Building a House - Building a Home - Building a Future

We've been working on my brother's house for over a year. Work on it for a while, get burnt out and then in a month or so we do a little more.

We started with a Morton Building that used to be a motorcycle shop. Yes, a motorcycle shop.

There was an office, a garage, show room and a few other rooms I'm not sure what they were used for.

My siblings and I grew up on that farm. The house we grew up in was only a basement when my dad was a boy. The roof of the basement stuck up out of the ground about 3 feet or so. My dad and mom built an upstairs/main floor to it and that's where we grew up.

Across the holler to the west is where the motorcycle shop was at. Down that road is where Grandma and Grandpa lived. Across the holler to the east was the motorcycle track.

Anyway, late last winter, early 2008 we took all the walls out of the 'shop' except the office walls. It was a huge building on the inside once the walls were gone on the inside.

We laid out the walls with 2x4's on the floor. Then realized that one day my neices and nephew will move out and there would be alot of wasted space. So, we moved all the walls/2x4's and then began building walls.

We spent a few weekends last summer and a few weekends this past winter running gas pipes and wires and cables. Late this winter we put in the furnace.

About a month ago my brother decided it was time to get this home built. He was sick of paying rent and the portion of the builders loan he is paying. So, we began working again.

Two or three weeks ago we started hanging drywall. This weekend we got all the drywall hung that he had ordered. We began mudding the walls and sanded some on Sunday. And he got most of the ceiling mudded yesterday.

Drywall goes on sale again on Wednesday. So, he's going to order the rest of the drywall.

If you've ever hung, mudded and sanded drywall you know what we're going through. It's a pain and it makes your body hurt in muscles you didn't realize you had.

While sitting on the kitchen floor this weekend I looked around the living room/dining room, kitchen and smiled.

We are building more than a house out of a Morton Building. We're building a home. We're building a future.

Working on building a house is hard work. You run into things you never expected. Plans change, ideas get revised. But one thing is the same.

If you slow down and think, it's about family. This home is being built with love - a little sweat and tears but mostly love! My brother, his girlfriend, their three kids; my husband and myself and our three kids and my dad. My uncle has helped with the furnace as well.

Amish have barn raisings. We have home building parties!! We build family every time we're together.

Just wanted to share all this with you. Hope your day is a good one.

Tammy