A project!

Our family has a project....a huge ginormous....maybe in a little over our heads project.  Dave's aunt passed away in May.  She lived in the house that Dave's grandfather built (he was a home builder back in the days when home builders actually used a hammer and nails).  When we found out that her children were interested in selling her house, we started pondering the idea of what we could potentially do with it.  Its next door to his mother's house, so it sounded to us like a good potential rental property.  But the problem was that his aunt had been in poor health for a while, so the house had gotten pretty run down...think pea green paint, flowery wall paper, and shag carpet.  So, we prayed about it and the opportunity came, then passed, then came again....so we jumped on it.  We have a LOT of work ahead of us (note the pile of old carpet and draperies under the carport), but there's lots of satisfaction in ripping up the old disgusting carpet and seeing the beautiful hardwood floors installed by the hands of Dave's grandfather underneath.  

In addition to the house, Dave's aunt and grandmother ran a little 'junk' store....a pretty famous landmark for the old Chapin area.  So, as a bonus to a potential rental property, we have an established store on our hands.  Dave and I are thinking open air market for local/handmade/homemade products...but this is still a work in progress.  We're hoping to at least get it open in the spring with local veggies.

In celebration of the closing last week though, Dave had to have his own little tractor show.  Yes, those are all his tractors in front of the new store (from the one he just finished restoring for my dad on one end to the little red Cub we still use in the garden on the other end...and sadly there were still a lot that he didn't get out and display).  Each and ever tractor has a story and one day I'm going to tell them all on this blog (just to commemorate them for us).

So, we have a lot of work on our hands, but we're up for the challenge!  This is definitely a new chapter in our lives!