2015 A Year In Review

As 2015 draws to a close, I would like to thank you for sticking with me this year. It has been a year of great change.


In January we started looking for land to purchase to build a home and have a farm. We looked in a pretty large area of the state and found a few that we thought would work. We had some disappointments along the way and some exciting times as well.
We thought we would be moving to one area of the state but God had other plans and we moved to somewhere we didn't think about at first.

In February we found a piece of property and made and offer on it. The same day we got an offer on our house without it even being on the market. So we started the long process of purging a home and getting ready to move. We made one request of the buyers of our home and that was to let us stay in the house until the school year was finished, and they agreed. That meant that we had 4 months to be out of our house. We had lived there for almost 17 years and now we were moving.

Early in March we closed on out property and began the process of getting it ready to move our animals to the property. That meant a lot of fence work. With almost 10 acres we knew it would be a massive undertaking for us alone.

We were blessed with friends who helped us, and by the middle of April, half of the property was fenced and ready for the horses to arrive. We started planning our homesite and we're making plans for the type of home that we wanted to build. At first we were planning on having a metal building built and converting it into a home. The cost of this structure would have been 1/2 the cost of a traditional stick built home, some we were excited to be able to build our home on a budget. Then we ran into a little snag. The foundation of the home was going to be almost as much as the rest of the home combined because concrete prices had soared in our area.



So back to the proverbial drawing board we went. In the research process for low cost housing options we had looked at building a Yurt on a previous property. We contacted the planning an zoning for our county and went through the process of getting them to approve the construction of a Yurt.

In May, they gave us the approval to build a Yurt on our property. All the while getting this approved we were still packing our home to move. We closed on our house within 16 days of getting the final offer on our home. Those 16 days were a whirlwind of activity and mayhem. It was the last 2 weeks of school for my girls, and we were packing with no home built yet to move into so our belongings went into storage and we moved in with my Mom.

The first week of June we placed the order for our Yurt and we very excited to have a plan for our home. It was scheduled to be delivered on July 2nd and so we started lining up help for the delivery. We had our well installed this month and began the site prep for the Yurt. This month went by in a blur with the girls at camp and me going back and forth from my Mom's house to our property. It is a 30 min drive each way so I felt like I was living in my car.

When July came the Yurt was derived with only a few problems in the delivery, and the Yurt company was so good to get the replacements sent out quickly. We had the supplies delivered and we're ready to start. It just kept getting hotter and my husband had 2 heat strokes within 6 weeks. We were back and forth to the hospital with these events and he was out of work for most of the month.

In August the girls were excited to start at their new schools and we moved into an apartment that was only 2 miles from our property. We were excited to be closer. I also moved into an office space at the end of the month so that I would be able to have a dedicated internet connection. We live in a rural area of Georgia and the only Internet access is by satellite, unless you are in town. I was working in a local coffee shop while the girls were in school and the office was located beside it. It is an office share space where all utilities and Internet are included in the rental fee. I was excited about this opportunity as I have worked from home for the past 4 years.

In September, we had a little setback with the house due to my husband's sickness which ended up being Rock Mountain Spotted Fever.

October is a big birthday month for our family, so we are always super busy. Our oldest daughter turned 15 this month. We hopped that we would be able to get more work completed on our home and thats when the rain came in. It rained almost every day for 3 weeks. It didn't seem like it would ever let up. We would get a break for a couple of days and then it would be back full force.

November started out rainy and it stayed rainy for almost the whole month. This month really seemed to fly by with Thanksgiving, and all the family events that kept us on the road. Any dry day my husband and a friend of ours worked on the foundation of the house. It was coming along good but they had to make a few changes, because of the planning and zoning department.

This last month of the year has been even more changes. We have moved onto our property from the apartment and into a camper trailer. This has really helped because we are here and no longer have to drive to work here and then leave at night. They girls have looked at it as a new adventure and I have taken it as a lesson in simplifying and learning to make the best in any situation.

So as I look back on the past year I know that we have come a long way and still have a ways to go but we can do it one step at a time.

This next year is going to be full of new things here and I hope you come back tomorrow for an overview of what is to come.