A new place to call home

My family has been wanting to build a new home for a few years now. Up until March, we had been looking for the perfect piece of land that would be just right for our family of 5. We had a house plan that my husband and I designed ourselves. But then the wildfires in March changed all of that. Our house, along with 2 other houses in our neighborhood, received major damage. 2 houses close to us were a complete loss, while other neighbors lost storage sheds and other outside structures. Most of the damage to our home was in the attic, living and kitchen areas. Our insurance adjuster had a cleaning company inspect our house for smoke and water damage to see how much of the house would need to be replaced. We were told we needed to have the house gutted to the studs. The only room saved from demolition was the garage. After the demo was complete, our adjuster came back out and inspected the house. The damage was more than what he had first thought. Once we received all of the paperwork on our claim, we had some decisions to make. I will save you the details of ALL of the options my husband came up, mainly because I can't remember them anymore, but we could either 1)remodel the original house or 2)build a brand new house. Kevin and I decided it would be best to build a brand new house that would work better for our family. We talked to several builders and selected the one that shared our vision. Plans were selected and drawn up. Finally demolition started on May 16, 2011. It's very humbling to see the place where you were once so happy and laughing together in become toothpicks in a matter of minutes. But we know that God has had a hand in all of this from the beginning and this is the plan that he has for us. Without God as the focus of our life and family the outcome of this situation could have been completely different.

Stay tuned...there will definately be more to come(pictures included)!!!!!