When life gives you challenges, like a bad marriage, you can still find ways to make things better.
Cara Brookins was in a bad situation, so she left with her kids and built a new home. She learned how to do it by watching videos and making her own plans. It’s pretty impressive, right?
Now that she’s thinking about it, she realizes it was always impossible.
Cara, who works with computers, thought of making a new house for her family because she couldn’t buy a big enough one for her kids in 2007.
She felt like anyone else would do the same in her situation, even though others didn’t understand.
She borrowed $150,000 for building and spent $20,000 on land.
Her kids, from the age of two to seventeen, all helped to build their big home, which was 3,500 square feet.
Because there was no water on their land, Cara’s 11-year-old daughter, Jada, had to carry water from the neighbor’s pond using buckets. Her son Drew helped her make plans. Later, Cara mixed the plans with heavy bags of concrete, each weighing eighty pounds, to make the foundation mortar.
Every day after school, the kids went to the building site to help out. Cara hired a firefighter part-time to help with the hard parts, paying him $25 per hour. He knew a lot more about building than they did.
They finally moved into their new home, Inkwell Manor, on March 31, 2009. They named it after Cara’s dream of being a writer.
Cara admitted feeling a bit embarrassed that they had to build their own home, but in the end, it was the best choice she made for herself.
“I’m just a small computer programmer, and if I can build a whole house, you can do anything too!” she said excitedly.
She advised, “Pick one goal, stick to it, start small, and bring others who need to heal along with you. That’s really powerful.”
Isn’t this one of the most amazing stories you’ve heard lately?
If this family’s determination inspires you as much as it does me, please share their incredible story on Facebook with your loved ones!