Rise: How a House Built a Family - by Cara Brookins (purchase her new book: amzn.to/2Pgj2kA)
Cara Brookins needed to make her family solid again.
She is a mother of 4 children that came from a broken marriage due to domestic violence. Like many other families, it breaks them on the inside.
The single mom of four - Hope, Drew, Jada and Roman, ages 17 to 2 at the time - had recently left a marriage where she was a victim of domestic violence, and Brookins felt like she and her kids were broken.
Cara said, "We lost ability to laugh together. We had spent so long being beaten down."
One day she was driving with her kids and they came upon a home that was totally destroyed by a tornado. All that was left behind were pieces of wood and nails. "I stopped and got out to look at it and could see inside the walls,” she said. “I thought, ‘I bet I could put this back up if I really tried.’” And with a little help from RU-vid that's exactly what she and her family did.
In no time, they began to dream about what it would be like to build their own home. They started drawing on note pads the floor plans. Next thing she knew, they were getting a construction loan to do it.
It wasn't an easy project, especially working a full-time job on top of it. She made an agreement to complete the house in 9 months due to the terms of the loan. But the family was up for the adventure.
The loan only covered the cost of the materials. Cara and her kids needed to do everything they could to cut the cost. That meant for them to put in some serious sweat equity and do the labor. They would search RU-vid tutorials to see what they needed to do.
They certainly were not physically ready for the work in the beginning, but something happened as they worked together. “We gained muscle. We gained confidence. We learned how to laugh. We learned how to communicate.” Brookins said once the foundation was done, they were able to communicate almost telepathically.
There was some work that they chose not to tackle such as the electrical and HVAC. Also, she did have a friendly firefighter help her occasionally as well for $25 per hour.
The 3,500-square-foot home, which they lovingly call “Inkwell Manor,” features five bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and a three-car garage.
Brookins said her favorite room is the library with floor-to-ceiling books. The decor style is French country, and there are lots of family-centered pieces displayed, such as items passed down from her parents and grandparents.
Today, she has authored a book, "Rise: How a House Built a Family."
15 авг 2018
