The following is an ongoing journal of the real-life-nitty-gritty-highs-&-lows of building our Aspen View Homestead. (Code for our family-built, 4,000+ foot, post & beam, passive solar, straw bale house nestled amidst a 5.6 acre Aspen grove, high in the mountains of Pikes Peak National Forest in Colorado.)


November 2006
It all seems too good to be true, but we are finally Woodland Park landowners! After more than a year of searching and seeking for the home God has prepared for us, this plot of land is suddenly ours. What a journey it has been.

We began the search while I was pregnant with Canyon. Worried that we could never fit another baby into our already-crowded home, we talked to realtors, searched online & took long Sunday real-estate-drives, seeking more space. Just after Canyon was born (a home-birth, here in Divide) Kevin became convinced that we needed to put our house on the market. It was March, I was post-partum, and we didn't exactly agree on the timing. But within a few weeks we cleared decorations, books, shelves & anything superfluous out of the house (stored in the Stearman's basement!), and had it listed, first for-sale-by-owner, and then with a Realtor. Got a few bites...but no offers.

Kevin's search for land & home stretched into western Divide, Florrisant, and even to Hartsel. My heart was in Woodland Park; home church, friends, classes for the kids, etc. Kevin's longing for the Aspens & wide open spaces & mountains & wild country are what moved us to Colorado four years ago. And our smallish house in the flat, windy, treeless neighborhood of Sherwood Forest wasn't exactly what he had envisioned. He had a clear picture in mind of what God had put on his heart: a few acres of untamed woods, Aspens, Pines, hills to explore, with foot-path access to national park or forest, and water, be it creek, river, lake or reservoir. All that sounded great to me...but I was more concerned about relationships and proximity to church and town. Its not that we were at odds; we wanted both aspects, but didn't think that would ever be possible.

We searched & searched. One of us would settle, and then the other - Kevin deciding we could just find a small Woodland Park neighborhood lot, me deciding we could move all the way out to Buena Vista. But nothing was ever right. So we essentially gave up. Took our house off the market. Figured we'd wait till Spring...or till God spoke.

And then He did! After not-a-whit of searching for several weeks, we cuddled on the couch together one Sunday afternoon and did an online search for property in the area. Nothing...nothing...and then, boom, there it was! Through an odd "Ute Pass" search we came across these gorgeous pictures, and a description that sounded...too good to be true. The lot is just across the Teller County line, into El Paso County - and thus wasn't coming up on any Woodland Park searches. After a couple of incredulous phone calls to the listing realtor, it was confirmed: this land had everything we both longed for! Just up the curving road to Rampart Range, it was only 7 miles from church, backed up to Pikes National Forest, was a sprawling 5.6 acres of open, grassy field, Aspen grove, Piney wooded hillside, and a 3-mile hike to crystal-clear Rampart Range Reservoir. This was truly our dream spot!

The following days were a whirlwind of visits to the land, prayers, consulting with friends & family, and seeking God's confirmation. Our biggest concern was: could we afford it? It all seemed too good to be true, and those old "don't get your hopes up" voices demanded my attention. I vacilated between giddy hope and the ready-expectation of disappointment. But all the while, God was confirming and leading and paving the way...

Kevin slogged through all the paperwork to make an offer, get an equity loan on our house to afford the down-payment on the land, and secure a land loan. Within 30 days, we packed up the whole family and hopped, twirled, skipped, danced, leaped into the title office, to become Woodland Park landowners. From start to finish, this has felt like a precious gift of lovingkindness and abundance from God.

Clearing our Aspen View

April 13-14
We closed on this pristine 5.6 acres of "dream" land back in November, but since then haven't spent much time here, until this weekend. The big clearing is still covered in deep snow - some drifts as deep as 4 feet. The wooded section that leads up to the bordering Pikes National Forest seems dark and frigid and foreboding. Even the Aspen grove looks starkly white, with skeletal branches scraping the grey sky. It is cold and windy, and I feel apprehensive; do I even like this spot? What if its always cold & blustery here? It seems that our land is stuck in winter, and we have a good amount more snow than the other lots, and certainly more than down in Woodland Park, or back at the house in Divide. I am struck with buyer's remorse, and suddenly convinced that this lot is horribly shaded by the back side of Rampart Range, by the mammoth wall of pines that hover over what I once thought was a lovely, sunny clearing.

But Kevin reminds me of how God led us here; how through prayer & God's word, this spot has been confirmed as the home God is preparing for us. He reminds me of the Israelites, and their pursuit of the Promised Land - an abundant land, flowing with milk & honey - which they settled into rejoicingly, only after years of hard work and battle. Kevin also insists that the landscape of snow before me will melt quickly once we begin to clear the wall of pines that surround it. I am finally comforted, and we begin the work; Kevin & I chainsaw through so many small, choked pines, while the big kids tramp back & forth, dragging branches & pines into a brush pile.

April 19-21
We arrive in high spirits on Friday, appreciating the sun of early Spring. When I get out of the Suburban, I'm hit with the realization that it is so much colder here; fiercly windy and blanketed with thick snow. But nestled back in the Aspen grove, there is a small clearing, fairly flat, protected from the CO winds, where we find the snow nearly melted off in the sunshine-warmth of solar-south-views. It is here that we imagine building our home, and so we pull the little motor-home in (which is now dubbed the "mohome" by Ian's toddler-speak), drag the rickety picnic table & benches over, widen the old fire-pit, and build our first home-fire.

It is still cold, but Kevin & the big kids (Caleb, Autumn & Eliza) camp out overnight. Just after dark, our friends, the Leigh family, arrive to enjoy the fire & s'mores with us. We are thrilled to welcome our first visitors to the Aspen View Homestead! I take the little boys (Ian & Canyon) back home for a good night's sleep, and we return early Saturday morning to have breakfast all together, and embark on our second work weekend.

We spend the day clearing more of the thin, mangy-looking pines, and a few small aspens. I feel unclear & insecure about where the building site should be, but after dealing with my own trust-issues, realize that Kevin has such a beautiful, big-picture vision of it all. It's a relief to let go of my worries, and trust God's direction through my husband, so we get out string & stakes, and mark off the rough dimension of the house. There are several massive Aspens that will have to come down, and two enormous, top-heavy pines. Kevin has done his research, on how to notch the trees, rope them off & cut them to fall a certain way, and so we bring the first of several moderate trees down. For me the process is terrifying; from the power of the chainsaw, to the nervousness of keeping the kids far out of the way, to the staggering whomp of a 40-foot timber slamming into the ground. After 3 or 4 trees are felled, the kids are safe to come out of "hiding" and we all work together to clear branches & logs.

On Sunday, Kevin insists that we do some things just for fun...and so we all work together building a rough fort, adding to the tee-pee that was already there, moving the little trailer up by the fire/picnic spot, and hiking the perimeter of the land. After another evening campfire & s'mores, we head out; we are tired, filthy, and hopeful.

April 27-28
The weekend forecast is sunny and warm! We are all stoked to head out to the Aspen View Homestead and continue our work of clearing the land. We have a friend staying with us, 9-yr old Grant, and he jumps right in, helping to start the fire, sitting right down at the damp picnic table for a breakfast of boiled eggs & cinnamon-beer-bread, and clearing branches. Kevin & I continue our work bringing down the trees that are in the footprint of the house. We've created kind of a system now: he ropes off the tree, I move the children to the safe-zone of the fort, Kevin notches the tree, while I pull the rope, then we switch & he pulls while I make the final cut. Then we have the work to de-limb the tree, cut it into 12-14 foot logs, clear branches, and finally do our "family log-roll" to get the massive logs up onto dead-log supports, so they will dry.

In the afternoon we are joined by Kevin's friend Mac, and another friend Stephanie & her kids - we talk & laugh & hike together, enjoy lunch & s'mores by the fire. The kids all hit it off & run through the woods, laughing & playing. Kevin and Mac work together to fell the first of the really massive pines that needs to come down. We all work to get some clearing done, but pack up the over-tired little boys before too late. A glorious day!

On Sunday morning our goal is to bring the other huge pine down. This one is tricky because it is so close to the power lines. Kevin talks through a couple of different scenarios, and finally we settle on a plan that would take the tree down in stages, carefully felling the top section away from the lines. The little boys go down for morning naps (Canyon tucked into his pack-n-play in the trailer, Ian in his cozy bunk in the mohome), the big kids are safely in the fort area, and Kevin prepares the tree by roping it off securely, using the sturdiest Aspens across the way as leverage. The climbing rope is knotted & re-knotted, intertwined through the tree trunks so that I am safe even as I use all my body weight to put even more torque against the top of the pine. Kevin is halfway up the tree, has notched it properly, and after reassuring us all that he is in a secure place, begins the final cut on the far side. He has done all his homework, everything according to plan, every precautionary step in place. And yet in one split-second-frozen-in-time-moment, I realize the tree is going the wrong way. Toward the power lines. Back against the sharp, near-vertical cut of the chainsaw. Toward Kevin's head. For that one split-second-moment I lean back against the rope with all the strength in my body, and then immediately realize; my body weight is nothing against the force of this tree. The top of the pine slowly cracks and bends, and in horror I yell voicelessly against the roar of the chainsaw. As if in slow motion I watch the tree press down toward Kevin, and it seems intent on snapping his head right off his neck. At the last millisecond he manages to bend & twist & scrape his way out from under it, and it slowly, slowly tips forward till it rests, suspended by the leverage of the taute rope and the precariously bent-low power lines.

Kevin and I plunge into super-sonic, super-hero, super-fast motion, realizing that if we can get the top of the tree off the lines, they will pop back up, undamaged. He is running on super-charged-adrenaline, with a resulting fight-or-flight clarity & precision that leaves me amazed. He manages to cut the tree in several places, till both lines pop free, then drives up out of the valley for cell service, to call the power company. It is only after he is back, sitting at the picnic bench in the warm sun, that we all begin to shake & cry & de-tox from the fear and panic. I discover a sizable scrape and bump on the back of his head, trailing a wide road-rash type burn up his neck. As we clean & bandage & hug on Daddy, Autumn suggests that we create an area to plant flowers around the tree trunk - a "mercy garden," she calls it. We all agree; only by God's mercy was Kevin kept safe, were the power lines unscathed, were we all protected from so much potential harm.

May 5-6
Last weekend's trauma & excitement ended with a fun visit from our friends, the Zellers. We hung out by the fire & attempted to enjoy s'mores - but were driven into the shelter of the mohome by a cold rain. We left before too long, with high hopes for another weekend of sunny, warm weather. But...this weekend's forcast is not good. Looks like thunderstorms, snow & bitter-cold temps, both days. Yuck.

We bundle up & head out early Saturday morn, enjoying a brief spell of sunshine. For the first time, as we head into the homestead-clearing, I can imagine the location of the house and the driveway. Autumn's friend Amanda joins us mid-morning, and as the big kids run off & play in the woods, Kevin & I work to clear the last six Aspens that need to come down. Thankfully, the Aspen trees are much lighter, and "obey" the rope-leverage-system and the notching. All four in the front, north-west corner come down easily, right across our designated fall-zone. Kevin decides that the two just in front of the house footprint will more safely clear the power lines if he cuts them about 7 feet up. Those are scarier for me, as he is perched atop the rickety picnic bench, and visions of the trunk popping back at him nag at me. He is careful, with the usual roping-off precautions, and they fall just as he planned.

We are in the midst of a lunch-break, huddled in the mohome, as it snows & blows outside, when the Zellers show up. We are floored to realized that they have come specifically to help us work & clear trees. Before we even have the little boys cleaned up from lunch, Todd & Kristin have cleared most of the Aspen limbs. For several hours we work together, hard labor mingled with laughter & fun, and by late afternoon the footprint of the house is clear! I can really envision now, the view Kevin has always "seen," of where the house will face, how the driveway will curve around. We are all tired, but launch into moving some busted-concrete rock pieces into the deep, muddy ruts of the driveway. My hope is that with the top layer of mud gone, and the base of rock, we can gradually add road-gravel and build a solid driveway.

It snows off & on all afternoon & by 5pm it is just cold. Autumn & Amanda stoke up the fire, the Zellers unpack hot dogs & s'more supplies while we pull out potatoes, pasta salad & carrots, and we all feast, huddled around the warmth of the fire. It snows harder & faster, till our picnic is blanketed in white, and we are laughing at the irony of it. Another incredible day of work & fun at the Aspen View Homestead.

Sunday morning and we are tired...and sore...and utterly frustrated with the falling snow and bitter-cold temperatures. Where is our Spring? Today we will stay cozy at our house in Divide, and rest, and research the next step for preparing our land: driveway drainage. Ooooh boy - bring a shovel!

June 2007
Haven't taken the time to type in awhile...am knee-deep in paperwork, red tape, permits and financing. Instead of writing some fun, personal story about all the adventures of permiting and financing, I'll just be real: this is frustrating, irritating, overwhelming, hard work! But not insurmountable.

Mostly I'm plagued by analysis-paralysis. I've got to decide between this well-pump company or that well-pump company...and I become frozen in time, analyzing estimates, reviewing phone calls, wringing my hands over pros & cons. Only thing is, time marches on, and every day that passes we are eating into our small window of CO mountain warm-weather construction-time. Last week I was running errands - septic plans to a plumbing & excavation company - and had this revelation that I could let it go. That in the grand scheme of things, even on our tight budget, if I went with a company that cost us $300 more, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'll end up tanking this whole project if I don't get a grip, give myself a break, and just make some decisions. When it is all said and done, there will be things I regret, things I'm so glad we did, and things I wish we had done differently. No amount of fretting, worrying, and calling every electrician in the county is going to change that fact.

So - I'm learning to make decisions based on things like my feelings: did I connect with the receptionist at the engineering office? Was the plumber from Joe-Blows-Septics difficult to communicate with? Did I have a great chat with the wife of the well-pump company owner? And I'm listening to recommendations from people...and listening for red flags that would warn me off of a certain sub-contractor. I'm learning to just go with my gut, after some moderate research, a bit of faith, & plenty of prayer to cover the whole project.

Progress-wise we are getting close...finally...I hope...
I wish we had finalized our house plans this past winter when we were just sorta "waiting" for Spring. I had no idea that the blueprints would take so long, and so we are at somewhat of a standstill, waiting for those final engineer-stamped plans. If all goes well, we should have the final, stamped blueprints next week. Then I'll get them to the building department, and we'll be waiting again, for that blessed permit!

Here's a little step-by-step breakdown of what we've done so far:
1) HOUSE PLANS
We didn't use standard plans, or custom plans from an architect...no we actually designed the house completely from our heads & hearts. This is something we have been dreaming about & drawing for a couple of years now, but began to put together a practical plan this past winter. We wanted a lot of square footage (for our five kids, and counting) with an open, simple layout. Because of financial constraints we knew we couldn't have as much finished space as we wanted...but didn't want the complications of adding-on to a straw-bale house later...so we are leaving the upstairs completely unfinished. This seems weird to people, which seems weird to us, because it's no different from an unfinished basement that so many home builders do. The upstairs is fully designed, and included on the blueprints, but will have some big "unfinished" mark across it, so that it is not "included" for financing, appraisals, and certificate of occupancy. We talked with several designers, architects, and straw-bale home engineers, but finally decided to work with a highly-recommended draftsman in our area, Dave Busian. Our original decision was based on the financial savings, and the fact that we already had our basic plans drawn carefully on grid paper...but in retrospect we are thrilled with what a joy it has been to work with Dave. He has really come on board with our project, learning about straw-bale construction, and tweaking our design for simplicity of construction, cost reduction, and sound engineering. Because Dave is not an engineer, we had to employ the services of someone else, to review the plans and put that final engineer's stamp on the blueprints. After considering many options, we chose a straw-bale design & engineering company out of Boulder, CO, called Odisea, L.L.C. We have been working back & forth with engineer Ian Smith, who has offered the specific, unique architectural/structural help we needed for the post & beam, straw-bale in-fill, passive solar-heated design. Our final house plans, with all drafting, design, engineering & over-night shipping fees, will cost just under $3000.

2) PERMITS
Every county will have different requirements, but for our construction project in El Paso County, Colorado, we were required to begin with a Driveway Access Permit and a Builders Erosion and Stormwater Quality Control Permit. How did I figure this out? I just drove down to Colorado Springs and stopped by the county building department. It really was that simple, tho I was so nervous, I got all dressed up and tried to look like a professional, instead of some home-school mom. Funny thing was, I took my number & waited & waited...and then some bored-looking lady with white hair just printed out these forms for me, told me to fill them out, and come back with house plans & a check. A couple of weeks later I brought these two completed forms (basic stuff like site address, legal description, etc) back to the building department, with a check for $370. OH - everyone wants to know what the tax schedule number is - I figured that out by saying "huh?" to the first guy at the building department who asked me, and he looked it up, based on the legal description I found on our closing papers for the land. Also - we didn't have a site address, it was just a lot number - so I had to first go by the Enumeration Office, which was also inside the building department offices. A nice gal pulled out these huge plot maps, found our "lot #7" and told me the address for it. No forms or anything; she just handed me her business card and said if they had questions about it up front, to give her a call. Of course they did, ("this address isn't in the system!") so they just called back to her, verified it, typed it into the big El Paso County Godfather-Builder computer, and we were set! Simple!