It feels a bit surreal but THE121 has landed at Teaberry Acres!!!!
I would by lying if I didn’t say it was one of the most stressful moments in my 41 years of life…BUT. GOD!!!!
It is true that it takes a village and I am beyond thankful for my community today! Carolyn, Melissa, Brian, Giavanni and Ed, I couldn’t have done it without them! The driver embraced his fears and I am thankful that he was brave enough to attempt the impossible because WITH God ALL things ARE possible!
God is always with us and he magnified himself in a great way this morning working out all the details.
Thank you for praying and journeying with me. This is just the beginning….
I can’t believe I am writing these words, it’s time to pack the bags!!!
I received word this weekend that THE121 should be making her maiden voyage on FRIDAY!!!!
So if you’re reading this I am asking you to pray that nothing at all thwarts those plans! I am asking you to pray for safety for the guys driving, for those of us who will be receiving the house onto Teaberry Acres and for God to work out alll the details!
So with that said it was time to pack up my cozy room Carolyn has so graciously allowed me to live in for the past 15 months. As you can imagine there’s a lot to do when getting ready to move. So when my friends said yes to helping me pack AND offered to do it while I was at work, I nearly cried.
Today they not only packed my stuff but also organized it all to make unpacking that much easier! I came home to a fully packed, ready to move room!
So while yes there’s still much to do, I feel like a great weight was lifted. When you find friends who will pack you up AND help you move, you keep those friends because they are priceless.
A friend asked me recently to recall how I made the decision to go tiny and how I got to today. It was such a fun experience so I thought I’d share it with you too!
Many of you know that I was a resident director for six years between two different universities. It was during that time that I realized how much “wasted” space was in both of those apartments. I realized very quickly that I was only truly living in about 1/2 of those two bedroom apartments. I also realized even then that those 1/2’s could easily be paired down.
Fast forward to moving to Ohio in 2012 where I once again realized how little space I needed. So I began to think through how I could minimize my living space. I don’t recall exactly if I saw a tiny house show or what exactly sparked it but I began to dream AND pray!
Fast forward to when IKEA opened in Columbus Ohio in 2017… when my mother and I entered the show room and toured several “small” spaces I knew then for sure I could do it!
My friends began giving me tiny house magazines and books. I read every book and every magazine and watched every single episode of tiny house hunters and every tiny house show I could!
Finances never allowed my dream to come to fruition…UNTIL January of 2021! I googled tiny houses in Ohio and came across several different builders. So after a few phone calls and a couple visits, God made it clear that tiny homes of Ohio would be my choice!
I was ready to sign on with Norman in February of 2021 however God saw fit to make it known the day before I was ready to sign that I would have to have major surgery in March. So I prayed. And waited.
In April of 2021 I was offered the job with Northeast Counseling and in May of 2021 I was well enough to travel back down to Sugarcreek, Ohio to sign the paperwork on the home!
I moved to PA in June of 2021 and left the build in Norman’s capable hands. In November on a cold call, I began searching for land.
In February of 2022, I made a trip back to Ohio to finalize design choices and in May of 2022 I closed on Teaberry acres!
And then today…I saw THE121 nearly complete and with your prayers and my faithful builder we pray THE121 makes her maiden day voyage to Teaberry acres next week!
Single. Digits. That’s where we’re at and yes I said WE! Because you’ve been on this journey with me and so I’m totally not alone!
In two days I’ll be laying eyes on THE121 completed! She will be fully clothed with make-up on! It still seems a bit like a fantasy if I’m being honest! So I am very grateful several of you will be there on Saturday to help celebrate and remind that this is reality!
A friend asked me tonight if I was sacred, and I had to honestly answer yes! There will be many learning curves living off the grid! While I’ve done a ton of research and watched my fair share of YOUTube videos, it is different when you are actually living it. I’m also living 15-20 minutes from my friends, although I’ve come to learn everything is 15-20 minutes away here!
The packing has begun. My current room I am renting is a menagerie of boxes which may resemble a bad game of Tetris. Also as part of living off the grid, I have begun to collect gallon jugs, so I also look like I’ve been winning in a milk chugging contest…
So while I may have some fear and anxiety, it’s also mixed with excitement and celebration because after all, we’re down to single digits!
I’ve been reading quite a few books lately on the power of community in healing. It was interesting to me that in the book “Finding your people” by Jennie Allen, she mentioned that the first step to building community is to build a fire pit.
I have so many dreams for Teaberry Acres and THE121. I knew my first dream, before reading Allen’s book was a fire pit and for the very reason of community. Community happens around fire, and this was the premise of another book “What Happened to you” by Oprah Winfrey.
From the beginning of time fire was important for survival so of course people would gather around it. I could go on about this subject for awhile but alas you came here to read about THE121.
So today I moved one step closer to community gathering. With the help of my friend Giavanni we made the fire pit look just a little nicer. There’s still a few finishing touches to be done. But I am looking forward to gathering around the fire.
I’m looking forward to laughter, singing, eating, sharing stories and deep conversations. I am looking forward to community. My prayer is that you will join me here, around the fire at teaberry acres.
I was putting away laundry tonight when it hit me like a ton of bricks… I officially have enough digits to begin to count down the days until THE121 rolls into PA!
I couldn’t decide whether to dance or cry…so I just stood in the middle of my room frozen with my folded underwear in my hands.
Dance or cry? Yes dance to celebrate what God has done because HE has done the work and the clock is now ticking on a 12 year old dream. Cry because yes it’s bitter sweet. Many of you know Carolyn whom has graciously opened her house to me way longer than she originally agreed upon. But this past year at the Trosky cabin has been super formative for me and I will forever be grateful to Carolyn and her hospitality.
Next week (yes next week!) is the open house in Ohio for THE121 so if you haven’t rsvp-ed yet shoot me a message, I’d love to have you there to help celebrate!
So hold up your hands and a few toes and join me in counting down the days until THE121 rolls into town!
569. It may seem like just three simple numbers to you, but to me these numbers represent a dream. A dream becoming a reality. That’s right, this week I received my official house number!
A HUGE thank you to my father who donated a mailbox and a HUGE thank you to Carolyn who stood way to close to the road late into the night last night helping me to dig the hole for the post.
There’s just something about a simple mailbox that represents home.
So stay tuned… THE121 is getting sooo much closer to coming home.
Have you been wandering how Maggie Marie has been doing in all of this??? The poor girl may have seemingly gotten lost in all of the excitement…but FEAR NOT!
She’s doing just fine. Here she is perched on the pad where THE121 will land, looking out for any would be intruders!
She has been going out to Teaberry acres with me to begin to get acclimated to her new home and as you can see…she’s already taken up protecting Teaberry Acres! She sits and guards very effectively.
THE121 