by Paul and Shari Roten
I covered the Rotens “Ideabox” inspired Small Home back in December of 2012 and they recently sent me an update to share with you.
We’ve had a crazy few months, but wanted to share some of our news! Mother’s Day was spent moving into a 29ft camper on our 10 acres within a hundred feet or so from our future home. We left our management position due to Shari’s injury, so once again, it was time to start anew. And what a place to start!
We spent a couple days getting things organized in the camper and in our future home as we had no other storage building. Then the raised beds were built from 4x4s and we got our gardens planted! Food is always nice to have, especially when you’re roughing it.
We’ve been blessed by Paul’s new job just 15 miles away where he can utilize his skills and gifts. And we also now have the Camas center where we can get refreshed every day. The hot tub is pretty awesome too for the injury and other aches and pains.
On to the house! We’ve dealt with building codes and inspections, have had a few corrections to address, but up to this point, its been a cash jo with no debt. That’s HUGE to us. However, when you live in extreme NE WA, you have to be prepared for winter. A trailer for two plus three Boxers, one with pups on the way, isn’t going to cut it. We endured much stress as the bank account allowed just enough to cover a few bills each month and we’ve done some creative cooking thanks to Dollars and Deals!
We’ve had an incredible angel come into our lives. We asked for guidance, and he made a proposal AND told us “I believe in you”. It was one of the most humbling and emotional moments we can think of in our lives. We are truly blessed. It is amazing how things work when you take the high road and do the right things on life.
We have a plumber, an electrician, a sheetrock installer and painter in the wings!
Just past our septic test hole inspection with FLYING colours so its on to approval of the design, then installation! That’s a huge hurdle!
We have paint colours chosen, our tile stocked, and plan to hit IKEA on Saturday to pick up all our kitchen cabinets! They are our favorite!
Our 5th anniversary is November 21st, so the plan is to be in and hosting an open house by then!
