07/23/2026
✨ Throwback Thursday ✨
In early spring of 2024, we decided to completely demolish our 1800’s dining room... floor to ceiling.
Turns out, when Scripture says to build your house on the rock and not the sand, there’s a reason for that. We got a very real, firsthand lesson in rebuilding a strong foundation.
Everything from the floor joists to the ceiling had to go. Then, Clint built a temporary wall to hold up the entire front of the house while the original foundation was removed. Thankfully, he knew what he was doing... because “keep the house standing” was definitely one of our project goals. 😂
Next, came the race against the rain. We spent a long day digging the footer by hand, knocking out old brick and giant rocks, building temporary supports, and trying to beat the weather so concrete could be poured before the skies opened up.
After that came new footers, new brick, new support beams, new floor joists, and finally plywood.
You don’t truly know what “dusty” means until the front wall of your house is basically open to the outdoors and wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of dirt is rolling straight through your foyer . 😅
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Clint managed to pick a fight with the lawn mower... and the lawn mower won. So while his hand healed, some incredible friends stepped in to help finish laying plywood.
Eventually, a new ceiling beam was anchored, the walls went back up, the original floors were sanded and sealed, and Clint even built the brick hearth for our wood stove.
Eight months of construction flew by…maybe…sort of.
Looking back, we’re just incredibly grateful. Grateful for the friends who showed up to move things along. Grateful for the meals many of you graciously ate picnic-style on our front lawn because our house was, well... under construction. 😂 And grateful that by Thanksgiving, we had a dining room ready to gather around the table again.
It’s amazing what can be rebuilt with a strong foundation, a lot of hard work, and a community willing to carry one another along the way. ❤️