Tuesday, October 24, 2006

A word from Toby...


So the word is gradually getting out. We're building a house! Crazy, we know. But that's what life is, no?

To give a little backstory, when Alysha and I got married last June 4th, Alysha's parents offered us some of their land. We could either build on it, save it for whatever, or let them build a house on it and have them give us the value of the land after they had sold the house. We chose option 'A'.

Thus the tremedous house-building 'process' began..

The first step was to get approval for the land severance from city council. That was fulfilled on Sept 20, in the midst of crowds of onlookers..well, ok, there were only about 10 of us in the little side room. Three of them were there for their own land approvals and there were 5 staff present besides myself and my father-in-law John.

I also must say that we would not ever have gone through with this craziness had Alysha's parent's not offered to help us through this. John is a respected contractor in town and he would be nowhere without the backing of his wife Sandy.

After the severance was approved the surveyer came and put down the corner pegs while 'the team' solidified the house design. This is also when I began clearing trees and brush on the severed property (now officially 3 acres!) with the help of my bro-in-law, Luke 'the Logger', and whomever else joined the cause (including Amos, their dog). 'Non-family' recruits thus far include Andy 'the Axe-Man' Nicholson, Brad 'Biceps' Hunt, and Jason 'Juggernaut' McFadyen.

It may not look like much at the moment, but a lot has been cleared. Unfortunately, a lot still needs to be cleared. Looking to finish up the house area and then push deeper into the well and septic areas. We will also include some drawings of the house and property later on.

[path from the Best's back yard]

[the beginning of the chaos..er..clearing]

[a little less cluttered]

Please pray for our process as we want to do this the smart way, God's way. :)