90 second tour of 704 mockingbird lane house https://youtu.be/OROcm3JFAtc

THE REMODEL STAGES BELOW

TRANSFORMATION FROM UGLY DUCKLING NO ONE WANTED TO DREAM HOME OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

“Do YOU have the guts to take on a Fixer Upper?” We love that show, don’t you? Well, we think it takes twice as many guts to do it yourself and even more guts to live in it while you renovate. But to do all that and pay cash as you go, dragging the project on way too long, well, that’s probably the definition of insanity…what do you think? It’s been over a year now since Day One of Demo of the Snyder Family’s home and I’m happy to report not only are we still married, but we are happier than we’ve ever been. #ThankGOD

The family story behind the 2211 sf dream home we remodeled together and are leaving behind to build a 400 sf house on wheels to pursue the dream of traveling.
This is possible because we homeschool our 6th grade son and have a business we can work from anywhere. We will be completely mortgage free and our residual checks will afford us a great traveling budget as well as a great budget to invest into our new tiny house business. 
With one daughter in Michigan and another in Round Rock, this allows us to spend more time with them and the rest of our family spread across the U.S.
Stay tuned for our tiny adventures and where our maiden voyage will be…

If you’re looking for a handcrafted home built with love by a family remodel project, we are pretty sure there’s not another one around, at least not with such excellent craftsmanship. You’ll feel proud to own this one of a kind home that impresses even the builders when they come and see it. There is nothing that resembles builder grade or cookie cutter here. It was built to be our forever home. The builder/owner used trees cut down on the family farm in Michigan to make cabinets and countertops so they did not plan on moving. However, the tiny house movement captured their attention and the romantic life of traveling while they homeschool their last son at home was the chance of a lifetime.

When you walk in the front door, the open floor plan welcomes you and the “wow” of the kitchen invites you to inspect the details further and further. Most people walk in and just stand and stare at the kitchen for a few minutes. Then the back yard pool in their line of sight captures them and draws them outdoors to the beautifully landscaped backyard. It feels like an oasis in the city.

Honestly, the main problem we have here is the common theme that our guests just don’t want to leave because they feel so peaceful here. Often, it’s midnight before we part ways, the kids tired out from swimming and playing all night long and the adults satisfied with great food and uplifting conversation.
We love to entertain and consider this the highest compliment, but if you’re not so inclined, you should be fore warned.

It’s not every day you get to read about a modern day hero of faith…

That’s why I had to write this.

April 5, 2017

Today was a beautiful celebration of a life well-lived and a life well-loved.  “Is there anything greater this side of Heaven?”  I’ve been asking myself that question all day and keeping myself up most of the night.  “Is there anything greater this side of Heaven than a life well-lived and a life-well loved?”  A great Patriarch in the physical and spiritual realm is no longer with us on this earth.  Today, we celebrated some of his greatest accomplishments including 51 years of marriage, 9 children, 27 grandchildren and counting…

As I sat in the funeral with more than 400 people gathered to honor my father in law and as I later watched the recording through Facebook live, where I was joined by more than 1600 others across the nation, many of his students who wanted to be there to honor their favorite teacher.  Most of the time, people attend funerals out of obligation, but even if someone did for this one, I am confident they left feeling brighter about life in every way. It was the kind of celebration and inspiration that you couldn’t help but want to give more and be more as you listened to the stories and you left feeling encouraged and grateful. These photos were taken the last time our family was with Dad. The poster board Dad is holding says, “My grandpa built this stone house in 1918.” Todd’s says, “My Great-Grandpa built this house.” and Andrew’s, “My great-great-Grandpa built this house.”

As I sat there, I couldn’t help but wish I could see a recording of a funeral in that same church, that same community, and yes, that very same family in 1992,  just three years before I met the family.  A funeral Bob Snyder preached for his 13 year old son after a tree felling accident in the woods on Good Friday.  I’m sure that funeral didn’t have a dry eye either.  It certainly goes down in history as one of the bravest things he did out of sheer obedience and the power of the Holy Spirit.  His heart was full of love for the living to hear the gospel before it’s too late. He knew where his son was and that he’d wanted to be a missionary leading people to Jesus. We think he may have won more souls through his death, beginning with that funeral.  25 years later, his best friend, Mark Wagner, was asked by Bob to share the gospel at his funeral, where again more were saved. 

Just hours after Daniel’s death, this father gathered his family in the living room where they all knelt down to thank God even in this darkest hour.  Not a hint of bitterness could take root because they believed their Sovereign Loving Father would hold their hands and carry their pain until they would all be reunited in Heaven.  

Just five years earlier, this same father had to cut his older son’s jacket off a PTO elevator shaft that nearly killed him, but instead left him severely injured. Through the years, one of Todd’s favorite topics for discussion with a new acquaintance has been these stories that demonstrate his dad’s character.  He always lights up as he includes the impact his dad’s response had on him personally, especially through those two great trials. Proverbs 17:6 says, “…a child’s glory is his father.” and Proverbs 20:7, “The righteous who walks in integrity-blessed are his children after him.” Proverbs was his favorite book of the whole Bible. His life verse was Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” In fact, the greatest legacy he left his children was the fact that every single day they lived at home, no matter what, Dad read the Bible to them. He ended in reading the proverb of the day. As a result, the children pretty much have the entire 31 chapters of the book memorized and can draw from that wisdom automatically to guide all their decisions.

At Bob’s funeral, during open mic, many shared the greatest thing Bob Snyder did for them.  Well, the greatest thing Bob Snyder did for me was to raise a godly son, my husband now of almost 21 years and father to our 3 children.   I don’t take any of this for granted, but I also recognize that behind every great man is an even greater woman.  Dad knew that too and made reference to it sharing his gratitude for her faithfulness the last time I saw him just four weeks before he died.  When todd and I were first getting to know each other, He told me his dad was his best friend, his hero, and the best Christian he’s ever known.  I didn’t fully believe him as I had never heard a grown son speak of his father that way.  But after all these years, I not only know it’s true, I also know our children would say the same thing of their own dad. 

Although I didn’t have to ask his dad for his hand in marriage (some of the brother In laws refer to that as one of the scariest days of their life), the day I did meet his family, I was pretty clueless of all that was at stake.

Unlike two of my brother in laws who knew him as their teacher and principal, I first met him the day Todd brought me home.  Todd waited to see what his dad would say before he would commit himself to officially dating me.  If he had said, “Son, I don’t think this is a good match”, that would have been the end kuz he gave his dad full veto power and more than one prospect hadn’t make the cut (I’m glad I learned this information after the fact).

The truth is I fell in love with his family before I fell in love with him.  I paid close attention to the closeness he shared with his mother and the honor and respect he treated her with.  It was genuine.  That’s what really won me over.  To be loved and cherished by Todd has been the greatest joy of my life.

Bob Snyder’s strictness in helping his children choose a good mate paid off because every single one of his 8 living children have solid Christ centered marriages some 5, 10, 20 almost 30 years later.  He groomed them all from very young ages on the importance of choosing the right spouse and the sacredness of marriage.

I remember when Todd first told me his dad read the Bible to his family every single day growing up.  I found this hard to believe until I witnessed it myself every single time I was there, including the morning I visited just four weeks before he died.  He also prayed out loud for his children, their spouses and grandchidlren every single day.  It is a rich rich heritage and legacy that will live on not only through his birth children but the many students he taught over 49 years who were made to feel they were his children too.  Many of which serve in full time ministry today and would say Bob Snyder’s influence helped me be who I am today!

He saw potential in the ones others passed over and considered unworthy.  He believed in them and they wanted to live up to it.  Countless lives were transformed because of one who cared.  As a young man, he aspired to join the peace corp to change the world!  When you invest in the lives of children and those children pay it forward with strong healthy families that give out to their community, one has to wonder if there is any greater way to change the world. Although he wanted a dozen kids, in the end, he had to settle for 9.  They were incredibly frugal and almost always debt free, but the meager salary the Christian school paid him didn’t go far with that many children.  They all had to pitch in on the farm or they wouldn’t have had food to eat.  Basically, if they didn’t grow it, they didn’t eat it.

Two of my favorite things were listening to him lead family devotions and sitting in his Sunday school class. He was a great storyteller with a deep booming voice and the wisdom he shared was priceless. He might have been poor in this world, but I promise you he is rich in heaven and has no regrets about choosing heavenly treasures! As his favorite book says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” Prov. 22:1 I included a short video of him reading below so you would see what I’m saying.

Two of my favorite Holidays with the family were 1. when Dad asked everyone to share the story of how they came to Jesus and 2. when he asked everyone to share what God had been teaching them lately.

Dad had a few close calls in the last couple years of his life. Out in the cow pasture trying to climb a gate, his heart stopped and Brandon brought him back. Many times in the hospital we thought it was the end. Mostly, he just felt so awful, he wanted the Lord to take him home to Heaven. But he told us God gave him this verse and reminded him that God wasn’t finished with him yet. So instead of complaining, he was still winning souls to Christ and sharing Him with anyone that came by the house in the last week he was here. He claimed the verse, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Psalms 118:17He determined to LIVE and DECLARE all that God did for him. #mydad #liveanddeclare #totheend #sharingJesus

Continuation: To honor him on the new garage build the family did the following Christmas, Todd and his mom stamped it into the concrete.

We have decided to join the Tiny House movement ourselves so we can be a product of our product.

Since both our girls have flown the nest and we have just Andrew, it’s a perfect time for a new adventure! I have this romantic idea of a little house on the prairie lifestyle with me and my man raising our son in the great outdoors teaching him life skills.

Whenever I do construction projects with him, I realize I just don’t enjoy that kind of work. For him to do marketing with me is just not going to work, but isn’t there something we can do, maybe something like Chip and Joanna Gaines on the Fixer Upper show? We were in the thick of our remodel project and that just didn’t quite pique our interest.

As newlyweds, my husband and I had a dream to start a family business, spending each day working toward the same goals, growing closer, and building our legacy together. Although it didn’t work the first or second attempt, I did not lose the dream in my heart.  Fast forward to 2015 when our miraculous marriage make-over occurred and the desire to be together every single day working side by side became stronger than ever! I kept asking, “Isn’t there a business we can build together that uses each of our God-given strengths so we can really enjoy what we do and be successful at it?”

I have been building my home business a now for almost 14 years and the income pays for our monthly expenses. Residual income has been a tremendous blessing; we have almost 1400 loyal customers nationwide shopping with a 96% reorder rate. I will continue to build this business, but residual income gives me the time freedom to work with Todd in our other venture as well.

After almost a year of research, we finally found something…building Tiny Houses! He can build them and I will market them. We created our LLC a few months ago and Todd’s sister designed this lovely logo.

This seems to draw perfectly on both of our greatest talents. We know the road ahead will stretch us…a lot, but we are up for the challenge knowing the reward of actually living out our dreams will be worth it.

I’m excited to watch my husband; he is a Master Builder and Creative Designer and he thrives on the challenge of creating exciting spaces using innovative designs for people to live out their dreams. If you know me at all, you know one of my favorite things to do is brag on my husband so I made it my main job! He’s built me 3 dream houses now with his own two hands.

I’m chief marketer and he’s chief builder! As long as we don’t try to put each other’s hats on and we stay working in our strengths, we believe we can create a successful partnership this time around without sacrificing the marriage. (If you’re lost, go read Part One of the big reveal for the rest of the story)

If a client has an idea that’s never been done before, they always hear my husband say, “I bet we can figure that out.”

I jokingly call him “Todd the builder” with the motto: “Can we build it? Yes, we can!”

WHAT IS OUR MISSION?

Providing Next Generation Housing solutions so people can enjoy financial independence and peace of mind.

Tiny Houses are also for those looking for a second home for: vacation, guests, aging parents, boomerang children, an off the grid home, or an income producing property for primary rentals or vacation rentals like on http://www.airbnb.com or http://www.VRBO.com. One added benefit of a Tiny House that’s under 400 sf, is that you don’t pay property taxes on that building.

Thank you for joining us on this journey and for being our friend.