Homeless (With Five Children)
By Morley Hunt
@Morleyhunt (21741)
Canada
October 15, 2016 7:47am CST
Our family was complete. The house we lived in was a nice size, but only had one bathroom. With five children (four of them girls) one bathroom was not enough.
We looked into raising the roof to add a second bathroom and an extra bedroom. The girls were sharing a large bedroom 14 X 20 feet, which was referred to as the girls dorm.
As we looked into adding on, it was going to be less expensive to build a brand new house than to expand the existing home.
Slight change of plans. Can we find a building lot? Yes.
We put our house up for sale around May 21, with all the plans in place to have the house framed around the first of July. We planned to do much of the work ourselves....then....we sold the house quickly (three days) and had to vacate by July 7.
There was no way the house would be finished and ready for moving in by July 7, in fact, we didn't even have the roof on until the 14th.
We found an inexpensive used tent trailer, and we had a small dome tent and a dining tent. We would camp out beside the new house.
After much pleading we arranged to rent a Porta-potty (outhouse) for the summer.
We started out with no water, no electricity and no telephone.
Until the first week in September we camped, everything we owned in storage. We lived out of two suitcases for two months.
Did I mention our children were aged 13, 11, 9, 7 and 3. Both my husband and I were working full time (erratic hours) and trying to do the bulk of the building by ourselves.
It was a memorable summer. I wouldn't care to repeat it, but we loved our new home when it was completed (almost 2 years later).
18 people like this
19 responses
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
16 Oct 16
mighty brave 'f y'all to tackle such'n adventure with all those young'uns :) so glad that most 'f the young'uns t'were ol' 'nough to recall such 'n relieve those memories 's fond.
2 people like this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
We treated a lot of it as adventure. We made do a lot. Doughnuts were a breakfast choice (we bought a dozen day olds whe we did a midnight coffee run.)
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502590)
• Italy
16 Oct 16
@Morleyhunt What a shame! I did not know you had to move away.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
@LadyDuck we moved out of that house back in 2000.
2 people like this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
Too bad we had to move away. I would have been happy to stay there forever.
2 people like this
@marguicha (230349)
• Chile
15 Oct 16
WOW!!! You were quite impressive! That´s hard work. And love and a lot of other thigs, all possitive. Bravo!!!
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
We put in long hours. There was a lot of physically difficult moments....but God was good. The weather was mostly cooperative.
@Juliaacv (56322)
• Canada
15 Oct 16
That would have been a long 2 months I'm sure.
We sold our last home with the intention of finding our forever home, and when it sold quickly we really had to concentrate to find our current home, which we did. I don't relish moving, its a lot of work.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
My husband and I have moved so often that while we aren't fond of the chore, we've become quite efficient.
1 person likes this
@Happy2BeMe (99353)
• Canada
15 Oct 16
Wow that would have been quite the adventure. I can't even imagine and I like camping but that would have been too long for me but we'll worth it for the end result. It made for some great memories to talk about for years to come.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
We weren't big on camping. It was ten years before we willingly spent another night camping.
1 person likes this
@marsha32 (6631)
• United States
18 Nov 16
Sounds like a great adventure to me...and one that I could only dream of.
@marsha32 (6631)
• United States
18 Nov 16
@Morleyhunt But the ability to build your own house, and have the money to do so, is just awesome.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
18 Nov 16
It was quite an adventure. There were moments when it was more like a nightmare than a dream.
1 person likes this
@silvermist (19701)
• India
18 Oct 16
@Morleyhunt That was quite an adventure ! Do the kids(not kids any more) talk about those times?
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
18 Oct 16
It is still talked about from time to time. The youngest was only 3....she doesn't remember.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
28 Oct 16
When we sold the house, on our last walk through, both my husband and I bawled like babies.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
12 Nov 16
We just got through one day at a time. The weather was cooperative most of the time....everyone stayed healthy and we did what we could. Breakfast was often day old doughnuts. The kids thought that was wonderful.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
Interesting, certainly. The stories that were generated by our two month 'camping' adventure, could fill a book.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
15 Oct 16
That was quite a saga. I am sure your kids have many stories to tell theirs.
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
Each child has a different aspect that they remember. The neighbours had a swimming pool. They often would invite the kids over for an afternoon swim....great, now I'm not going to worry about having them bathe before bed....that 5 gallon container of water could only stretch so far.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
16 Oct 16
We loved the home we built. Moving away was heartbreaking.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
18 Oct 16
Wow! That must have been interesting but worth it when it was done. =)
