Help Us Build a Bridge to Keep Our Home

In 2019, I became a coordinator for an at-risk youth program, where I had the privilege of mentoring a young teen who became pregnant. After a healthy delivery, we received a call from DHS asking if we could take him into our home temporarily. Without hesitation, my husband and I agreed. Our desire was to support this teen and keep her child out of the foster care system. Sadly, as circumstances worsened, she became homeless and fell into a heroin addiction. This led us to begin the adoption process.

Soon after, we decided to sell our home and purchase a large piece of land that came with a renter to remain in the main house for an additional 60 days. That left us with no choice but to move into the existing cabin built by the Boy Scouts in 1926 with no electricity, no running water, and just a small wood stove for heat.

We began remodeling the single wide mobile transforming it into two separate vacation tiny homes. When the time arrived for the renter to vacate the main house, he had burnt down our barn, disassembled structures and left the home unlivable. For 8 months, we cooked, showered, and did laundry and dishes outside, while we slept in our van night after night.

Just when we thought we had overcome the toughest obstacles, I unexpectedly lost my job. We decided to switch gears and replace the windows in the main house so we didn’t have to endure another winter in the cabin. We moved in and had settled into our unfinished construction zone by Christmas. Three months later we completed the tiny home project and began renting to guests.

Currently I homeschool our son while my husband juggles three jobs, but it hasn’t been enough to cover the mortgage. So far, we have been stretched mentally, physically, and emotionally doing everything ourselves, but the time has come for us to ask for help or we lose everything.

Our dream is to build an outdoor recreation resort on our 80 acres. We’ve already built over 3 miles of trails along creek and river. The bridge to our main driveway was destroyed in a flood, and we currently access our property with easement restrictions to conduct business. The new bridge is engineered, approved, and ready to build but we need support to make it a reality. Any contribution would mean the world to us as we strive to achieve our dream and secure a stable future for our family. Please like and share our story in hopes that it will encourage others to never give up.