Young Family DIY Home Build
Donation protected
Hello world!
Our names, in alphabetical order, are Alma, Daniel, and Kaeyli. We’re a young family recently relocated from Southern California to Central Florida.
About 18 months ago, we (Kaeyli + Daniel) decided to get married as a vow to weave together a hybrid community between our families and friends; to celebrate and collectively affirm the decision we had made to become life partners and parents. Alma answered our call from the depths of the cosmos, and joined our family in this dimension on June 7th, 2020.
Our wedding in September of 2019 coincided with Daniel’s graduation from grad school. We figured since his family was already planning to be in California from Florida that the timing made sense... It made no sense, it was completely insane, but we can confidently say that pulling that off, with the support of our friends and family, was one of the most formative and rewarding experiences of our lives. We wouldn’t choose to do it any differently if we could… Well, no actually we would. We’d probably be a little gentler with ourselves and have a nice dinner instead. But we learned a lot from the experience, and we’re glad to have shared something like that before the pandemic started!
In late 2019, after decades of striving and hard work as an immigrant and young mother, Daniel’s mom purchased a rural property to share with us in Central Florida. With this property, we now have the opportunity to establish a home for our family to live in stewardship with the land surrounding us. While working together to create a space that is safe and welcoming for our own families, we intend to create a place for the cultivation of community within and beyond our own.
At the beginning of 2020 we set plans to move from California to the land in Florida mid-to-late 2021. Our hope was to work and save for a while after Alma’s birth. When the pandemic started in March, Kaeyli was six months pregnant, going to school and working from home. Daniel was furloughed; returned to work; took leave after Alma was born, returned to work again, then was laid off. The financial and emotional strain of the pandemic along with our establishing our newly forming family pressured us to make our move to Florida in early October of this year instead.
Daniel’s aunt has generously offered us a bedroom in her house until we can figure out how to get on the land, and we are fortunate to have support from our extended family here. However, we’ve spent nearly all the money we had saved recovering from the lapses in stable income; unforeseen changes in birth plans; and finally making our move to Florida which included driving across the country in an effort to avoid more congested ports of travel.
We have experienced tremendous growth through these trials and challenges, as well as those from our pasts. Like so many marginalized folks, we’ve had to adapt to abrupt life changes often. We’ve done a lot of emotional work as individuals and as a couple to process the weight of our pasts and how it affects our present. Everyday we’re taught more and more that real strength and resilience come from honesty and vulnerability; showing up for others fully and trusting that others can and will show up for us, too.
So we humbly ask for your support in building a small and simple living space on this land. Here, we will have the opportunity to create with Alma the childhood that our parents likely wanted us to have. This is, again, an incredible opportunity for us to cultivate a relationship with the land and with our human community, a community that by virtue of you reading this, you are an integral part of.
~Thank you~
Alma, Daniel, and Kaeyli
Our names, in alphabetical order, are Alma, Daniel, and Kaeyli. We’re a young family recently relocated from Southern California to Central Florida.
About 18 months ago, we (Kaeyli + Daniel) decided to get married as a vow to weave together a hybrid community between our families and friends; to celebrate and collectively affirm the decision we had made to become life partners and parents. Alma answered our call from the depths of the cosmos, and joined our family in this dimension on June 7th, 2020.
Our wedding in September of 2019 coincided with Daniel’s graduation from grad school. We figured since his family was already planning to be in California from Florida that the timing made sense... It made no sense, it was completely insane, but we can confidently say that pulling that off, with the support of our friends and family, was one of the most formative and rewarding experiences of our lives. We wouldn’t choose to do it any differently if we could… Well, no actually we would. We’d probably be a little gentler with ourselves and have a nice dinner instead. But we learned a lot from the experience, and we’re glad to have shared something like that before the pandemic started!
In late 2019, after decades of striving and hard work as an immigrant and young mother, Daniel’s mom purchased a rural property to share with us in Central Florida. With this property, we now have the opportunity to establish a home for our family to live in stewardship with the land surrounding us. While working together to create a space that is safe and welcoming for our own families, we intend to create a place for the cultivation of community within and beyond our own.
At the beginning of 2020 we set plans to move from California to the land in Florida mid-to-late 2021. Our hope was to work and save for a while after Alma’s birth. When the pandemic started in March, Kaeyli was six months pregnant, going to school and working from home. Daniel was furloughed; returned to work; took leave after Alma was born, returned to work again, then was laid off. The financial and emotional strain of the pandemic along with our establishing our newly forming family pressured us to make our move to Florida in early October of this year instead.
Daniel’s aunt has generously offered us a bedroom in her house until we can figure out how to get on the land, and we are fortunate to have support from our extended family here. However, we’ve spent nearly all the money we had saved recovering from the lapses in stable income; unforeseen changes in birth plans; and finally making our move to Florida which included driving across the country in an effort to avoid more congested ports of travel.
We have experienced tremendous growth through these trials and challenges, as well as those from our pasts. Like so many marginalized folks, we’ve had to adapt to abrupt life changes often. We’ve done a lot of emotional work as individuals and as a couple to process the weight of our pasts and how it affects our present. Everyday we’re taught more and more that real strength and resilience come from honesty and vulnerability; showing up for others fully and trusting that others can and will show up for us, too.
So we humbly ask for your support in building a small and simple living space on this land. Here, we will have the opportunity to create with Alma the childhood that our parents likely wanted us to have. This is, again, an incredible opportunity for us to cultivate a relationship with the land and with our human community, a community that by virtue of you reading this, you are an integral part of.
~Thank you~
Alma, Daniel, and Kaeyli
Fundraising team (2)
Kaeyli Arismendi Estoaquin
Organizer
Tampa, FL
Daniel Arismendi
Team member
