Our story begins

In January of this year, just weeks after our firstborn baby girl was born, Andrew and I learned of an organization that helped low income families become first-time home buyers.
After a few months of filling out our application, a home interview and lots of email correspondence, we found out we were chosen and the house we would be getting was going to be built in a Blitz. A professional builder will be coming in August 1-5 and building our entire house in 5 days.
Our home will be in a community in Oceanside called Libby Lake Village. There are 20 homes that Habitat for Humanity will build (15 are already completed) on a private cul-de-sac with a common play area at the end of the cul-de-sac. We are one of the final 5 families chosen for the community.
As part of the deal, Andrew and I have to work 500 hours, what they call Sweat Equity Hours, on the job site or for other Habitat events. However, we are allowed to have 25% of our hours completed by friends and family. Since our house will be built so fast, we don't know how much of that we will get to work on, but Andrew very much wants to put his own hands to the job, so we are hoping they will let him help. We will be putting most of our efforts into the other homes in the final phase that Habitat is building with volunteers. So far we've worked 3 days and accumulated 41.5 hours (thanks to my dad and brother volunteering yesterday).


The first day of work, last Saturday, Andrew and I worked for about 3 or 4 hours and built this...
the framing around those two drain pipes at the roofline. We had no idea what we were doing....hence the reason it took 3-4 hours! This is the house next door to ours.

The second day of work, last Friday, I work for 3 hours helping a volunteer group install insulation in the same house. I learned about the two types of insulation, R-13 and R-30 (one is for walls and the other for ceilings) and I learned how itchy fiberglass is. I helped by cutting the pieces to fit.

Yesterday, the third day of work, Andrew and I worked the whole 7 hour day, with my dad and my brother. When we got there, we started by finishing the insulation. The hardest parts were left, the ceilings and the stairwell. Andrew was up on a ladder on the staircase putting the insulation in the walls. My dad and brother were putting the insulation in the ceiling in the back of the bottom story. That took all of the morning.










When it was time for lunch, the insulation was nearly done. When we came back from lunch, Andrew and I started on caulking the siding. My brother joined us when his allergies had gotten the best of him inside the house.
                                   

At the end of the day, we had racked up 28.5 hours bringing our total up to 41.5. Here's a picture of all of the volunteers from yesterday, including another selected family for the project!

If you follow my blog, you'll see in the weeks and months to come, our progress on our Sweat Equity hours, including the building of our own home. I hope to show lots of pictures of the blitz build so you can all see the process and progress!