A Girl and Her Tractor

Yes, I now own a tractor!  It's difficult to believe, I know.  Now I just need to learn how to use the crazy thing.  It is apparently a classic - Massey Ferguson from the 1950's.  I'm not even sure how to start it, but don't I look great on it? : )  Now I just need overalls and a floppy hat.  Country life, here I come!

First Photos

The back of the house

Zach climbing the cool tree in the side yard

Our 8x40 foot storage container that will soon be overflowing with all of our junk!

 The pond

 The house, which is built in the side of a hill

One of the many great views from my deck

The Renovation

You know how sometimes answers to prayers don't exactly come how we expect them?  Well, that is kind of how Acacia Acres is.  Since the home is older, we have a LOT of renovation to do, and we are doing it on less than a "beer budget" so to speak.  I am taking it as a challenge to see just how much I can re-use and re-purpose in order to spend as little as possible.  I'm really having to think outside the box to figure out how to make things look like I want them to without spending a fortune.

Since closing, one week ago, we have painted Zoe's room pink, pulled most of the carpet out upstairs and begun to paint the dining room and living room.  There has also been a transfer of several trailer loads of stuff from our current house, lots of cleaning and the application of Old English to all of the woodwork.  I keep thinking we should have made more progress, but apparently we are only human!

Tomorrow the plan is to actually get some flooring down.  I will take some "before" pics and get them posted and begin the running total of how little we will spend on the renovation, as well as releasing some details about the "out of the box" products we are going to use to hopefully achieve our goals.

Stay tuned...

How We Found Acacia Acres

Back in June of this year we found a gutted house on 24 acres in Mounds, OK and put in an offer.  It was accepted, but the deal wound up falling through when they got a better, non contingent offer.  Scott was heartbroken over it and so we stopped looking for several months while dealing with the disappointment.  Finally, the Saturday before Thanksgiving we decided to go look at three properties.  They all had promise, but none of them was that "just right" place we were seeking.  However, there was one in east Broken Arrow that had a lot of what we thought we wanted.

Scott mentioned the property to his parents, and since it was only about 4 miles from them, they decided to go see it.  Because of where they live in BA, their route was different than ours, and on their way they noticed a Coldwell Banker sign for a home on 20 acres.  Curious, they drove by and grabbed a flier with all of the info.  When they saw the price and features, they were sure we would be interested, so they called us with the MLS#.  I looked it up and was immediately intrigued.  The house and 2.5 acres were listed separately from the other 17.5 acres, so it had not come up on any of my searches, which were all set for homes with 10 acres or more.  The listing was also confusing because it seemed to indicate that the land and home sold together, but on separate listings with separate prices, which made it seem that they were asking twice the actual price.

So, a lot of things had to come together for us to find the place and to keep others from finding it.

Acacia Acres Finally Found!

About 12 years ago, my husband, Scott, and I began dreaming of having an acreage.  We have searched all that time to find something that felt right, was affordable and had the right mix of wooded and cleared areas.  Over the years our idea of what the perfect place would be has changed.  At one point, Scott was hoping for 140 acres!  I wasn't sure how we would mange that since we can't even take care of an 8600 square foot lot to the standards of our neighborhood!  As the search evolved and we had a better idea of what we did and did not want, as well as what we could never afford, we got comfortable with the idea of 10-20 acres.  (Though Scott was always hoping for at least 20.) 

Every good acreage has some sort of name, like the Flying W Ranch or Peaceful Rivers, so I decided that our acreage would need a name too.  My mom and I would often talk of what we could do with an acreage to bless others - specifically missionaries home on furlow, or others in need of temporary housing.  The idea of small cabins that would allow us to help others while still maintaining everyone's privacy seemed a great endeavor.  Because of our faith, we want this land to be filled with God's love and used to bless others.  Independent of one another, my mom and I both came up with the name Acacia Acres.  In 1997 I had produced a CD which I named Acacia and I explained in the jacket notes why, so it seemed natural to use the name Acacia for our land.  This is what the CD said, "Acacia is believed to have been the type of bush that contained the presence of God in the form of fire when God spoke to Moses. (Exodus 3)  Acacia is also the wood that was used to construct the Ark of the Covenant, which too, contained the awesome presence of God.  (Exodus 37)  My simple prayer for this project is that it will contain the anointing and presence of God, bringing that presence to all those who listen.  It is my desire that, like the wood of the acacia, we would all be filled with the fire and presence of God."  I want God's presence anywhere I live, hence the name Acacia Acres for our homestead. 

The past two years we really intensified our search since we were finally in a position financially to maybe, finally buy something.  On December 22, 2010, we closed on Acacia Acres and are now beginning the process of renovating the house and making the place our own.  The budget is very tight, so I will have to really think outside the box when it comes to design decision.  I will be posting before and after pictures as well as writing about the progress and what products we use.  It is an exciting journey for us and I hope you enjoy following along!

Acacia Acres is 20 acres in east Broken Arrow, OK, located conveniently to both sets of grandparents.  The house was built in 1975 and one family had lived there for over 30 years.  We became fast friends with the owners and had a connection that can only be described as a "divine appointment" by God.  We have adopted them as our third set of parents.  They are wonderful Christian people, and meeting them is actually what helped us know that this was the place for us.  They had been praying that a family would buy the place and raise their kids there and love it like they did.  It was a miraculous series of events that even allowed us to find the place and it was neat to see how God's hand moved in the whole thing.  (I'll tell the story of how we found the place in a subsequent post.) 


Right now, I have work to do!  We have one house to sell and one to renovate and move to, so I need to get going.