And then we took off Memorial Day to build the kids a play set and the adults a picnic table! Special thanks to my brother's for all their help with this project. It is truly awesome!


The kids have spent tons of hours playing house, pirates, tag, hide and seek, princess (well, R anyway) etc....

The Making of CCA part 9

As our youngest son began to outgrow the crib, finding room for another bed in J's room became my mission in the summer of 2008. Ben helped design a loft bed idea that I personally think was genius. I decided to paint and make new curtains too. The boys chose red and white for their room with "Cars" decor and R chose pink and ivory with kitten decor for her room.

Above: The boys' room before we started work on the bed frame.
Below: Little A helping daddy assemble the sides.



Above: J taking a turn with the drill.
Below: R took great joy in helping daddy with her new bed.


The finished project in the boys' room...A LOVES it!


This created little hideaways for the kiddos and extra storage for mom and dad...a win/win and a great weekend!